The Tornados

Career

From January 1962-August 1963 The Tornados were the backing band for Billy Fury (as well as recording and performing as an act in their own right); they toured and recorded with Fury as The Tornados. Their recordings with Fury 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 a 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 #5 in the UK Singles Chart. However, pop instrumentals began to lose popularity with British audiences during the course of 1963 as the "Mersey Sound", most notably The Beatles, became more and more popular. In the summer of 1963 Joe Meek induced The Tornados' bassist Heinz Burt to start a solo career, as The Tornados' chart success as an instrumental outfit waned, and from that point onwards The Tornados began to fall apart. By 1965 none of the original lineup remained.

On some promotional items, later lineups were credited as Tornados '65 and The New Tornados, but these names were never used on The Tornados' releases. In the mid-'60s 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", the band stayed for a ten-week tour after which they disbanded, leaving Watts and Huxley in Israel, playing with The Lions of Judea and The Churchills respectively.

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 for British alternative rock band Muse.

They re-formed as The New Tornados in the early 1970s as the backing group for Marty Wilde, Billy Fury and others on a year-long UK Rock n Roll Tour. They continued for another few years with lead guitarist Tony Cowell and drummer Jon Werrell touring with original members Norman Hale and Heinz Burt, plus "The King Of Rock Roll" Carl Simmons. The group was often part of a '60s package with other artists, including Wee Willie Harris and Screaming Lord Sutch.

It was Jon Werrell who loaned his Silver Premier drum kit to John Bonham when Led Zeppelin played their famous impromptu December 1975 gig at Behans St Helier while tax exiles in Jersey.

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 three-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.

Former members

Singles

EPs

"Ridin the Wind"; "Earthy"; "Dreamin' on a Cloud" (Heinz [Burt]); "Red Roses and a Sky of Blue" (Meek)

"Love and Fury"; "Popeye Twist"; "Telstar"; "Jungle Fever"

"Chasing Moonbeams"; "Theme from 'A Summer Place'"; "Swinging Beefeater"; "The Breeze and I"

"Ready Teddy"; "My Babe"; "Blue Moon of Kentucky"; "Long Tall Sally"

Albums

"Please Stay" / "Starlight" / "Jersey Girl" / "Once We Were Friends" / "Out There Looking for Love" / "Satellite" / "Telstar Now" / "Dancing with Danger" / "Silver Bird" / "Startel" / "Nessun Dorma" / "Telstar (the mix)".

Foreign releases

Side 1: "Telstar" / "Red Roses and a Sky of Blue" / "Chasing Moonbeams" / "Earthy" / "Swinging Beefeater" / "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" Side 2: "Love and Fury" / "Dreamin' on a Cloud" / "Ridin' the Wind" / "The Breeze and I" / "Jungle Fever" / "Popeye Twist"

New Zealand 7" Single 45 rpm. Side 1: "The Twist" Side 2: "Deep in the Heart of Texas Twist"

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"