This band really started life as the
Farinas who were a popular local R&B act in the Leicester
area during the early to mid-1960s. Despite having the opportunity
to record with Fontana, greater recognition eluded them so they
decided on a more gimmicky approach. They donned double breasted
suits to give themselves a 1920's look and changed their name
to the 'Roaring Sixties'. Their appearance now made them resemble
gangsters and their new name was dropped again, this time in
favour of the seemingly more appropriate 'The Family'.
They soon lost the mafia style suits
and became much more progressive than thay had been hitherto,
doubtless due to the originality of Whitney and Chapman's songwriting.
The group's early material is now better represented by their
1960s albums than their singles, the first of which was almost
ignored and now fetches a high price as a collector's item.
In 1969, Grech chose to leave quite
suddenly- almost on the eve of their first scheduled tour of
the US. He decided to seize an opportunity to join Steve Winwood
and Eric Clapton in the much hyped, but short lived 'Blind Faith'.
This departure seemed to trigger a long series of personnel changes
but the band continued to output popular recordings until 1974
at which time Chapman and Whitney decided to try a new direction
with 'Streetwalkers'. |