A British teen idol in the early days of Beatlemania, Heinz (full name Heinz Burt) was the bassist for the Tornados, the instrumental group best remembered for topping the charts on both sides of the Atlantic with "Telstar." He was plucked from the group by producer Joe Meek to become a solo act, and hit the British Top Five with the Eddie... [+] Read More

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Like the better-remembered Adam Faith, John Leyton had a lot of success in Britain in the early '60s with lugubrious teen idol pop that was only tenuously related to rock & roll. Not much of a singer, his hits are most notable for Joe Meek's inventive production, which utilized ghostly female backup vocals, variable-speed pianos, and swirling... [+] Read More

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Mike Berry is a British singer with a taste for '50s American rock & roll. He scored his first hit in England with "Tribute to Buddy Holly" (number 24) in 1961 and followed it with two 1963 singles, "Don't You Think It's Time" (number six) and "My Little Baby" (number 34), but didn't release an album until 1975's Rock's in My Head. He returned... [+] Read More

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Strictly speaking, Phil Spector wasn't even a performer -- he's a musician, but he very rarely released records under his name. However, as a producer -- and, to a significant extent, songwriter, label owner, and session player -- he has influenced the course of rock & roll for more than all but a handful of performers. The Wall of Sound that he... [+] Read More

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He couldn't properly be considered part of the British Invasion -- he never had a hit in the U.S. or the U.K. -- but Screaming Lord Sutch laid some unheralded groundwork for the phenomenon. With a rock & horror act based to a large degree on Screamin' Jay Hawkins, David "Lord" Sutch was one of the first genuine rock & roll longhairs, and his... [+] Read More

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Mostly renowned for their 1964 Top Five hit "Have I the Right," the Honeycombs were pretty much a front for producer Joe Meek and the songwriting-management team of Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley. With bee-sting guitar leads and lead singer Dennis O'Dell's wobbling vocals, which sounded like a Gene Pitney unable to hold notes, "Have I the Right"... [+] Read More

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Southern rock unit the Outlaws was formed in Tampa, FL in 1972 by singers/guitarists Hughie Thomasson and Henry Paul, bassist Frank O'Keefe, and drummer Monte Yoho. With the 1973 addition of guitarist Billy Jones, the lineup was complete, and after a year of intense touring the band became the first act signed to Arista under Clive Davis; the... [+] Read More

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Originally Cliff Richard's backing band, the British quartet the Shadows began recording on their own in 1960 and had a major hit with the instrumental "Apache." They were built around guitarists Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, with an ever-changing rhythm section (Terry "Jet" Harris and Tony Meehan, the original bassist and drummer, were the most... [+] Read More

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One of the saddest stories in rock & roll history surrounds the Tornados, an instrumental group from Britain. Although there were other groups with the same name (see listing for their surf-band American counterparts), this batch of Tornados were the creation of British producer Joe Meek. Meek was England's first independent producer, being... [+] Read More

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