The Remo Four were a 1950s-1960s rockband from Liverpool, England. They were contemporaries of The Beatles, and later had the same manager, Brian Epstein. Its members were Colin Manley , Phil Rogers , Don Andrew , and Roy Dyke . Andrew and Manley were in the same class at school as Paul McCartney.
Career
Manley and Andrew formed the Remo Quartet in 1958, with singer/guitarist Keith Stokes and drummer Harry Prytherch. They progressed from playing local parties and contests to regular hall appearances, and turned professional, changing their name to the Remo Four in summer 1959. They played a mix of vocal harmony material, and instrumental numbers in the manner of The Shadows, The Ventures, and Chet Atkins. The Remo Four were voted Number Three Group in a 1961 Mersey Beat poll, and among their fans were The Beatles, fresh from a season in Hamburg, Germany. Both groups were among the regulars at the Cavern Club during 1961 and 1962, and both shared the bill with Gerry & The Pacemakers, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and Ted "Kingsize" Taylor and the Dominoes, at the 1961 "Operation Big Beat", a festival at New Brighton's Tower Ballroom. While The Beatles travelled back and forth to Hamburg, the Remo Four began playing American Air Force bases in France, building their stage and musical experience. A highlight of their early career was sharing the stage with the Shadows, in the latter's only Cavern Club appearance. Johnny Sandon joined the band as vocalist in 1962, and stayed for two years. In early 1963, Prytherch decided to get married and find a regular job, and Roy Dyke took his place in the band. That year the band signed up with Epstein's NEMS Enterprises and acquired a new lead singer, Tommy Quickly, and a recording contract with Piccadilly Records, backing Quickly on Lennon and McCartney's "Tip of My Tongue" and other songs. The band also released instrumentals, including a driving rendition of Henry Mancini's Peter Gunn theme. Different members came and went, including songwriters Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington, and Tony Ashton, who replaced Don Andrew, with Rogers moving to bass. Another NEMS artist, Billy J. Kramer, became a frontman for the band, which adopted the name "The New Dakotas" while backing him. Despite their talent and track record, the band's success in the record market was limited, and most of their work came as backing musicians, or as the house band in German clubs, including the Star-Club in Hamburg. They released an album, Smile!, on the Star-Club's own label in 1967, featuring elements of rock and jazz. Late in 1967, Beatle George Harrison hired the Remo Four as his backing band for part of his first solo project, the soundtrack album to the movie Wonderwall. While the songs were mostly instrumentals, they did record one lyrical song, "In the First Place", with Harrison, which was left in the can until the 1990s. They also became Billy Fury's backing band, in the late 1960s. Disbanding in 1970, Ashton and Dyke joined guitarist Kim Gardner, formerly of The Creation and The Birds, to form Ashton, Gardner & Dyke, who later recorded a song called "Ballad of the Remo Four". Ashton later formed Paice Ashton Lord with members of Deep Purple. Manley became an accompanist for singers including Engelbert Humperdinck, and later joined The Swinging Blue Jeans. Don Andrew and Colin Manley appeared with Gerry Marsden performing on stage in an episode of the UK TV soap "Brookside" in the 1990s. Manley died of cancer on 9 April 1999, and a memorial concert was held for him that June, with some of his former bandmates performing. Ashton also died of cancer, on 28 May 2001. Keith Stokes died on 19 June 2010, cause unknown. He was living in Wallasey and friends and relatives had been trying to trace him for 15 years, without success. Phil Rogers died peacefully on 14th Jan 2020 in Buckinghamshire, surrounded by loving family.
Discography
Lies/On the Horizon Pye 7N 15542 Magic Potion/Yes Pye 7N 15559 Tip of My Tongue/Heaven Only Knows Piccadilly 7N 35137 Kiss Me Now/No Other Love Piccadilly 7N 35151 Prove It/Haven't You Noticed Piccadilly 7N 35167 I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate/Peter Gunn Piccadilly 7N 35175 You Might as Well Forget Him/It's as Simple as That' Piccadilly 7N 35183 Sally Go Round the Roses/I Know a Girl Piccadilly 7N 35186 Wild Side of Life/Forget the Other Guy Pye 7N 15708 Humpty Dumpty/I'll Go Crazy Pye 7N 15748 Live Like a Lady/Sing Halleluja Fontana TF 787 Smile! Star-Club 148 577 The Best of Tommy Quickly, Johnny Sandon, Gregory Phillips and the Remo Four See For Miles Records SEECD349 tracks:
In the First Place / In the First Place Pilar PILAR02V Beat-Club - The Best of '66 Studio-Hamburg/Radio Bremen includes the following Remo Four performances recorded in 1966:
Peter Gunn
Super Girl '
In The First Place Pilar PILAR01CD tracks:
In The First Place
In The First Place
Fab Gear! Beat Beat Beat Vol.1 Castle Music includes the following Remo Four tracks:
Lies*
On the Horizon*
Yes*
Magic Potion*
Kiss Me Now**
No Other Love **
*with Johnny Sandon; ** with Tommy Quickly In My Liverpool Home Volume 2 - Mereybeat Mania! Mastersound MSCD529 includes the following Remo Four tracks:
Perfidia
- as the Remo Quartet
Sleepwalk
Unearthed Merseybeat Viper CD016 includes the following Remo Four tracks:
