There is absolutely no information on this group and its personnel on the internet beyond the release of this lone UK single in February 1967.
The group played regularly at the Whisky A Go Go in Wardour Street in Soho, central London between 1967 and 1969. It also played at the Mistrale in Beckenham, south London a fair bit too among other venues.
There are rumours that Mr Mo’s Messengers evolved into Sketto Rich & Sonority (see entry on this site) but this seems very unlikely (as both bands were gigging simultaneously in the late 1960s).
However, there is a slight possibility that the musicians in the latter formation also used the name Mr Mo’s Messengers briefly, as both groups came from the southeast London/Kent borderlands.
If anyone can provide further information on the group’s history and its personnel, we’d be interested to hear from you (see comments section for what has been submitted so far).
I have found the following gigs for the group:
1 July 1967 – Iron Curtain Club, Small Heath, West Midlands (Birmingham Evening Mail)
25 July 1967 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London (Melody Maker)
17 August 1967 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London (Melody Maker)
1 October 1967 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London (Melody Maker)
8 October 1967 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London (Melody Maker)
19 December 1967 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London (Melody Maker)
27 January 1968 – Penthouse, Colchester, Essex (Essex County Standard) Billed as Mr Mo’s
25 February 1968 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London (Melody Maker)
4 April 1968 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London (Melody Maker)
19 April 1968 – Mistrale, Beckenham, south London with Dantalion’s Chariot (Melody Maker)
26 April 1968 – Mistrale, Beckenham, south London (Coulsdon & Purley Advertiser)
8 May 1968 – Mistrale, Beckenham, south London with Marmalade (Poster)
22 May 1968 – Mistrale, Beckenham, south London (Coulsdon & Purley Advertiser)
1 June 1968 – Mistrale, Beckenham, south London with The Rock ‘N’ Roll Revival Show (Coulsdon & Purley Advertiser)
4 July 1968 – Mistrale, Beckenham, south London with Cliff Bennett (Beckenham & Penge Advertiser)
18 July 1968 – Mistrale, Beckenham, south London with Cliff Bennett (Beckenham & Penge Advertiser)
24 August 1968 – Stage Door, Oxford (Oxford Mail)
31 August 1968 – Supreme Ballroom, Ramsgate, Kent with Fire (East Kent Times & Mail)
26 October 1968 – Mistrale, Beckenham, south London with Sweet Rain (Poster)
30 November 1968 – St Albans City Hall, St Albans, Herts (Welwyn & Hatfield Advertiser)
17 January 1969 – Hatchetts Playground, Piccadilly, central London (Jonathan Marks’ Hatchetts monthly gig listing)
18 January 1969 – Fellowship Inn, Bellingham, south London (Melody Maker)
25 March 1969 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London (Melody Maker)
5 April 1969 – Whisky A Go Go, Wardour Street, Soho, central London (Melody Maker)
15 May 1969 – Pilgrim Cellar, Haywards Heath, West Sussex with Double Sounds (Mid Sussex Times)
1-2 August 1969 – Samantha’s, New Burlington Street, central London (Poster)
15-16 August 1969 – Samantha’s, New Burlington Street, central London (Poster)
29-30 August 1969 – Samantha’s, New Burlington Street, central London (Poster)
Hi I’m Mel Buckley and I was a guitarist with Mo’s Messengers..in 1967/8
I do remember recording some tracks but never really heard anything of them after…We played a regular gig a Smathers Club and many other venues..Mo I believe was Morris..The Band consisted of Trombone, Sax, Organ who also sang, Mo on bass, and drums, and myself on guitar They were already a working outfit when I joined.. in 1967.. I’ve no idea where any of the band are now.. Regards
Hi Mel
My name is John. Eldred. And like you I played trumpet with Mo’s band but I left to work with a good function/dance band just before you joined the band, however I do remember you and sometimes used return to the band and sit in. As far as the old members of the band is concerned I still keep in contact with some of the old members and we had a note from Kaye Umanski at Christmas.
I regularly keep in contact with Ken Gray the trombone player as he lives quite close to me in Dartford. I still have any fond memories of the band and I remember you as you had joined the band after I had left. Was it you that used to have the sports car I think that it was a Marcos.
Anyway many fond memories of this band so many regards to you
So night night and I bid you good night John Eldred.
Hi, John yes I was the guy with Marcos…I seem to have fallen into quite a bit of my past work lately. and I was surprised to see Mo’s come up as well…Regards Mel
Hi John
I hope you are well Richard Moakes here . Unfortunately I’ve lost your phone number, would be great to catch up. My email address is le.maison.mazel@gmail.com. all the best Richard.
Hi John
What’s the history of this band? Were you all originally from Dartford area?
