Chuck Fryers (guitar, vocals)
Mick Ketley (keyboards, vocals)
Bryan Stevens (bass)
Bob Pettit (sax)
Bernie Smith (drums)
1964
December The group evolves out of Bognor Regis group, The Detours, which was formed in early 1960 by bass player Bryan Stevens (b. 14 November 1943, Laha Datu, North Borneo). The Detours have gone through numerous personnel changes over the years with singer Johnny Devlin (real name: Johnny Hobbs, not the New Zealand singer) joining in early 1962. His arrival prompts a name change to Johnny Devlin & The Detours. Shortly afterwards, Stevens recruits former Soundtracks keyboard player Mick Ketley (b. 1 October 1947, Balham, London). Later that year, he also brings in former Cruisers guitarist Alan Paul “Chuck” Fryers (b. 24 May 1945, Bognor Regis, West Sussex) and adds sax player Bob Pettit from a Chichester abattoir. In 1963, Bernie Smith, another former Soundtracks member, takes over the drum stool. Johnny Devlin & The Detours sign to Pye in November and record two tracks – “Sometimes” and “If You Want Someone”, which are coupled for a single, released in January 1964. Despite a group appearance on TV show Thank Your Lucky Stars, the single fails to chart and Devlin leaves. Pete Townshend and John Entwistle see Devlin’s band on the TV show and decided to change their band’s name from The Detours to The High Numbers, which will subsequently become The Who. The group carries on with singer John Read and plays venues on the south coast like Littlehampton’s Top Hat and Worthing’s Mexican Hat. Bob Gaitley, who runs both clubs, invites The Detours to back a new singer, South African Mike Bush, who is launching himself as Beau Brummell. The group accepts and changes name to The Noblemen. EMI producer Bob Barrett signs Beau Brummell and The Noblemen and takes them into Abbey Road to record a single – Beau Brummell Esquire and His Noblemen’s “I Know, Know, Know” backed by a version of “Shopping Around” from Elvis’ film GI Blues.
1965
January Mike Turnill briefly joins on sax taking over from Pettit, who returns to work in an abattoir and plays with Johnny Devlin in Act IV.
(4) The new line up appears on Granada Television in Manchester. Despite an appearance by Brummell on TV show Ready Steady Go, his debut single, released on Columbia, does not chart.
February Bob Lomas replaces Turnill. The group also takes on a second sax player Malcolm Randall, who has placed an advert in Melody Maker after playing with Jeff Curtis & The Flames, and joins The Noblemen in time for a short trip to West Germany, where they play at the Storyville Jazz Club in Cologne before returning to the UK that spring. The Noblemen are photographed in Brighton wearing regency clothes.
April (25) Beau Brummell & The Noblemen perform at the Whitehall, East Grinstead, West Sussex with The Dagoes.
May (1) Beau Brummell and His Noblemen appear at the California Ballroom in Dunstable with The Downsiders and The Richochets.
(9) The band appears at the Majestic Ballroom in Luton, Bedfordshire with Randall’s former group, Jeff Curtis & The Flames.
(14) Beau Brummell is listed appearing at the Carlton Ballroom in Erdington, West Midlands with The Chucks.
(22) Beau Brummell & The Noblemen perform Malborough Hall, in Halifax, West Yorkshire.
(29) The band plays at the Assembly Hall, Mold, Flintshire, Wales with The Denims.
May (16) Billed as Beau Brummell with his Exclusive Noblemen Orchestra, the group appears at Cubiklub in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
June (13) The Noblemen plays at the Downs, Hassocks, West Sussex.
(19) The group appears at the New Cornish Riveria Lido in St Austell, Cornwall with The Guild.
July (2) Billed as Beau Brummell & The Nobles, they perform at the Guildhall, Axminster in Devon.
(3) The Noblemen appear at Torquay Town Hall, Torquay, Devon with Johnny Carr and The Cadilacs and The Vicarage Five.
