The Shadows Tribute Band      Established 58     The Shadows Cover Band  Bootleg Act

                                

                                                   Hank and Bruce met when they were 11 at school together in Newcastle.

 

In their teens they both had Skiffle Groups which were Bruce the Railroaders and Hank the Crescent City Skiffle Group.  Eventually Hank joined Bruce in the Railroaders.  They entered and won several talent competitions in Newcastle. They heard about a talent competition at the Granada Edmonton, 10 New Road, London and decided to take the band to London for a weekend.  They entered the competition on the Sunday night and they came third. It was won by a Malaysian opera singer.

 

Hank and Bruce decided to stay in London and the rest of the band went back to Newcastle.  They rented an attic room in Finsbury Park the landlady was Mrs Bowman. They stayed for nine months.  During this time on April 7th 1958 they went to the 2is coffee bar in Soho and went on to play in the bar.  If they were lucky the pay was 18 shillings a night playing 7 to 11.

 

It was at the 2is they met Jet Harris, Tony Meehan, Brian Bennett and Brian Licorice Locking, all of whom became members of the Shadows.

 

On a night when they were not playing Bruce saw a guy called Harry Webb singing at the 2is who a few months later changed his name to Cliff Richard.  Around September 1958 Hank was jamming at the 2is and in the afternoon Cliff’s Manager came in looking for a lead guitarist for a 3 week tour.  He offered Hank the job. Hank said he would do it if his mate Bruce could come as they would need a rhythm guitarist, so they joined Cliff’s band The Drifters.  The band featured Ian Samwell on Bass who wrote Move It and Terry Smart on Drums and these were the other members of the Drifters for that tour.

 

By Jan of 1959 Jet Harris and Tony Meeham joined Hank and Bruce in The Drifters.  When The Drifters tried to release a single Saturday Dance the American band The Drifters put in an injunction to stop them using the name.  Hank and Jet went to a pub on scooters to come up with a new name.  Jet said “Cliff is always out front in the spotlight and we are in the shadows at the back” and so The Shadows were born in July 1959.

 

After 3 records that flopped about April 1960 on the Cliff and The Shadows tour bus Jerry Lordan played them Apache which they recorded and it became their first no 1 hit.  Today Cliff and The Shadows make few live appearances, the last being The Final Reunion Tour in 2009 to celebrate Cliff Richard and The Shadows 50th Anniversary.  

 

But you can still have the full live Theatre experience with The Shadows Tribute Band Established 58 playing all your favourites of the last 60 years, from Living Doll and Apache to Wired For Sound and Riders in The Sky plus many more.

 

To play you A String Of Hits we have with  Hits Right Up Your Street Howard Gillespie Lead Guitar  The Third Man John -Christopher Rhythm Guitar   "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Arthur" David Christopher Bass Guitar Life In The Jungle Dave Ironside Drums Look out for Dates coming soon.