This weeks Flashback Friday celebrates six music stars from the 1960s.
I have counted myself extremely fortunate to have interviewed several artists from a decade of music I have simply loved a lifetime.
So here are six from the 1960s, Brian Locking who took over from Jet Harris in The Shadows. Wales own Maureen Evans, chart-topper Frank Ifield, Graham Nash of The Hollies, the legendary PJ Proby and Roger McGuinn of The Byrds!
Andy Howells with Brian Locking of The Shadows in Newport, November 2019.
Brian Licorice Locking (The Shadows)
(October 2019)
“I was doing nothing for about 3 to 4 months, I thought “That’s the end of my career”. Then Brian rang me and said, “Jet is leaving. Would you be interested in taking his place?” I nearly died, “Me? I’m not the mean and moody type – the total opposite!”
1960s chart star Maureen Evans came from South Wales
Maureen Evans
(July 2017)
“ I’d made them laugh because when they said, “Next week you’re covering Sophia Loren”. They heard a cry of “Agh!” down the phone. They said, “Don’t worry love, we want you to sound like her, not look like her!”
Andy Howells meets Frank Ifield in Cwmbran in May 2019.
Frank Ifield
(May 2018)
“ I changed the whole structure of I Remember You and it was just one of those magic things that happened. Of course, once that happened they (EMI) had to renew my contract at a much better price.”
Graham Nash played Wales Millennium Centre in 2019
Graham Nash (The Hollies, Crosby, Stills & Nash)
(July 2019)
“When you put a single out, there’s a B-side to it and the music on those B-sides made as much publishing money as the A-sides. We realised you could make extra money if you wrote the B-side and that’s what we started to do.”
PJ Proby has regularly featured in 1960s tours in recent years.
PJ Proby
(August 2016)
““The minute my pants split across the knees on stage, Mary Whitehouse put it out on the headlines – Obscene!,”
Roger McGuinn visited Cardiff in 2014
Roger McGuinn (The Byrds)
(November 2014)
“The Searchers were definitely an inspiration. They did Needles and Pins and that “dee dah dah dah” sound that we used in a Gene Clark song, I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better When You’re Gone”