(9-11) With a new sax player called John replacing Bob Lomas, Beau Brummell & The Noblemen play at the Star Club in Hamburg. Immediately afterwards, the band plays at the Storyville Jazz Club in Duisberg (most likely from 12-15 July) and Randall jumps ship to join The Manchester Playboys back in England.
(16) Beau Brummell & The Noblemen play a double-nighter in Greater Manchester, starting off with a show at the Domino Club in Openshaw with Lulu & The Luvvers and then the Princess Club, Chorlton with Julie Grant.
(19) The group plays at the Manor Lounge, Stockport, Greater Manchester. This may have been Randall’s final gig as The Manchester Playboys are performing in nearby Bolton this evening and are based in the Greater Manchester area.
(24) The group, billed as The Beau Brummell Band, appears at Shefford Hardwicke in Bedfordshire.
(30) Billed as Beau Brummell & his exclusive Noblemen Orchestra, the musicians perform at the New Embassy Club, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
August (14) The band appears at the New Cornish Riviera Lido, St Austell, Cornwall with The Road Runners. Immediately afterwards, John, the temporary sax player, also departs. Back in England, The Noblemen take on new sax players Keith Gemmell (b. 15 February 1948, Hackney, London) and former Gene Vincent sideman, Jeremy “Jem” Field.
(20) Beau Brummell and His Noblemen Orchestra appear at Cheltenham Town Hall in what is one of the first shows by the new formation.
(21) Beau Brummell and The Noble Men play at the Galaxy Club in Basingstoke, Hampshire.
(22) The band appears at the Mexican Hat in Worthing with The Beat Merchants.
(23) The group plays at the Majestic Ballroom, Newport, south Wales with The Cellar Set.
September The band travels to Scandinavia to play some gigs in Norway and Sweden.
(18) Beau Brummell & The Noblemen arrive in Oslo. According to Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, the band opens at the city’s Rondo Club, possibly for a week’s residency, with The Dukes, featuring singer Ingerid Marie.
(26) Returning from Norway, The Noblemen join The Beat Merchants for another show at the Mexican Hat in Worthing. The Worthing Gazette advert notes that this is the band’s final British appearance for six weeks. Immediately afterwards, the band head to Rome, Italy to play at the Piper Club.
October (1) Beau Brummell and The Noblemen start working at the Piper club for a six-week stand, travelling through the city in an open carriage drawn by four white horses. During their stint at the club, the band meets actor Vincent Price and George Harrison’s parents who have won a holiday to Rome. While playing at the Piper club, the band is invited to play at the coming-out dance of the daughter of the millionaire, Prince Ruspoli. They also meet a female American singer called Kathy, who sets up a gig for the band at the Big Apple Club in Munich (where she lives) for the following May.
November After completing a six-week season, Beau Brummell and The Noblemen perform in Milan for 10 days and record four tracks in a studio that was formerly a church. These include the powerful sax-driven “Jezebel” and the Brummell composed, “I’m In Love”, a slow lilting number, neither of which are released. The group then heads south to Naples to play further dates before returning to Rome where The Noblemen sans Brummell record the tracks “Jump Back Baby” and “Ecstasy” with Chuck Fryers on lead vocals. Columbia releases Brummell’s third single (and second with the band) – “A Better Man Than I”, a spoken number, backed by “Teardrops”, which is credited to Brummell’s “Noblemen Orchestra” but it does not chart.
December Beau Brummell and The Noblemen play in Ostend in Belgium before returning to the UK.
(12) The Noblemen appear at the Mexican Hat in Worthing with The Look.
(17) The group returns to the continent to play in Turin. An engagement in St. Moritz is announced but the band do not play there.
(25-31) Beau Brummell and The Noblemen play at a club in Turin through to the new year and share the bill with Mussolini’s son Romano who plays piano with his jazz group. During January 1966, Brummell briefly splits from The Noblemen to return to Rome and tries to get into the film industry.
1966
January Columbia releases a final Brummell single, a cover of Ray Donner’s “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got” backed by “Take Me Like I Am”, but it fails to chart.