John Eldred got back and says the group were originally known as The Minor Birds. They played alongside Pink Floyd and found the gig on 4 March 67 at London poly:
https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Melody-Maker-IDX/IDX/60s/Melody-Maker-1967-0304-IDX-17.pdf#search=%22minor%20birds%22
The band also played at Tiles on 28 Jan 67 as the Minor Birds
https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Melody-Maker-IDX/IDX/60s/Melody-Maker-1967-0128-IDX-20.pdf#search=%22minor%20birds%22
Judging by this website, the Minor Birds were playing as early as September 1965. They also played at the Bromley Court Hotel:
https://garagehangover.com/el-partido-lewisham/
Found this gig for the Minor Birds
5 December 1965 – Whitehall, East Grinstead, West Sussex (Sussex Evening Express)
John Eldred provided some more info on the band:
As far as the line up of the band is concerned, it was basically always six members and that was trumpet, tenor sax, baritone sax, organ, bass guitar and lead guitar. This was the line up for about one year, then Mo changed it to organ, bass guitar, trumpet, trombone, tenor sax. So he kept the members down to six.
The band started in Bexleyheath, which in those days was in Kent but is now in Greater London. Mo himself was a bit of a local legend as he had originally played banjo with the Sandy Brown jazz band. As a young man I used to see him playing in that band at a jazz club in Woolwich.
My history is that one evening I was having a drink in an old pub in Bexleyheath and in walked a load of musicians who had just done a rehearsal in a local church hall. Well I knew one of the members who was playing baritone sax. Then I was introduced to the various members of the band, including Mo and was then asked what I was doing on the coming Friday night as Mo had started a club in a pub in Catford. It seemed that their resident trumpet player was on holiday.
Anyway, I went along not really knowing the tunes that they were playing but I could busk and must of done a reasonable job as I was asked if I could play with them at a venue in Oxford Street the following Saturday night. I think the venue was called Tiles. So I went along not really knowing the numbers but fitted in. I worked at a company in Belvedere and I received a phone call from Mo who offered me a permanent position with the band. As I was not with a group at that time, I jumped at the chance and made it my task to learn the tunes correctly.
The band originally was called the Minor Birds and played with that line up for about one year then Mo decided to change the line up by adding a trombone instead of a baritone sax and not having a guitar player. Also, the name would change to Mr Mo’s messengers.
We used to be quite busy and did loads of work in the London clubs and some long distance gigs. We also did some recordings for the BBC in the early days of Radio One.
Also, we did a load of gigs in the London colleges like the Royal School of Art and Goldsmith’s. I have a very fond memory of playing at Regent Street Poly and seeing a advert in the Melody Maker advertising the gig. Well the advert gave us the star booking and in smaller print was a young and upcoming band called Pink Floyd.
Spoke to Mo Umansky, who was the bass player, yesterday and it appears that the band was formed in the early 1960s as The Minor Birds.
The group also comprised singer/keyboard player John Wilders and tenor sax player Mick Timlett. Both stayed on to the end. There were others in the Minor Birds but Mo couldn’t recall the names.
Trumpet player Jack Drew who was later in Sonority did tell me that Mr Mo’s Messengers were originally called The Minor Birds, so I wonder if he was the trumpet player that John Eldred (see comment) replaced.
Mo also said that apart from Mel Buckley, they did have other guitarists. He couldn’t recall the drummer’s name nor any others apart from trombone player Ken Gray who was friends with John Eldred.
He added that the group had a long residency at the Royal College of Arts in Kensington and also played at the Revolution and Scotch of St James clubs.
The band recorded an entire LP but it was never issued and it looks like the French stateside single coupling ‘Season of The Witch’ and ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’, two tracks Mo confirmed they recorded, may have been part of these sessions.
There were obviously two different bands – the one I joined in 1968 and the one before that under Mo Umanski. At some point, Don Shepherd,( the baritone sax player, in and before that year, going back to 1966 when he visited my band, the Hi-Fi Sound, in Butlin’s, Minehead in an attempt to poach my organist, Maf Fisher!)became the organising, not musical, force in the band . If anybody can track him down he would be the one to answer all these questions. Please leave me out of it unless you locate Don!
Cheers,
Del
Hi All,
I’m Mo (and Kaye)’s daughter, Ella! Just to say my dad is chuffed (and bemused!) at the interest – if you have any other questions (that he can recall the answers to) then just let me know…
Thanks Ella. John has provided some more info on the comments section
Hi, Mo good to hear your still kicking around.. Nick has done a great job on this compilation Best Mel
Hello John, Mel and Ken, i’m John Wilders the singer and keyboard player with the band. Some facts – we were always, apart from some minor changes, a seven piece – Keyboard/singer, three frontline comprising Tenor Sax, Trumpet and Trombone but much earlier instead of trombone we had a baritone sax and then drums, bass guitar and lead guitar. Mick Timlett, the Tenor player and I in the very early sixties started the band with which comprised just three people, myself, Mick and a drummer whose name I can’t remember. Along came Mo with all the equipment and contacts and we kicked of from there. It was when Mo joined us we decided to change from Minor Birds to Mr Mo’s messengers. Most of the success of the band was down to Mo who arranged all the gigs, got the record deal, found a manager. Wow what trip down memory lane. THANKS TO ALL!!
