Shane Fenton (& The Fentones)
  • Real Name: Shane Fenton (originally: Bernard William Jewry)
  • Birth Date: 27th September 1942
  • Birth Place: Muswell Hill, London

    • It is not uncommon for a singer to have two or more careers under different names, but such attempts are frequently all failures. However, Shane Fenton managed to have successful chart careers under his adopted name during the early 1960s and also as Alvin Stardust a decade later.

    Although he was born in London during World War II, Bernard spent his formative years in Nottinghamshire and has always regarded Mansfield as his home town. His musical career began through the demise of a vocalist who sang with a group calling themselves the Tremelos during 1959. Bernard Jewry, as he then was, filled the vacancy and adopted the more commercial sounding name of Shane Fenton- he later made it his real name by deed poll. When the group got the chance of a radio broadcast on the BBC's 'Saturday Club' the backing group hurriedly became the Fentones.

    The Fentones were a competent outfit, broadly similar to the Shadows and had Bobby Elliott on drums until he left to replace Don Rathbone in the Hollies. Their instrumental skills can be found on two Parlophone issued singles, which both made the lower reaches of the charts despite the absence of their vocalist.

    Shane Fenton achieved four chart appearances with the group. After the last of these hits, which was the only one to get inside the top twenty- thus hinting at a possible future breakthrough, his following singles were issued without the Fentones. It seems unfortunate that he should have done this at the time 'Merseybeat' emerged and when a 'group sound' would appear to have been an essential for chart survival. The expectation was that he would slowly sink into obscurity during the next decade along with other pioneers of British rock and roll. In fact, he re-emerged as the black leather clad 'Alvin Stardust', riding high on the tide of 'glam' rock, managing to turn his former anachronistic style into a new fashion and appealing to a new younger audience.

    1950s & 1960s 45rpm UK Discography

    • Listings include UK 45 singles releases only
    • Collector's Items are shown In Red

    Parlophone R4827 1961 I'm A Moody Guy/ Five Foot Two, Eyes Of Blue #22
    Parlophone R4866 1962 Walk Away/ Fallen Leaves On The Ground #38
    Parlophone R4883 1962 It's All Over Now/ Why Little Girl #29
    Parlophone R4921 1962 Cindy's Bithday/ It's Gonna Take Magic #19
    Parlophone R4951 1962 You're Telling Me/ Too Young For Sad Memories  
    Parlophone R4982 1963 Hey Miss Ruby/ I Ain't Got Nobody  
    Parlophone R5020 1963 A Fool's Paradise/ You Need Love  
    Parlophone R5047 1963 Don't Do That/ I'll Know  
    Parlophone R5131 1964 Hey Lulu/ I Do, Do You  
    The Fentones (Instrumentals)
    Parlophone R4899 1962 The Mexican/ Lover's Guitar #41
    Parlophone R4937 1962 The Breeze And I/ Just For Jerry #48

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