(7) Back in England, The Noblemen appear at the Top Hat in Littlehampton, West Sussex. The advert in the Worthing Gazette notes that they have just returned from Italy.
(8) Beau Brummell & The Noblemen play at the Shoreline Club in Bognor Regis, West Sussex.
February (27) The Noblemen are a late addition to an all-nighter show at the original Cavern in Liverpool, which closes after tonight’s performance. Also included on the bill are Rory Storm and The Hurricanes and The Big Three among many others. The Cavern will officially reopen on 23 July.
March The Noblemen perform at the Storyville Jazz Club in Duisberg before moving on to Cologne.
(7-10) Beau Brummell rejoins The Noblemen briefly to share a week-long residency at the Storyville Jazz Club in Cologne with The Clayton Squares. The Squares’ singer Denny Alexander will reunite with Ketley and Stevens in The Motivation in June 1967. While in Cologne (this may have been spring 1965 trip instead), the group meets English group The Loving Kind featuring guitarist Noel Redding, who will join The Jimi Hendrix Experience in September. After playing at the Storyville Jazz Club in Cologne, the band holds down a residency at Frankfurt’s Storyville Jazz Club with Rory Storm and The Hurricanes and Johnny Guitar Watson.
(19) The Noblemen appear at the Flamingo Ballroom in Redruth, Cornwall with The Misfits.
April The Noblemen split from Brummell who returns to South Africa and records further singles (and later owns a naturist valley in the Northern Transvaal). The Noblemen accept a short residency at the Livorno Club in Pisa, Italy.
May (20) Thanks to the American singer they met in Rome last October, the group opens for The Spencer Davis Group at the Big Apple Club in Munich and both performances are recorded for German TV. Fryers has to borrow Spencer Davis’s guitar as his own was stolen while playing in Italy.
(21) Field leaves the band and returns home by train. Stripped down to a quintet, The Noblemen play some US air bases in West Germany with singing group, The New Faces. Gemmell does not stay long and returns home with The New Faces a few weeks later. Gemmell will find success in the late 1960s/early 1970s with the progressive rock outfit, Audience and also plays with Sammy.
June On the way home, the remaining members back country and western singer/comedian Don Bowman, who invites Fryers to return to Nashville as his guitarist. The Noblemen then play at the Star Club in Hamburg before arriving back in the UK. Fryers, Ketley, Smith and Stevens decide to carry on as The Noblemen and bring in a new singer, Jimmy Marsh (b. 9 April 1941, Carmarthen, Wales). Marsh first met the group members in 1964 at the Top Hat in Littlehampton when they were The Detours and he was fronting The Del Mar Trio. When Bernie Smith opts to take up a more regular job, Marsh suggests his former colleague Malcolm Tomlinson (b. 16 June 1946, Isleworth, Middlesex) as drummer. Tomlinson has worked with Marsh since 1964 in The Del Mar Trio and James Deane and The London Cats. Before that, he was a member of Jeff Curtis and The Flames. Bernie Smith will later reunite with Mick Ketley in Bognor Regis group, The Concords in 1969.
July (3) The Noblemen are billed to play at the Royal Ballrooms in Boscombe, Dorset with Karl & The Rapiers. This might be one of the last gigs with Bernie Smith or one of the first with Jimmy Marsh and Malcolm Tomlinson.
(16) Stevens advertises for a new sax player in the 23 July issue of Melody Maker, which hits the newsstands on this day. Former Moonrakers members, Chris Rodger (b. 16 October 1946, Solihull, Warwickshire) and Martin Barre (b. 17 November 1946, Kings Heath, Birmingham) respond to the advert after Rodger misses out on a job with Screaming Lord Sutch. Rodger has joined Syndicate 1 in 1963 after leaving school in Dorset but meets Barre in Midlands band The Moonrakers in January 1965.
(22) Barre buys a saxophone at Sound City in London’s Shaftsbury Avenue for the audition three days later. On the same day, the band is billed to perform at the Cricketers Inn in Southend, Essex but it’s not clear if the current five-piece (sans saxes) perform.
