WHO'S WHO - THE SHADOWS PERSONNEL

The Shadows were one of the most outstanding rock instrumental groups and were producing recordings from 1959 (as The Drifters, Cliff Richard's backing Group - now of course Sir Cliff Richard) through a number of personnel changes until 1993. Individuals are still recording and touring most notably Hank, but Jet Harris is still performing, Alan Jones has just released an album and Brian Bennett appears to be busy with writing and recording. In the table below are the names and dates of the "major" players.

I have also started to add some notes with points of interest about specific Shadows, their music and their musical talents. Watch this space !

Dates comments
Hank B Marvin October 1958 - 1993 lead guitar and spectacles and still going strong, my "favourite"
Bruce Welch October 1958 - 1993 rythm guitar, has also produced albums for Sir Cliff
Tony Meehan January 1959 - October 1961 drums, later recorded hits with Jet Harris
Jet Harris November 1958 - April 1962 bass guitar, later recorded hits with Tony Meehan
Brian BENNETT October 1961 - 1993 drums, saw him touring with Hank in 1994, still producing great albums and TV / film scores
"LIQUORICE" Locking April 1962 - October 1963 bass guitar, left for religious reasons
John ROSTILL October 1963 - October 1969 bass guitar, tragically died in his home studio
John Farrar 1970 - 1975 Joined Hank & Bruce to form vocal group (Marvin, Welch & Farrar) but later played guitar in The Shadows. Also recorded with Hank as Marvin & Farrar.
Cliff Richard associate occasional vocalist
Jerry Lordan associate Wrote some of the Shads most memorable hits
Norrie Paramor associate Produced many of the Shads most memorable hits and also wrote "Man of Mystery", "The Savage" & " The Frightened City"

Other notable, "though less well known" members have been:-

Inclusion in this list rather than the table above is not intended to make any comment on their contribution to the recordings or the career of the Shadows.Further details will be added in the fullness of time, watch this space, however meanwhile read a few notes and jottings extracted from souvenir programmes from past tours.

The above dates were extracted from "THE STORY OF THE SHADOWS", an autobiography with Mike Read, published in 1984 by Sphere Books (London). This is a facinating book full of facts and also contains several pages of tributes to The Shadows by artists such as:- Pete Townsend, Tim Rice, Eric Clapton,Roger Taylor and Brian May.

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