Hi John, I have hope you’re in good health and all that..i was surprised to hear from Nick regarding Mo’s Messengers and I think he’s done a great job for all the original members in compiling this collection…Best Mel
Hi everyone, I’m john Wilders the Singer and keyboard player. Well hello everyone, Hello John, Hello Ken and Mel. Just to correct one thing, apart from the odd time we were always a seven piece, that is Keyboard/singer, Three Front-line, Drums, Bass Guitar and Lead Guitar. Also during that time we had occasionally Three female Backing singers and then when they left we employed a go go dancer (oh yes!!) Way back in the very early sixties Mick Timlett (Tenor) and I started a band which comprised Singer/harmonica (me), Tenor Sax (Mick Timlett and a drummer sadly I don’t remember his name. We named the band The Minor Birds then along came Mo with all the equipment and all the contacts, without Mo we would not have achieved all that we did and of course we changed the name to Mr Mo’s Messengers. As John said when rehearsing one day in the local church hall in walked our John and fitted in immediately who eventually introduced us to Ken , the trombone player. What lovely trip down memory lane. LOVE TO ALL!!
Thanks John for the extra information.
John sent me some further information about the band and its history:
Back in the day the Minor Birds were hired as session musicians to back an up and coming singer called Oliver Bone. as we understand he was the first vocalist to sing Knock on Wood in the UK and the Minor Birds were his backing band. Also the B side was an instrumental number played by the Minor Birds called Jugger Tea.
[The 1967 single] was recorded in what was Tin pan alley.
We spent a day for the French [Stateside] release single and two days for the LP. I was involved in the edit which in the end I was not happy about but time and money and all that. The final deal in France was to test the market and if it went well then it would be released in the UK. As I understand total sales in France after three months was 400 copies, not enough for the record label.
We also appeared on the BBC, the Jimmy Young show and another DJ’s show whose name I can’t remember quite a number of times but sadly we were never picked up by a label or agency.
Hi John, Jeni Bridge again, just been re reading all the comments through again still trying to make some sense of the loss of my friend Mel Buckely.
Noticed you say that at one point you had a go go dancer, could that have been me. ?????
I was go go-ing for a band in 67 /68, didn’t do many gigs, and I honestly can’t remember which band, sorry my recall is not as sharp as it was, too much hugging loud speakers!!!!! But Mel was certainly playing.
Bit more information from John:
During the lifetime of the Minor Birds and Mr. Mo’s messengers we had five drummers and sadly the only name we can remember of these drummers is Dick Lovejoy. We had three guitarists, the first one was Chris Bull (who wrote and sung Handyman), Mel Buckley who played on the Season of the Witch and the last, being probably by far the best, but only gigged and did not record was Jim Roach and the band he was with prior to us was the Alexis Korner Blues Band.
It seems likely that this was Jim Roche who was the original guitarist in Colosseum and went on to East of Eden. Roche also reunited with Dick Lovejoy in a late 1970s band called Southside so it’s possible that Lovejoy was in Mr Mo’s Messengers towards the end when Roche was a member.
Hi all I think I may have met some of you at club Samantha’s late 60s, I was a friend of Mel Buckely. I am very sad to let you guys know he passed away on Friday last. He was with his family and I think it was quite peaceful, Carol his wife has loads of family around her, so I hope she will get through this ok. Jeni
Found another gig for the Minor Birds, the group that morphed into Mr Mo’s Messengers:
4 January 1967 – Gravesend R&B Club, Clarendon Royal Hotel, Gravesend, Kent (PACE magazine)
The Minor Birds
3 August 1965 – Nurses Club, Jolly Gardners, Isleworth, west London with D J Blues Band (Middlesex Chronicle)
Hi, Mr. MO’s Messengers played a gig at the school I went to St. Mary’s Grammar School in Sidcup, Kent. Just off the A20 Sidcup By-pass. It was a Saturday night and in 1966 I think. Great performance. Unfortunately, as I recall it was marred by a bunch of greaser yobs trying to get in and start a fight.
Hi – I have a 12″ one-sided acetate with 5 tracks, 2 of which ended up on the French only 45, the other are unreleased. It’s great stuff, still kind of mod/r’n’b but heavier than their UK 45, probably influenced by Hendrix/Cream. I will upload the other tracks at some point on Youtube, but unfortunately not in a position to do that right now.