(23) The Noblemen are advertised to appear at the Waterfront in Southampton, Hampshire for an evening show followed by a second gig at Le Disque A Go Go in Bournemouth, Dorset with a midnight performance leading into the 24th.
(24) Both Rodger and Barre are hired for the new line up as sax players, with Rodger doubling up on trumpet. Rodger recalls that their debut takes place at a US service club (most likely Douglas House) in Lancaster Gate at 4pm this afternoon. After the gig, they all return to Bognor Regis to rehearse at the Shoreline Club but Fryers leaves before the week is out.
After leaving The Noblemen in late July 1966, Fryers joins Bognor Regis group, The Warren J Five with Colin Madeley (trumpet) and Geoff Prior (bass), formerly of The Treatment. The new group is completed with former Untamed/John Lee’s Groundhogs’ drummer Terry Slade and singer John Read from The Hustlers. The Warren J Five travel to Hamburg, Germany and play at the Top Ten Club with singer Tony Sheridan. During 1967, The Warren J. 5 travel to Rome and perform regularly at the Piper club. The band records an album in Italy entitled Rhythm & Blues for the Vedette label and a single, “Sto Con Te (Tell It to the Rain)” c/w “Se Hai Qualcosa Da Dire (Tell Me)” before splitting with Read. After a brief period as The Reflections, Fryers and Prior return to the UK and join Coventry group, The Sorrows.
(30) Without Fryers, The Noblemen are billed to play at the Lion Hotel in Warrington, Cheshire with The Atlantics and The Atlanta Roots.
August (6) The group travels to the southwest and performs at the Budleigh Salterton Public Hall, Budleigh Salterton, Devon. They may well have played at the 400 Club in Torquay the day before.
(7) The Noblemen appear at the Royal Ballrooms, Boscombe, Dorset with Teak & The Smokey.
(13) The Noblemen start a weekly residency at the 400 Ballroom in Torquay, Devon.
(15-19) After taking the Sunday off, The Noblemen continue their weekly residency at the 400 Ballroom in Torquay, Devon.
(20) The group travels back to the southwest for a show at the Flamingo Ballroom, Redruth, Cornwall with The Blaizes.
(21) The next day, they play at the Park Ballroom’s Beat Centre in Plymouth, Devon.
(25) The Noblemen take part in the Big Beat Boat at Bournemouth, Dorset with The Mozzeletoft.
(27) Back in the southwest, they perform at the Blue Lagoon in Newquay, Cornwall with The Nite People.
(28) On the way up to London, The Noblemen perform at the Stoke Hole at the Stoke Hotel in Guidford, Surrey.
(29) The group appears to have seen out the month playing at the 2 ‘B’s’ Club in Ashford, Kent with The End.
September The new Noblemen move up to London and share a flat in Chelsea (and later Gloucester Road).
(2) The band appears at the Fiesta Hall in Andover, Hampshire.
(3) The Noblemen play at the Steering Wheel in Weymouth, Dorset. They sign to the Roy Tempest Agency and start backing up visiting US soul acts.
(10) The Noblemen back The Vibrations at the Starlight Room at the Boston Gliderdrome in Lincolnshire on a bill that also includes Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band and The Little People.
(11) The Vibrations (most likely supported by The Noblemen) appear at Toft’s in Folkestone, Kent.
(13) The Vibrations (most likely with The Noblemen backing) play at the Club Cedar in Birmingham.
(16) The Vibrations appear at the Domino club in Openshaw and the Princess Theatre in Chorlton, Greater Manchester with seven other acts (most likely with The Noblemen backing them).
(17) The Noblemen back The Vibrations at the new Cavern club in Liverpool. Also on the bill are Sooner or Later, Intent and Purpose, The Klubs, The Signs, The Times, The Tremas, The Dark Ages and Jimmy James and The Vagabonds.
