The New Vaudeville Band

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The New Vaudeville Band was a British band formed in 1966 by songwriter Geoff Stephens . She was best known for her song Winchester Cathedral .

history

The songwriter Geoff Stephens wrote the song Winchester Cathedral in 1966 , which was about a youngster who was abandoned by his girlfriend in Winchester Cathedral . He played the song with studio musicians and released it as a single by The New Vaudeville Band . John Carter , with whom Geoff Stephens previously wrote the hit My World Fell Down for producer Gary Usher's band Sagittarius , is usually given as the lead singer . According to other sources, however, it was Bobby Dean (actually John Smith). According to a third source, the specialist journalists Frank Laufenberg and Julia Edenhofer , Geoff Stephens sings himself ("so that the whole thing would be as he imagined it"). The song became a million seller . In the United States , 1.5 million copies of the single sold in just 6 weeks and the song topped the music charts for three weeks .

Because of the surprising success, Geoff Stephens had to put together a band with which he could go on tour . Of the stage musicians, drummer Henri Harrison was there when the single was recorded; Alan Klein , who was introduced as Tristram - Seventh Earl Of Cricklewood , was hired as singer . This should sound "very British" in America and so increase the market value of the band at the time of the British Invasion . They strutted around the stage in only original clothing from the 1920s and 1930s and acted like bored, aristocratic snobs .

The song Winchester Cathedral received a Grammy in 1967 for best contemporary rock and roll recording . By 1970 there were over 400 cover versions of the song, including by Frank Zappa .

Members

  • Geoff Stephens (born October 1, 1934), songwriter
  • John Carter (born October 20, 1942), singer
live and on the singles from Peek-A-Boo replaced by Alan Klein "Tristram Seventh Earl of Cricklewood" , (born June 29, 1942) vocals

Discography

Albums

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
US US
1966 Winchester Cathedral US5
gold
gold

(31 weeks)US

More albums

  • 1967: On Tour
  • 1974: The World Of the New Vaudeville Band
  • 1978: While We Are All Assembled!
  • 1979: The Best Of the New Vaudeville Band
  • 1981: Vaudeville

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT UK UK US US
1966 Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral 		DE15 (16 weeks)
DE 		AT8 (12 weeks)
AT 		UK4 (19 weeks)
UK 		US1
gold
gold

(15 weeks)US
1967 Peek-A-Boo
On Tour 		- - UK7 (11 weeks)
UK 		US72 (4 weeks)
US
Finchley Central
On Tour 		- - UK11 (9 weeks)
UK 		-
Green Street Green
 - - UK37 (4 weeks)
UK 		-

More singles

  • 1968: Bonnie and Clyde

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pete Frame: Rockin 'Around Britain: Rock'n'roll Landmarks of the UK and Ireland , 1999
  2. ^ Paul Simpson: The Rough Guide to Cult Pop , 2003, p. 191 ( [1] )
  3. ↑ In his official artist biography , Carter also claims to have sung Winchester Cathedral . The 2007 RPM Records album Winchester Cathedral with the complete works of the New Vaudeville Band also contains a demo recording of Winchester Cathedral sung by John Carter as track 33 .
  4. ↑ http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/dirn/newv.htm
  5. ↑ [Frank and Ingrid Laufenberg: Frank Laufenberg's Hit Lexicon of Rock and Pop (in three volumes); Berlin: Ullstein, 2007; ISBN 978-3-548-36920-4 ]
  6. ^ [The great oldie lexicon, Bastei-Lübbe, 1991 ISBN 3-404-60288-9 ]
  7. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE AT UK US
  8. ↑ a b Awards for Music Sales: US