The Shadows - short bio
It
all started in 1958, when Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch joined
Cliff Richard's backing group The Drifters on a tour, with Ian
"Move It" Samwell on bass guitar and Terry Smart on
drums. Samwell and Smart was later replaced by Jet Harris on
bass and Tony Meehan on drums, and they helped Cliff to get
his first no 1 hit in 1959; "Living Doll". The Drifters
recorded a couple of 45's by themself, but they didn't reach
the charts.
In
1959 Cliff and The Drifters was touring in USA, but there was
already a vocal group with the same name, so Jet Harris suggested
the name, which has been the trade mark on guitar music since
then; THE SHADOWS.
Their
first single as The Shadows didn't made success, but their next
record Apache became their greatest hit, and is their trade
mark of The Shadows. They became very popular, both as Cliff's
backing group and as a guitar group. The Shadows got a lot of
hits in the early 60's and is the only band ever who had LP,
EP and 45 at no. 1 at the same time!
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