Jimmy Crawford?

[minertone 10]

Ron Lindsay took time off work to play the 2 I's coffee bar in Soho. Spotted by London managers he was whisked off to their offices and came back to Sheffield with a stage name made up from his real names. The Coasters became the Ravens to avoid any conflict,the reason that his records only had his name was because EMI wanted to record the singer seperately from an amplified rock group because they hadn't invested in suitable studios,their facilities were still geared to 80 pce orchestras and large dance bands. No one in the music industry was prepared to bank on R & R lasting more than a couple of years.Yes there was a first record made with the ravens but this was to enable him to get introduced to a major label and was made in a small Soho studio and presented to EMI by his London managers. EMI then cleaned up the Acetate and released it as his first single.Follow up records were then made with a large orchestra, which was something they knew how to do. His recording manager(Norrie Parramore) would study the American charts and then get scores written for a British version of a song he thought would rise up the USA charts,this meant that his act became' Middle Of The Road' through no fault of his own. Eventually the studios obtained suitable recording facilities but for early artists like Ron it was too late,their three year contracts were up and he was out of time - no more records. His London managers had an advertising contract with Radio Luxembourg and he got some airtime on there as it was the big thing at the time, the BBC was reluctant to play the discredited R & R for the first couple of years.

[hobbinfootju 10]

I remember Jimmy Crawford playing in the very early sixties at would you believe Eccles field Park Bandstand it was early evening and all for free. He was great. The flip side of I love how you love me was a song called Our Last Embrace which I thought was better than the A side his vocals were fantastic even though he had a large amount of echo on the record, I still play his songs today I wish he was still on the circuit.

[Passitthen 11]

On 05/02/2006 at 21:19, Applegrim said:

While looking back to the sixties, does anyone remember "Johnny Hawk and the Falcons"? Like Joe Cocker and Dave Berry they did the rounds in the sixties, quite good at the time I think.

Johnny Hawk & The Falcons should really have made it big; It was John and Raymond Woodcraft two brothers from Crookes who led the band; playing at St Columbas Church saturday nites; Raymond, singing the song " Fever " put Joe c's to shame; great stage presence and performers: knew them both as school pals as well. Raymonds " passed on " & I heard recently that John is poorly: their performance remains memorable. Robert

Edited January 8 by Passitthen
spelling mistake

[Dreb48 35]

50 minutes ago, Passitthen said:

Johnny Hawk & The Falcons should really have made it big; It was John and Raymond Woodcraft two brothers from Crookes who led the band; playing at St Columbas Church saturday nites; Raymond, singing the song " Fever " put Joe c's to shame; great stage presence and performers: knew them both as school pals as well. Raymonds " passed on " & I heard recently that John is poorly: their performance remains memorable. Robert

Johnny Hawk and the Falcons were the first live group I ever saw .

They played at the Methodist Youth Club on Totley Rise around  61 

[dsweetman 49]

4 hours ago, Passitthen said:

Johnny Hawk & The Falcons should really have made it big; It was John and Raymond Woodcraft two brothers from Crookes who led the band; playing at St Columbas Church saturday nites; Raymond, singing the song " Fever " put Joe c's to shame; great stage presence and performers: knew them both as school pals as well. Raymonds " passed on " & I heard recently that John is poorly: their performance remains memorable. Robert

John and Ray both attended the same school as me,I remember when the older brother was learning to play guitar how his fingers were marked with the impression of the strings!