The Tornados

Wikipedia:

The Tornados were an English instrumental group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and U.S. Number One "Telstar" (named after the satellite and composed by Meek), the first U.S. #1 by a British group.

Career

From January 1962 to August 1963, The Tornados were the backing band of Billy Fury; they toured and recorded with him as The Tornados. Their recordings were produced by Mike Smith and Ivor Raymonde.

The Tornados made a scopitone film (an early form of music video) for "Telstar" and another for their chart hit "Robot" featuring members of the group walking around woodland dressed in appropriate headgear with their guitars, flirting with various young women and being finally arrested by policemen after lighting a campfire.

For a time the Tornados were considered serious rivals to The Shadows. The Tornados single "Globetrotter" made it to number 5 in the UK Singles Chart but Meek induced bassist Heinz Burt to leave for a solo career and in 1963 the group began to fall apart. By 1965 none of the original lineup remained. On some promotional items, later lineups were therefore credited as Tornados '65 and The New Tornados, but these names were never used on the Tornados releases. Later in the mid sixties The Tornados backed Billy Fury again, with Dave Watts on keyboards, Robby Gale on guitar and John Davies on drums. In 1968, in Israel to perform in Mandy Rice-Davies' night club "Mandys", they stayed for a ten week tour after which they disbanded, leaving Watts in Israel playing with The Lions of Judea.

Later years

After drummer and bandleader Clem Cattini left the Tornados in 1965 he became a successful session musician, playing on recording sessions for other artists, and was featured in Cliff Richard's backing bands. He holds the record for appearing the most times on UK #1 singles.

Rhythm guitarist George Bellamy is the father of Matthew Bellamy, the front man of British Alternative Rock band Muse.

In 1975 Clem Cattini, Roger LaVern, Heinz Burt and George Bellamy reunited and released a version of "Telstar" as the Original Tornados. In the 1970s Billy Fury formed a new backing band called Fury's Tornados with a completely unrelated line-up. They also recorded and released a version of "Telstar" in the mid 1970s.

In 1996 Ray Randall wrote and recorded a 3-track CD with Bryan Irwin and Stuart Taylor, using the band name Ray Randall's Tornados, as a tribute to the late Joe Meek, 30 years after Meek's death. Randall has since recorded a solo album entitled "Polly Swallow" (1997).

Panda Bear sampled two Tornados songs on his album Person Pitch.

"Do You Come Here Often?"

The B-side of the final single that the group released, in 1966, "Do You Come Here Often?", was the first openly "gay" pop record release by a UK major label. It started off as a standard organ-inspired instrumental, but Joe Meek decided that the organ playing was a little too jazzy for the style of the group. So, about two-thirds in, a casual conversation between what appears to be two gay men (Dave Watts playing keyboards and Rob Gale playing guitar) was overdubbed. The song was featured, along with other gay-flavoured releases, on a 2006 compilation CD, Queer Noises.

Members

Bryan Irwin (rhythm guitar), Dave Cameron (lead guitar), Peter Adams (drums), Dave Watts (keyboards), Ray Randall (bass guitar), Roger Warwick (tenor saxophone)

Billy Fury

At the present time, members of Fury's Tornados act in The Billy Fury Story starring Colin Gold as Fury. These are Charlie Elston, Chris Raynor, Graham Wyvill and John Raynor.

Discography

"Nobody's Child"; "What Did I Do"; "I Can't Help Loving You"; "Keep Away"