It was way back in 1960 when 6 guys
got together in Leighton Buzzard Bedfordshire to form a pop group based
on vocal harmony. They called themselves the Knights of the Round Table
but quickly realized it was too many words to put on a poster so for
no other reason at all decided on changing the name to The Barron Knights.
They spent two years travelling up and down the country singing in dance
halls. Transportation was a 27-seater coach, which served as their hotel.
20 seats were removed and 7 beds were installed. Each night they made
just enough money to pay for the fuel to the next gig and a trip to
the chippie.
By 1962 certain members left either to get married or because the lifestyle
did not suit so Barron, Pete, Butch, Duke and Dave were the ones who
wanted a full time career. The remaining five brave Barron Knights soon
found themselves in Hamburg Germany performing 4 hours a night at the
Top Ten club. Along with the Star club the two venues served as the
work places for bands such as the Beatles, Searchers, Gerry and the
Pacemakers and many more. Little Richard and the Everly brothers were
some of the big stars that would come over from America to perform along
side all the unknowns.
In December 63 the late Brian Epstein saw the band perform in Liverpool
and asked they if they would be part of the Beatles first UK tour ending
up with a two week run at the Astoria Finsbury Park London. This raised
the profile of the band but after three failed record releases on the
Phillips Fontana label they decided to change direction and make comedy
records.
In February 1964 Call up the Groups was written as a stage routine.
Under pressure from everyone around they were told if it were recorded
it would be a hit. The boys were not convinced but took everybody’s
advice. After getting over the problem of 17 copyright infringements
and begging all the publishers and groups that it is all a bit of fun
the record was finally released in the July. In 7 days it had hit the
charts. Within two weeks they had sold a quarter of a million records
and further sales kept them in the charts for 14 weeks.
1965 was even more successful with another massive hit with Pop Go The
Workers and a 26-week summer season at the London Palladium with Ken
Dodd. To this day no other show has broken the record for audience numbers.
The Sixties gave the Barron Knights six great hit records and in 68
while recording at E.M.I. Abbey Rd studios Paul McCartney walked in
to play a song he had just penned. He nearly remembered the words and
piano chords and sang Hey Jude. He asked what we thought and the BKs
agreed it was a nice little song. It became one of the Beatles biggest
ever single records.
In the early Seventies the Barron Knights started to tour overseas covering
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong, and of course Europe.
This gave them a rest from recording and a chance to get out to perform
in front of the fans that had bought the records. That was when the
show started to develop into a concert as opposed to cabaret.
In 1977 and on the day Elvis passed away the Barron Knights performed
a new number in Tenby South West Wales. It was called Live In Trouble.
The reaction was like Call Up the Groups in 1964 so within days they
were in the studio. Pete took the track to CBS and a five-year deal
was struck. Within weeks they were back on Top Of The Pops and over
the next five years sold millions of records all over world giving them
a career boost that will last forever..........and it has !!
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