The Bo Street Runners

The Bo Street Runners were an English R&B band formed in Harrow, England in 1963. The band released four singles in their existence along with a rare extended play. They gained prominence in the United Kingdom for winning the Ready Steady Go! band contest, and for including future Fleetwood Mac drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and vocalist, Mike Patto. All of the group's recordings have been re-released on a compilation album.^[1]

History

The band began in 1963 as The Roadrunners, but changed their name to The Bo Street Runners when another British group was already recording with the name. The group's original lineup included Gary Thomas on lead guitar, Bob O' Brien on keyboards, Nigel Hutchison on drums, Dave Cameron on bass guitar and John Dominic, vocals. They were heavily influenced by Bo Diddley in both style and playing, his name also being the inspiration for their name. They made a name for themselves playing on Sundays at a venue called the Railway Hotel, where The Who also gained their own following. In the spring of 1964, the band entered the Ready,Steady -Win! competition, a contest designed to find "the next Beatles", with the grand prize being £1,000 and a recording contract with Decca Records. The band fit the criteria to enter which was having no recording history, and at least one original composition. On September 8, 1964 the band won the contest with their performance of "I'm a Bo Street Runner".^[2] With the victory, the band signed to the Decca label for their only single with the company. The single, "I'm a Bo Street Runner" b/w "Tell Me", with all the publicity the band received from the show, managed to sell over 20,000 copies in the United Kingdom, but did not chart nationally. Along with the single, 99 copies of an EP was produced for the band to sell at their gigs which now had the group supporting acts like The Rolling Stones and Tom Jones.^[3]

Following the band's single and EP, Decca sold their contract to Columbia Records in 1965. The band went through many personnel changes as band members did not like the changes in musical direction that the band was going to go through. Only Thomas, Dominic and Cameron remained from the original lineup, and they were joined by two London jazzers, Roy Fry on keyboards an Glyn Thomas on drums. This line-up was to record the band's second single, a James Brown track, 'Tell me What You gonna Do' which sank unnoticed into oblivion. The 3rd line up, in the Summer of 65 broughtin Tim Hinkley on keys and Mick Fleetwood in the drum seat. Fleetwood joined when he responded to an ad in the Melody Maker, almost immediately performing with the band. Their next single, derived more so in jazz rather than blues, was "Baby Never Say Goodbye". The song brought favourable reviews from critics, and regional acclaim when it reached number 36 on the Radio London Fab Forty.^[4] The song was expected to reach the UK national charts; however, there was a workers strike at the record plant issuing the band's single so no more further copies were produced. Fleetwood and John Dominic left the band after the single and a final single followed with Mike Patto on vocals. This disc, released in 1966, included on the A-side a soul-orientated cover version of The Beatles song, "Drive My Car", the only recording to feature Patto.^[4]

The band toured one last time, but, with the lack of commercial success, they decided to disband in October 1966. Fleetwood was the only member to achieve any notable success after the band broke up with the band, Fleetwood Mac. On November 17, 2014, the first compilation album devoted solely to the band's material was released by Cherry Red Records, entitled Never Say Goodbye: The Complete Recordings 1964 - 1966. The album includes all of the band's recordings, including the EP tracks, all of their singles, and the version of "I'm a Bo Street Runner" that was played for Ready Steady Go!.^[5]

References

External links

• Official website