Emile Ford
Emile Ford and the Checkmates were a British rock and roll band of the early 1960s.
Band History
In the early 1950s came Emile Sweetman and his family of Nassau in the Bahamas to England. He went to the Paddington Technical College and learned to play the guitar next to the school. Both he joined, by developing his own sound system which he used during his performances with his brothers instead of the usual standard sound systems.
As musicians, they were so good that they won a talent competition of the music label Pye Records in Soho and got a record deal. Emile was called " Emile Ford " and his band, the " Checkmates " consisted of his two half-brothers George and Dave, Ken Street, Pete Carter, Les Hart, Alan Hawkshaw and John Cuffley.
Their first single was a more modern version of the song What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For. The song was first sung in the 1916 Broadway show Follow Me by Henry Lewis. The version of Emile Ford & the Checkmates produced by the legendary Joe Meek and hit immediately. The end of 1959 she became a number -one hit in the UK and for six weeks.
After the great success she tried on in the re-recording of classics. An EP with songs Red Sails in the Sunset and Heavenly concluded, inter alia No. 1 on the EP charts. And the second single On a Slow Boat to China reached # 3 on the singles charts. The song was 1948 already been a million seller for Benny Goodman.
Three more singles were the band in 1960 in the Top 20, including a further Meek production, the number -4- Hit Counting Teardrops, but in 1961 it went down slowly with success. Another friend, singer, Jimmy Justice, helped Emile and the Checkmates for entry into the pop business. About the same competition and the same record label Jimmy came to his first single, which was developed by Ford and on which he was accompanied by the Checkmates. Justice had two 1962 Top 10 hits. This year also Emile Ford could solo place with I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now one last time in the charts, it was quiet around him and the Checkmates with the advent of beat music.
The two brothers George Dave, now Sweetman Ford called themselves, as well as the drummer Barry Reeves made in the band The Ferris Wheel on. Alan Hawkshaw had with the bands and Fancy Love and Kisses and solo successes, working as a session musician for well-known artists like The Shadows, Barbra Streisand and Olivia Newton -John and also composed music for television.
Emile Ford continued as a singer on the road, but it developed into a trend that musicians continued more and more frequently on their own sound systems and a pioneer he took a turn to marketing his conditioning and his experience. In the late 1960s he moved to Scandinavia and since the 1990s he has lived in California.
Was written the song by Joseph McCarthy, Jimmy Monaco and Howard Johnson. It is not entirely clear who sang it first. The American Henry Lewis, who became famous in the Broadway comedy show Follow Me in New York, it was added in 1916 or 1917 and possibly sung in the musical. From 1917 there is a recording as a duet by the two popular U.S. singers Billy Murray and Ada Jones, possibly later also. In a Broadway show The Better ' Ole
Other versions of the song are available from:
- Betty Hutton ( 1945), Ray Peterson (1960), Debbie Reynolds ( 1973), the Beatles, the Johnny Otis Show, Mickey Most, Ruby Wright and others
Another time in the charts was the song in 1987 in the version of Shakin 'Stevens. The Rockabillysänger, who also specialized in cover versions, so had his last Top 10 hit in the UK.
Members
- Emile Ford ( born October 16, 1937 in Castries, St. Lucia), singer and guitarist
- George Sweetman, bassist
- Dave Sweetman, Saxophonist
- Ken Street, guitarist
- John Cuffley, drums
- Peter Carter, guitarist
- Les Hart, saxophonist
- Alan Hawkshaw, Pianist