(18) The Vibrations appear at Kirklevington Country Club in Kirklevington, North Yorkshire (most likely with The Noblemen backing them).
(18-19) Around this time, The Vibrations (backed by The Noblemen) appear at the Scotch of St James in Mayfair, central London. American soul legend Otis Redding, who has been touring the UK for the first time, turns up as does Mick Jagger. (On 18 September, Redding played a show at the Ram Jam Club in Brixton, south London. He played at Tiles in Oxford Street on 16 September; his only West End show).
(21) The Vibrations play at the Orchid Ballroom in Purley, Surrey but the support band is not listed.
(22) The Noblemen back The Vibrations at the Carlton Club in Erdington, West Midlands and also play another set at the Cedar Club. Later that evening, they play at the Cue Club in Paddington.
(23) The group backs The Vibrations at Toft’s in Folkestone, Kent. Former Loving Kind guitarist Noel Redding joins the musicians backstage after the show. Little does he know but his future band leader Jimi Hendrix is flying out from the USA tonight on route for London. (Redding will audition unsuccessfully for The Animals on 29 September but is picked up by Chas Chandler for The Jimi Hendrix Experience the same day.)
(25) The Vibrations are advertised to play at the Club West Indies in Stonebridge Park, northwest London but no backing band is listed. The previous evening the soul singers appeared at the Twisted Wheel in Manchester but the support group weren’t advertised.
(29) The Vibrations are booked to appear at the King Mojo Club in Sheffield for an All-nighter with London’s Ravers (who could well be The Noblemen). Also on the bill are The Amboy Dukes Big Band.
October Around early October The Noblemen back The Drifters (possibly for a one-off gig in London). The most likely date is at Tiles in Oxford Street on 7 October.
(15) Billed as (The) Motivation (a name they will change to next month), The Noblemen are billed to play at the Orford Cellar in Norwich. However, Rodger recalls The Noblemen went to play US air bases in West Germany for a week, travelling on German railway and were away on his birthday on 16 October. This means this gig didn’t happen. It seems most likely they left for West Germany around Sunday, 9 October.
(16) Around this time, the group starts to work with Edwin Starr. They are advertised to back him at the Beachcomber club in Nottingham with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers also on the bill. However, Alan Chamberlain, singer with The Guests, says it was his group that did the honours. Rodger confrims that the group played in West Germany on his birthday which is today.
(17) Rodger says that The Noblemen backed Lee Dorsey at Tiles on Oxford Street, central London. This is the date that Dorsey is advertised for that gig in Melody Maker. The group does work with Lee Dorsey around this time who also plays at the Saddle Room in London on 19 October. However, the advert does not list a support group for the Saddle Room date.
(21) The Noblemen play at De Montfort in Leicester backing Edwin Starr on a bill that also features The Ike & Tina Turner Revue, Alvin Robinson, Family and others. On the same day, Edwin Starr appears at Sleaford Mabern Club, Sleaford, Lincolnshire (backed by The Senate), Midnight City in Birmingham (with The Night People) and the New All-Star Club near Liverpool Street. However, it’s not clear if The Noblemen backed him at either of the latter two shows.
(22) Edwin Starr appears at Reading University but no backing group is listed. It is more likely that the group backs Alvin Robinson at the Blue Moon in Cheltenham as they start working with him around now.
(23) Edwin Starr is billed to play at the Starlite Ballroom in Greenford, west London. However, it’s not clear whether The Noblemen backed the singer. It’s possible they may have backed Lee Dorsey instead at the Club West Indies in northwest London today. Alvin Robinson appears at Kirklevington Country Club in Kirklevington, North Yorkshire on this date but he’s backed by another band (The Ziggy Turner Combo). However, Tomlinson remembers backing Robinson at Newcastle University which is not far away so it’s possible this gig is in a few days’ time.
(28) The Noblemen works with Alvin Robinson, performing with the singer at the Dungeon club in Nottingham.
