| The Stargazers were a very popular vocal group on BBC radio throughout the 1950s. They could be described as novelty choralists having a style not dissimilar to the US group 'The New Christie Minstrels' of a decade later. Although the group seem to have ceased recording in about 1960, they had by then spawned other outfits that would carry the genre into the future. They will be more familiar to those of us who remember listening to radio shows like 'Take It From Here' in the mid to late 1950s, rather than those with an eye to the record charts. | |
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Although the Stargazers would normally fall into that category of music called "Easy Listening", they nevertheless adapted their style a little to take advantage of the musical fashion- which at the end of 1956 was very much "Rock And Roll". Hence this EP release which is now extremely hard to find, but gives us a great picture of the group at that time.The lady pictured is apparently Eula Parker and she is accompanied here- according to the sleeve notes- by Cliff Adams, Bob Brown, Fred Dachtler and David Carey. |
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The original group, with pianist Bernie Fenton, were brought together by the London born pianist/ trombonist Cliff Adams in January of 1949. They then included Marie Benson who had been born in Australia. She had already established herself as a singer in that country before coming to the UK during 1948 to broaden her career. She appeared on most of the early singles, but was later replaced by other ladies. The original lead singer was Dick James who later went on to solo success singing the theme from 'Robin Hood'- the new ITV series- much loved by younger members of the UK population. His place was filled by Bob Brown who had previously played the trumpet with Jack Jackson's Orchestra. David Carey had previously worked as a drummer for the Lew Stone Orchestra before turning to singing while with Cyril Stapleton. His place had previously been filled by Ronnie Milne. Fred Dachtler probably became their longest serving member; he had previously played saxophone and clarinet with a number of orchestras. The Stargazers too took advantage of Independent Television and even released the catchy 'Murray Mints' commercial jingle as 'Sorry, You'll Have To Wait' during 1957. Cliff Adams formed the 'Cliff Adams Singers' in 1954 who became familiar to radio listeners with their show 'Sing Something Simple' which remained popular for the entire 1960s and beyond. The Stargazers created several very successful records during the early 1950s including two #1s. These were produced with a number of different orchestras, most notably with that of Cyril Stapleton who also had close associations with BBC radio. They became the resident singers with Cyril Stapleton's Show Band- a radio programme that ran for many years from January 1953. Besides their own hits, they were also regularly used as backing singers on the records of a number of UK artists. These included Roy Smith, Dennis Lotis, Dickie Valentine, and Lita Roza. |
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