The Applejacks

As they had no singer, they played instrumental songs by groups like The Shadows and Tornados. Singer Al Jackson (Harry Llewellyn - born April 21, 1945) joined in 1962 and The Applejacks soon became a popular attraction with a regular residency at Solihull Civic Hall. They played a lot of American style rock 'n' roll; Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles etc. and were unusual for the time in having a female bass guitarist (Megan Davies).

The Applejacks caught the first wave of the 'beat boom' when they were signed up by talent scouts from the Decca Record Company in late 1963. From that point on, things were to move fast for the young group. In February of 1964 they had their first record released on a single. 'Tell Me When' was composed by songwriters Les Reed and former school teacher Geoff Stephens. The record was a brilliant and catchy composition - fitting the times perfectly. Produced by Mike Smith, it peaked at number 7 in the U.K. and remained in the charts for 13 weeks. Some of the band members were still going to school at the time!

The success of Tell Me When brought The Applejacks national TV appearances on shows like 'Ready Steady Go!' and 'Thank Your Lucky Stars' where the group became friends with the Beatles who they met during a rehearsal. Al Jackson remembers Paul McCartney asking them if they had a follow-up record to Tell Me When to which Al replied "No". Paul said "Would you like one then?" John Lennon and Paul McCartney provided the Applejacks with a previously un-published Beatles song 'Like Dreamers Do' (one of the earliest Lennon/McCartney compositions) so the group recorded this with it being released as the follow-up single.

The Applejacks provided an excellent interpretation of the song and to their credit, used their own arrangement rather than just "copying" the Beatles demo. Hopes were high as recordings of Beatles compositions by other artists had proven very successful but despite this, the Applejacks version of Like Dreamers Do only got to number 20 in the U.K. record charts.

Nonetheless, 1964 proved to be a very busy year for The Applejacks. The group appeared in the British pop music film 'Just For You' which also featured Freddie and The Dreamers and Peter and Gordon. In addition to regular TV apperances, The Applejacks performed live on the coveted 'New Musical Express' annual poll winners concert at Wembley. Perhaps even more memorable was when Megan Davies and drummer Gerry Freeman were married in a highly publicized wedding that was attended by hundreds of screaming local teenagers!

The Applejacks recorded an album for Decca Records under the direction of future Gary Glitter producer Mike Leander. This self-titled album had a simple yet refreshing production style which suited the group well but unfortunately it did not sell enough copies to make the album charts. A new Applejacks single was also released by Decca but the awkward 'Three Little Words' stalled at No. 23 and was to be their last showing in the record charts. Other singles were recorded by The Applejacks but even a very good version of The Kinks 'I Go To Sleep' could not reverse the group's chart decline.

By 1966, The Applejacks had accepted a lucrative contract in cabaret to perform on board the luxury Trans-Atlantic ocean liners R.M.S. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth I and II. Although a good move for the band financially, chartwise it may have proved to be their undoing. The Cunard engagements isolated them from their fans and made the promotion of any new records by the group all but impossible.

Changes in the group's line-up also became a problem. Lead vocalist/front-man Al Jackson left and was replaced by John Washington. Don Gould left in 1967 for a successful career in music production and drummer Gerry Freeman also left to become an in-demand session drummer. He was replaced by Paul Willetts.

After being dropped by Decca, The Applejacks switched to CBS Records for their final single release You've Been Cheatin' which was a cover of a soul song by The Impressions. Martin Baggott was the next to leave and he later emigrated to California after giving up his music career. Megan Davies also left and joined a Brum group called Mongrel - the same band that Roy Wood re-formed as the chart-topping 'Wizzard' after he left the Electric Light Orchestra (see The Move).