(29) The Noblemen back Alvin Robinson at the Starlight Room at the Boston Gliderdrome in Lincolnshire on a bill that also features The Alan Bown Set, John McCoy’s Crawdaddies and Listen (with a young Robert Plant on vocals). On the same day Alvin Robinson performs at the Burlesque in Leicester (most likely with The Noblemen).
(30) Alvin Robinson plays at the Jigsaw in Manchester.
(31) Robinson is billed to appear at the Whisky A Go Go in Wardour Street, Soho, central London. While it cannot be confirmed with any certainty that The Noblemen are the backing band for the 29-31 October dates, it is likely as they support Alvin Robinson for two shows in Birmingham on 1-2 November billed as The Motivations. However, Ketley has no recollections of ever playing at the Whisky A Go Go.
November (4) The Noblemen back The Coasters (and appear in their own right) at the King Mojo Club in Sheffield with Sonny Childe & The TNT.
(5) The Coasters (most likely backed by The Noblemen) appear at Rawmarsh Baths in Rawmarsh near Rotherham, West Yorkshire. Also on the bill are Brian Poole & The Tremeloes and The Dawley Crews Amblers. Around this time, they change name to The Motivation but are often billed as The Motivations (and sometimes still The Noblemen).
(9) Advertised as The Noblemen, the group supports The Coasters at the Mecca Ballroom on the Royal Pier, Southampton, Hampshire.
(10) Chris Rodger says the group supported Ben E King at the Twisted Wheel in Manchester, which took place today.
(19) Billed as The Noblemen, the musicians back The Coasters at the Cavern in Liverpool. Also on the bill are The Hideaways, The Kids, The Love Trade and The Escorts. After an all-nighter show, The Coasters perform (presumably backed by The Noblemen) at the Twisted Wheel in Manchester.
(25) The Noblemen support The (Original) Coasters at the New Yorker Discotheque, Swindon. They continue as (The) Motivation throughout the rest of 1966 and into 1967 before evolving (through various line up changes) into The Penny Peep Show, The Penny Peeps and Gethsemane. Martin Barre will join Jethro Tull in December 1968. Malcolm Tomlinson will move to Canada in January/February 1969 and form Milkwood. Ketley will join The Concords on bass, reuniting with former Noblemen drummer Bernie Smith. Smith later opens a music shop and drum school in Chichester.
1968
Former Noblemen guitarist, Chuck Fryers records an album with The Sorrows in Italy entitled Old Songs New Songs for the Miura label. After a handful of singles on the Pye and Miura label, Fryers joins Electric Heart. In 1969, he marries his girlfriend in Chichester and returns to Italy. Over the next few years, he plays with Treves Blues Band. During the 1970s, Fryers performs with The Baker Street Band and then forms his own group, which records a CD Fryers and Friends First. He currently lives in Milan and has released a solo CD That’s It?
Sources:
Bognor Regis Post, 9 January 1965 and 18 December 1965.
Flying Colours by Greg Russo, Crossfire Publications, 2009.
Music Echo – Liverpool, week ending 12 March 1966.
The Best of Cellars – The Story of The Cavern Club by Phil Thompson, Bluecoat Press, 2007.
The South Coast Beat Scene of the 1960s by Mike Read, Woodfield Publishing, 2001.
The Tapestry of Delights Revisited by Vernon Joynson, Borderline Productions, 2006.
Many thanks to Bryan Stevens, Chuck Fryers, Mick Ketley, Bernie Smith, Jim Marsh, Malcolm Tomlinson, Keith Gemmell, Chris Rodger, Nigel Norman and Sylvia Stephen.
Live dates sourced from Melody Maker, New Musical Express, Nottingham Evening Post, the Liverpool Echo, the Manchester Evening News, Sheffield Star. Other newspaper sources are listed in the comments below.
Copyright © Nick Warburton. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any from or by any means, without prior permission from the author.
I have tried to ensure the accuracy of this article but I appreciate that there are likely to be errors and omissions. I would appreciate any feedback from anyone who can provide any additions or corrections. Email: Warchive@aol.com