| The
VIPs
(aka The Vipps) |
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Greg
Ridley passed away on the 19th November 2003 in Javea, Spain.
He was recently remarried and was working on a new Greg Ridley's Humble
Pie album and preparing to tour the USA. |
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 This
web page is dedicated to the memory of Frank Kenyon who died recently.
The photographs and most of the information for this site was provided
by his family. |
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From left to right - Mike Harison (lead vocals), Gregg Ridley (bass) , Frank
Kenyon (rhythm guitar), Jimmy Henshaw (lead guitar), and Walter Johnstone
(drums).
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The VIPs were a continuation of Carlisle’s Ramrods
and went on to be one of the most successful Cumbrian band of the 1960’s
achieving national and international fame. Members of the VIPs went on
to other bands such as Art and Spooky Tooth and Mike Harrison is still
appearing and recording today with the Hamburg Blues Band.
Jimmy Hendrix's first ever appearance in England was jamming with the
VIPs in the Scotch of St.James club in London where the VIPs had a residency.
A full eye-witness account of this occasion appears on the Jimmy
Henshaw page of this site.
When
Dave McCumiskey left The
Ramrods to seek fame and fortune in London (he became the bass player
in Eric Clapton’s first band "Casey Jones and the Engineers"
and went on to tour the world with The
Liverpool 5 ) the band reformed at the end of 1963 as the
VIPs with Greg Ridley
replacing Dave McCumiskey on bass.
The other members were Jimmy Henshaw
on lead guitar, Frank Kenyon on rhythm and Walter Johnstone on drums.
The VIPs started to play in and around Carlisle, particularly at the Cosmo
club in Carlisle where they were often supported by other local groups
such as The Firebirds. Mike
Jeffrey, the Animals manager, was aware of them at the time, but unfortunately
other business prevented him from signing them.
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 Early
in 1964 Larry Page signed them to a recording contract. Their first release
"Don't keep Shouting at Me" failed to make the charts.
The
VIPs played at the Cavern after a mad dash down to Liverpool after hearing
at 4 o'clock one afternoon they were to appear at 10:15 that night!
As it had
been a free night the lads were scattered around the county and had to
be gathered up to set off by 6 o'clock. The band were given a warm welcome
and amongst the songs they performed were "Tobacco Road" and
"It's All Over Now".
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The VIPs with 50's Star Dickie Valentine |
Bands
on Tour in Germany with The VIPs
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The VIPs during a tour of Germany |
At one time Mike and Frank found that they had only 1/2p between them
to last a fortnight.
They survived by living on scrounged milk, stale bread and rice and
and money donated bytheir friends. They remained determined not to
pack it in and decided instead to battle on and not to return home
to Carlisle. |
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After
a while the lads decided to leave Larry Page and started to think
about moving south.The VIPs had by this time built up a considerable
following in the north and so they they made their way down to London.
They
made their first recordings in a small studio in Berwick street
run by Pepe Rush. Pepe was able to get them a backing gig with Vince
Taylor at Rye Castle in Hertfordshire and became friends with the
band (as he still is today).
Jimmy
Henshaw used to work with Pepe building and installing disco gear
in London clubs. Pepe built and designed both instruments and amplifiers
for many of the top groups of the 60s.
Pepe
installed equipment in the Scene club in London and the VIPs managed
to gain a residency there. The Scene club was managed by Lionel
Blake who took them under his wing.
While waiting and hoping for success the lads ended up having to
take up menial part-time jobs such as dishwashing and cleaning in
order to eat.
Walter Johnstone worked in the tunnels when they were building the
Victoria underground line in London. He used to make the tea and
get the workers cakes, sandwiches and other things and made a good
living out of it. |
The
VIPs aiming to shoot up the charts |
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Their break finally came when Mike Jeffries stepped in and signed them.
They had by then built up a reputation by working in venues in London.
Jimmy Henshaw wrote both sides of their debut single "She's So Good"
/ "Don't Keep Shouting At Me" released in 1964 on RCA records.
