basically a covers band, but they were really, really good. So I was talking with them in the bar afterwards and Barry Graham told me since they had a record in the charts, the band wanted to start being a full time band again, so The Majority were looking for a guitarist who could sing. I remember thinking, ‘What record in the charts?’ and he told me that they had backed Barry Ryan on ‘Eloise’. I was rehearsing with them the following Monday and two weeks later I was in the band. One of the first things I did with The Majority was The Beach Boys tour with Barry Ryan.”
Backing Ryan on the UK Top 10 hit ‘Eloise’ (recorded while original Majority drummer Don Lill was still with the band), gave the band a needed boost. “We were session singers on ‘Eloise’,” explains Bob Long. “We played at a lot of the ‘in’ clubs and I guess someone who worked with the Ryans saw us and thought we could do the job. We backed Barry Ryan on a tour with The Beach Boys in December ’68.” Pete Mizen recalls they also did sessions for several tracks that were recorded for Barry Ryan’s solo album, which was being
recorded in late ’68 and that the group appeared with Ryan on several TV appearances, including Top Of The Pops and The Simon Dee Show. The Majority’s final collaboration with Barry Ryan was on the Feb ’69 ‘Love Is Love’ single, on which they were even given a credit on the label of the single. John Turner remembers they were certainly pleased to be working with a hit act, but that they were not overly impressed with either Barry Ryan, or his songwriter brother, Paul. “I think the backing of the Ryan twins was quite short- lived – a few sessions in the recording studios and two-three weeks touring,” he recalls. “The Ryans were not very good singers and could not harmonise at all. The Majority did not get on with them. They were stars of the live shows but were heavily carried by the band.”
Shortly after the completion of The Beach Boys tour, Chris Kelly was asked to leave the group. “Chris was a bit of a moody guy and one day there was a big row at a rehearsal and he said, ‘That’s it, bugger off, I’m leaving,’ and that was it,” remembers Mizen. Kelly was quickly replaced by a Scottish drummer named Ian Sutherland.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140