The Limeys were Andrea Gennard and Stephen Gennard, a sister and brother duo who arrived in Miami, Florida from London about 1962. While students at Rockway Junior High, they made this great single “Come Back” / “Green and Blue” with the London Sounds.
Released on Sherwood 1715, a Miami News notice gave the exact release date, Monday, April 25, 1966. Printed sleeves included a small photo of the duo.
An February 25, 1966 ad for the Palmetto Bandstand featured the Limey’s backed by the Outcasts, on a bill with the Dirt Merchants. (The following night featured the Invaders, the Impacts and the Hares.)
The Miami News profiled the band on March 15, 1966, including:
Here are two down-to-earth teens with an out-of-this-world singing talent. They have no set style, but their music lends itself mostly to folk-rock …
Stephen and Andrea, together with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Gennard, of 1715 SW 97th Pl., arrived from London almost four years ago …
Usually they are coupled with a five-member band, the Outcasts.
With the Outcasts, the Limeys have appeared on Florida Bandstand, the Miami-Dade Junior College campus, on Chuck Zinc’s TV program and at the Cloverleaf Center.
The entire Gennard family has become involved: Dad is business manager, Mom a critic and booster.
They also appeared on the Rick Shaw show on May 27.
On the single, the backing band is called the London Sounds, and includes horn players and strings. I’m not sure if the Outcasts were involved, or even who was in the Outcasts – if anyone knows please contact me.
Stephen and Andrea wrote “Come Back”, and co-wrote “Green and Blue” with Pat Tallis, publishing by Chalfont Music Publishing.
Copyright registration from February 1966 shows three other songs: “Take It Easy”, “I Love You”, and “Melonie”, the last two co-written with Pat Tallis.
In June both the Miami News and the Herald mentioned the duo signing to Scepter Records, I wonder if anything came of that.
They must have been unaware of the English group the Limeys, releasing singles on Amcan in the U.S. and Decca and Pye in the UK.
Back in England, Record Mirror profiled the duo on May 11, 1968, providing different last names, Andrea Gerome and Steve Gerome.
The article mentions they did work in America “but, as ever, work permits for artistes so young (Anna is 17, Steve 16) proved difficult. Anna used to be apprenticed to hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, abandoning haircutting for disc-cutting.”
Anna and Steve made two singles for Fontana under the artist name Too Much, “Wonderland of Love” / “Mr. Money” (written by Gerome) in 1967, then “It’s a Hip Hip Hippy World” / “Stay in My World” in February 1968.
As Anna Hamilton with Stephen they made another single on Fontana in April 1968, “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven (But Nobody Wants To Die)” / “You Laughed When I Cried” (b-side writing credited to Gerome). Their version competed with the Karlins, (triplets Linda Wilson, Elaine Wilson and Evelyn Wilson) who released their 45 on Columbia (UK) about the same time.
Thank you to Ansgar for pointing me to the Record Mirror article (which I never would have found considering they had changed their name!).
