Franklin ‘Zeke’ Sheppard (Vocals)

Ed Patterson (Guitar)                        

Robbie King (Organ)

Ronnie Banks (Bass)

Gordon Eves (Drums)

Wulf Stelling (B-3 organ) 

Gordon Baxter (Guitar)

Glen Higgins (Saxophone)      

Rick Berkett (Bass)                    

Frank De Felice (Drums)

Sonnie Bernardi (Drums)

Chuck Slater (Drums)

Singer Franklin Sheppard had started out with The Dovermen in the early 1960s before putting together Franklin Sheppard & The A-Go-Gos around 1965 with the first line up. Guitarist Ed Patterson may have been the same musician who was in Brantford, Ontario band, Jaye’s Rayders, but this needs confirmation.

This band subsequently became The Good Sheppards and gigged extensively in Toronto before travelling to Vancouver in September 1966 for a show at Dirty Sal’s Cellar. On their return, the musicians went their separate ways and the singer looked around for a new band to become the second version of The Good Sheppards.

In October 1966, he found a Brantford, Ontario band led by Wulf Stelling and took over from the original singer Larry Lewellan. He then took the band back to Toronto.

Group leader Wulf Stelling had worked with The Marques Royales in the early 1960s alongside several future Grant Smith & The Power members.

During the spring of 1966, he began to put together a new soul/RnB group with former Jaye’s Rayders members Rick Berkett, Glen Higgins and Frank De Felice. To complete the formation, he brought in singer Larry Lewellan plus (from Kitchener group The Counts Royale) guitarist Gordon Baxter.

The new band rehearsed intensively for three months before Franklin Sheppard turned up and took over the lead singer position. Through their Toronto-based manager Gary Salter, they began to pick up work on the southern Ontario club circuit.

The new version also appeared on CTV’s It’s Happening and played tonnes of soul tunes. One of Sheppard’s popular numbers was Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’.

During mid-1967 Sheppard and Stelling decided to add a second drummer and brought in Sonnie Bernardi from Marianne Brown & The Good Things.

However, when the group was offered a US tour in August 1967, Frank De Felice decided to leave and later worked with the band Jericho. Chuck Slater took his place.

The following month, Franklin Sheppard & The Good Sheppards embarked on a US tour that lasted until May 1968, kicking off with a residency at Tony Mart’s in Ocean City, New Jersey on 3 September, playing alongside The Coachmen.

Through their US booking agent Jack Fisher from Hillside, New Jersey, the band performed seven nights a week on the US ‘nightclub circuit’.

Through him, Gord Baxter remembers that they got to perform at #3 Lounge in Boston from early October 1967 and then worked a number of nightclubs in Boston, including the Intermission, before moving on to New York to play at Trude Heller’s in Greenwich Village, starting in mid-November. After playing in the Big Apple, Chuck Slater departed in December and later joined Ocean.

Reverting to a single drummer, the musicians next travelled to Chicago to perform at the Castaways Club before moving to Nashville. From there they headed to Miami, Florida and worked at Wayne Cochran’s club, the Barn during February 1968 alongside Wayne Cochran and The CC Riders and Freddie Scott & His Kinfolk.

Baxter remembers that after they finished up in Miami, the group headed north again and performed in Newport, Rhode Island, around Cape Cod and back to Boston.

In May 1968, the group was playing at the Inferno in Buffalo, New York when Sheppard decided he had had enough. With the rest of the musicians exhausted, everyone returned to Ontario where Baxter started to put together a new group in Kitchener.

Then, in January 1969, Stelling contacted him to join a new version of Grant Smith & The Power alongside Berkett and Bernardi.

Stelling left in May that year while the others remained with The Power until August when Grant Smith paired the band down. Baxter then reunited with Stelling in The Wulf Pack.

Sheppard joined Mainline in the spring of 1970 and later played with Blackstone. During the ‘70s he may have played with The Dutch Mason Band before moving to Nashville to work as a studio musician. After working in Florida he died of cancer.

Selected gigs

1 October 1965 – Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario with The Morticians (billed as Franklin Sheppard & The A Go Gos)

3-4 December 1965 – Devil’s Den, Toronto

10-11 December 1965 – Devil’s Den, Toronto

24-25 December 1965 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto

14 January 1966 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with The Counts

15 January 1966 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with Jaye’s Rayders and Hamilton and His Teejays

18-19 February 1966 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto

25-26 February 1966 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto

1 April 1966 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto with Jon and Lee & The Checkmates

2 April 1966 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto

22-23 April 1966 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto with G Lawson Knight & The Chancellors

14 May 1966 – Inn Crowd, Toronto

20-21 May 1966 – Inn Crowd, Toronto

22 May 1966 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto with Jon and Lee & The Checkmates

31 July 1966 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto

26-27 August 1966 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto

2-4 September 1966 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto

23 September 1966 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with Soul Searchers featuring Dianne Brooks and Eric Mercury, George Lawson Knight and & The Chancellors, Greg Winkfield and Al Lalonde

24 September 1966 – Dirty Sal’s Cellar, Vancouver, British Columbia with The Villains (Vancouver Sun)

The second version began here

18 February 1967 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with E G Smith & The Power and The Wyldfyre

24 February 1967 – The Gogue Inn, Toronto with The Five Good Reasons, The Dana and Sunny and Peter

3 March 1967 – The Gogue Inn, Toronto with The Lords of London, The New Breed and Murray McLaughlan

17 March 1967 – The Gogue Inn, Toronto with The Stampeders, The Dana and Doug Brown

24 March 1967 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto with Bobby Kris & The Imperials and R K & The Associates

31 March 1967 – Weston Legion Hall, Toronto with The Ugly Ducklings

15 April 1967 – The Gogue Inn, Toronto With G Lawson Knight & The Paytons

26 May 1967 – Don Mills Curling Club, Toronto with The People

27 May 1967 – Club 888, Toronto

24 June 1967 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario with Luv-Lites and Act IV

27 June 1967 – Balmy Beach Club, Scarborough, Ontario

15 July 1967 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto

2-3 September 1967 – Sauble Beach Pavilion, Owen Sound, Ontario (The Sun Times)

1 October 1967 – #3 Lounge, Boston, Massachusetts, USA with The Coachmen (start of three-week engagement)

22 October 1967 – Intermission, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (start of week-long engagement)

12 November 1967 – Trude Heller’s, NYC, USA (start of four-week engagement at this club)

10 December 1967 – West Dance, New Jersey, USA (start of two-week engagement) The band returns to NYC after this to play at Trude Heller’s again

January 1968 – Castaways Club, Chicago, Illinois, USA

February 1968  – The Barn, Miami, Florida, USA  with Wayne Cochran and The CC Riders and Freddie Scott & His Kinfolk

May 1968 – Inferno, Buffalo, New York

All Toronto area gigs are from The Toronto Telegram’s After Four section. RPM Music Weekly was also very helpful for background information.

Huge thanks to Gord Baxter for the group photos and providing details about the second version