The Settlers (band)


The Settlers were an English folk-oriented group from the English West Midlands, who formed in the mid-1960s. They started out as a trio comprising Cynthia 'Cindy' Kent, Mike Jones and John Fyffe, but added a bassist, Mansel Davies.

Formation and genre

The Settlers were initially known as the Birmingham Folk Four, but became known as the Settlers after their first single, "Settle Down". A six-month residency on the BBC television series, Singalong, led to support bookings on tours with, among others, Dusty Springfield, Roy Orbison and The Small Faces. The Settlers have generally been referred to as a folk group. However, like the Seekers, the successful Australian group with which they shared marked similarities, some of their material gravitated towards mainstream pop, which, taking its cue from American singer-songwriters Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and such groups as Peter, Paul and Mary, We Five and The Byrds, readily absorbed folk influences in various ways in the mid-1960s. The Settlers’ melodic style was largely settled before the advent of British folk-rock in the guise of Fairport Convention and Pentangle later in the sixties.
In 1969, the band appeared with Cliff Richard, Una Stubbs and William Hartnell amongst others in a six-part religious themed drama serial on ITV. The series, produced by Tyne Tees TV was not networked and thus reached a limited audience. Only three of the six episodes have survived.

Musical output

The Settlers' first single "Sassafras"/"Settle Down", was released in 1964. They became quite well known nationally, assisted by frequent appearances on television and, until 1967, regular exposure on offshore pirate radio stations. In particular, their recording of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s "Nowhere Man" was, together with The Overlanders’ 1966 UK No.1 hit, "Michelle", and The Truth’s version of "Girl", among the best known covers of songs from the Beatles' album, Rubber Soul. However, although "Nowhere Man" reached a high of No.5 in Radio London's non-sales based Fab 40 in March 1966 and the group's spirited version of Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" received a good deal of airplay in May 1966, the Settlers did not succeed in enjoying a Top 40 hit during the 1960s. Their most successful record, "The Lightning Tree", reached No.36 in the UK singles chart in 1971.
Like the Seekers, the group also included a double bassist. The original bassist, Mansel Davies, left in 1965 to pursue a career in teaching, and was replaced by Geoff Srdzinski, who shared accommodation in Hampstead, London, with Tony Hooper of Strawbs. Hooper's song, "Always on My Mind", was released as a single by the Settlers early in 1967.
Shortly after recording a religious album I Am Your Servant in 1973 Cindy Kent left the band and later released a solo single "I Only Want To Be In The World" on the Beeb label in 1975. By then the line up had changed from acoustic four-part pop folk harmony, to a more contemporary five-piece electric sound with Mike Jones, Andie Sheridan, Paul Greedus, Chris Johnstone, and George Jeffrey on drums. In 1974 this line up recorded an album for York Records - The New Sound of the Settlers.
In early 1976, Valery Ann replaced Andie Sheridan as female vocalist, and the line up changed back to afour piece acoustic close harmony with Mike Jones, Paul Greedus, Valery Ann, Steve Smith. Steve joined in 1975 after winning ATV's New Faces as a singer/songwriter with his own song "Mavis Brown". Smith stayed with the group until its demise in the early 1980s. It was this line up that went into the studios to record "Whichaway Billy" for Riverdale. The single was released in October 1976 soon after Valery Ann left the band to pursue a solo career.
Patty Vetta, well known on the British folk club circuit supplied the female voice to the now original Settlers acoustic/harmony vocal sound and like Steve Smith stayed with the group until the end in the early 1980s.
"Plaisir d'amour" - Valery Ann's original version "My Love Loves Me" was released on Decca in 1965 while she was still at school in Surrey.
Valery Ann, as singer/songwriter Valeryan, is still producing solo albums for Speakeasy Recordings, all of which can be found on I-TUNES and Amazon; these include Rolling Road ; Reflections which includes a re-mastered version of the original "My Love Loves Me" and two Settlers tracks "Whichaway Billy" and "Hobbit Land"; White Christmas ; and July 14. In 2015 came the single As the Night Draw In and in 2017 an album in conjunction with USA Radio Station Groovy Reflections. The album also takes the name Groovy Reflections and again includes The Settlers 1976 release Whichaway Billy and Hobbit Land.

Albums

The Settlers' albums included their debut Sing Out for Decca Records in the UK, and London Records in the U.S., which featured an eclectically varied selection of folk songs, including "The Keeper", "Over the Stone", "The Three Jolly Rogues of Lynn" and "The Golden Vanity", Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town" and "Shoals of Herring", Matt McGinn's "Coorie Doon", and "Frog Went A-Courtin'"
Whereas Go!, paired the group with The Overlanders both separately and together. The eponymous The Settlers, for included Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Mr Tambourine Man" and such folk standards as "The Wreck of the Old 97". Call Again for collected the group's singles output for Pye Records, and was released after they had left that record label.
Settlers Alive for was recorded live at Queen Elizabeth Hall the previous year, whilst Sing a New Song, had a strongly religious component. Lightning Tree, which, in addition to the title hit, included extracts, spoken by Cindy Kent, from Martin Luther King’s famous I Have a Dream speech of 1963. Lightning Tree was re-released by Decca in 1974 as The World of the Settlers.

Cindy Kent

As has often been the case with sole female members of bands, Cindy Kent attracted her own share of attention. No doubt this was due in part to her fine singing voice, photogenic good looks, and tendency to wear mini-skirts. But her public espousal of Christianity brought her into contact with the singer Cliff Richard, a prominent born again Christian, and they both contributed to various events with a Christian theme.
Kent worked at Radio 4, Radio 2, and Radio 1, and later became a broadcaster on London’s first legal commercial radio stations, LBC and Capital Radio, as well as Sheffield’s Radio Hallam, and in 1995 was the first presenter recruited to the team for Premier Christian Radio, where she stayed until 2010. She describes herself as a high church or catholic Anglican Christian. In 2005 she was admitted as a Reader in the Church of England; on 30 June 2007 she was ordained as a deacon; the following year she was ordained as a priest. She was Priest-in-Charge of the parish of St John, Whetstone in the Diocese of London from 2010 until her retirement in 2016. In 2016, she received an MBE for services to religious broadcasting, and moved to the Isle of Sheppey.