The band played in top London clubs during 1965 and 1966 and also appeared
regularly at the Star Club in Hamburg,
The VIPs appeared on national TV on "Thank Your Lucky Stars"
along with Adam Faith and Sandy Shaw having previously appeared on Border
Television.
They were
thrilled to perform as Bo Diddley's backing group for one gig.
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Plaque outside the Star Club
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The VIPs recorded
a further three singles, one on CBS in 1966 "Wintertime" (on which
they were renamed as The Vipps
which was thought to be a more "with it" name).
They reverted to The VIPs when they signed with Island records. Their first
contact with Island had come in 1965 when they provided backing on a track
"Is a Bluebirb Blue" for a singer known as "The Baron".
They recorded two singles on Island "I Wanna be Free" / Don't
Let it Go" in 1966 and finally "Straight Down to the Bottom"
/ "In a Dream" in 1967.
A VIPs single was issued in the USA only in 1966 "Mercy Mercy"/"That's
My Woman".
One day The VIPs were approached by a youg lad wearing a duffle coat and
national health specs, carrying a book of poems he had written. The lad
suggested they might make good song lyrics. Jimmy Henshaw as guitarist and
songwriter of the band tried a few of the poems and gave them back to the
lad saying they weren't suitable. He commented "What was that supposed
to mean - "We skipped the light fandango"?". Yes, they had
just turned down "A Whiter Shade of Pale". |
Frank Kenyon
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The VIPs had more success with their records in France than they did in
England. Their two Island singles were issued in France as EPs (extended
play 45s usually with four tracks). The first of these in 1966 contained
both sides of their first Island UK single plus their version of "Smokestack
Lightning".
The second
French EP in 1967 contained their second single plus "Every Girl
I See" and "In a Dream". A third EP in 1967 contained Lloyd
Price's "Stagger Lee" with "Rosemary" and "Late
Night Blues".
The band then split with Jimmy Henshaw, Frank Kenyon and Walter Johnstone
leaving.
A new line up was created by adding Mike
Kellie on drums, Luther Grosvenor (guitar) and Keith
Emerson (keyboards).
This line
up only lasted a few months before Keith Emerson left to form The Nice.
This was the end of The VIPs as the remaining members changed their name
to Art.
Art recorded
one album "Supernatural Fairy Tales" in 1967 before adding Gary
Wright in October 1967 and changing their name to Spooky
Tooth.
Spooky Tooth's
first album was "It's All About" which was on Island and was
released in May 1968. Their first single "Sunshine Help Me"
was from this album which also included their version of "Tobacco
Road".
Spooky Tooth
toured extensively in the UK and eventually went on to have success in
the USA where. "It's All About" was renamed "Tobacco Road"
and reached the lower reaches of the American album chart in August 1970.
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Spooky
Tooth released two further albums for Island, "Spooky Two" in
March 1969) and "Ceremony" in January 1970) before they split
up in February 1970.
The band
had a brief revival later in 1970 with Mike Harrison, Luther Grosvenor
and Mike Kellie adding Alan Spanner (bass) and Henry McCullough (guitar)
(who had both been members of Joe Cocker's Grease Band) in place of Greg
Ridley and Gary Wright. Greg Ridley had joined Humble Pie with Steve Marriott.
See Interview
with Greg Ridley on Humble Pie's site.
This lineup of Spooky Tooth released' "The Last Puff" on Island.
Mike Harrison went on to record two solo albums "Mike Harrison"
in 1971 and "Smokestack Lightning" in 1972.
Spooky Tooth
continue with various lineups until 1974 releasing the albums "You
Broke My Heart" and "Witness".
Mike Harrison
was not forgotten by his fans from his Hamburg days and was invited in
2000 to perform with the Hamburg
Blues Band.
They went
on to record "Mike Harrison meets The Hamburg Blues Band" and
in 2002 "Touch" which shows Mike's voice to
be as good as ever. |
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