A fascinating, yet short-lived band that included a number of notable musicians who went on to greater things.
The original White Rabbit line-up came together about November 1967 around singers Junior Kerr and Linda Lewis, who’d met earlier that year as members of Herbie Goins & The Night Timers.
Junior Kerr, incidentally, had started out with The Blue-Ace-Unit while Lewis had performed with John Lee Hooker in 1964 and sung with The Q-Set before they backed Maxine Brown and then Ronnie Jones.
White Rabbit was managed jointly by Ian Samwell (Lewis’ manager) and Laurie O’Leary, who managed the Speakeasy club in London.
The band’s guitarist Andy Rickell and drummer Terry Stannard had both previously worked together in Calne, Wiltshire band, The Pack during 1966 with future White Rabbit singer Rod Goodway. The trio had also played with another, albeit short-lived, Wiltshire group, Flower of Wisdom between February-June 1967.
When Flower of Wisdom broke up, Terry Stannard moved to London where he joined Freddie Mack & The Mack Sound, which is probably how he ran into Junior Kerr, who’d formed his own band, The Junior ‘Pretty Boy’ Kerr Group around October 1967. In fact, Stannard may well have been a member of this band after working with Freddie Mack (and possibly may have been with Herbie Goins briefly).
Meanwhile, Rickell and Goodway began working with the studio project J P Sunshine, which they kept together after Rickell joined White Rabbit (possibly also after a short stint with Herbie Goins) and Goodway was invited to replace Art Wood in the post-Artwoods band, St Valentine’s Day Massacre between January-April 1968.
The original version of White Rabbit was completed with two additional musicians, rhythm guitarist/singer Brian Henderson, who’d recently been part of Nirvana’s backing band and was previously in The Soul Mates and Liza Strike & The Jet Set, and bass player Ralph Richardson, who’d worked with Henderson in The Jet Set.
According to the Redbridge & Ilford Recorder, White Rabbit played at El Grotto in Ilford, east London on 9-10 December 1967.
After a short Italian tour, which included playing in Turin (see poster above) and billed as Junior Kerr and Linda Lewis and White Rabbit, they performed at the “Big C” club in Farnborough on 24 February 1968.
On 10 March, White Rabbit returned to play at El Grotto in Ilford, east London, according to the Redbridge & Ilford Recorder.
The band also played at the Revolution Club in central London before travelling to France to perform, which included a few weeks in Biarritz (most likely the Canasta Club).
On their return in late March, Terry Stannard departed, later working with Mirrors (with Boz Burrell and Nick Judd), Alan Marshall’s band One and Kokomo among others. Kerr remembers a Jewish drummer called Mick, who briefly filled in.
However, Junior Kerr also departed in late March and formed his own band, Junior’s Conquest who debuted in early April. (Ed. He is seen on French TV playing with Herbie Goins in April 1968 but this must be a recording from 1967.) In later years, he would change his name to Junior Marvin and work alongside Bob Marley.
Brian Henderson, who later worked with J J Jackson, and Ralph Richardson also departed.
On 6 April, the group was advertised playing on the French TV show Bouton Rouge but it’s not clear if this definitely happened. If they did appear, this would have been the broadcast date and would have been recorded in March while they were working in France.
Linda Lewis and Andy Rickell meanwhile pieced together a new version of White Rabbit in late March 1968. Rickell recruited his former Pack and J P Sunshine colleague, singer Rod Goodway, who’d left St Valentine’s Day Massacre, to replace Junior Kerr.
The pair also recruited drummer Ron Berg, who interestingly had also played with Freddie Mack & The Mack Sound (alongside Stannard) during mid-late 1967.
To complete the new version, they added Cyprus-born bass player Pete Pavli and organist Mick Aron.
Redbridge & Ilford Recorder has them playing at the El Grotto in Ilford on 4 April. It is possible this may have been just with Linda Lewis singing before Rod Goodway joined.
Almost immediately, the new White Rabbit left the UK for the south of France and performed at the Papagayo Club in St Tropez for three weeks, starting in the first week of May.
The musicians were back in London for a notable gig at the Middle Earth club in Covent Garden, opening for Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band on 25 May. The group also opened for The Crazy World of Arthur Brown around August.
Around August/September 1968, however, Rod Goodway and Linda Lewis both left, the latter to embark on a successful solo career after fronting Ferris Wheel where she played alongside future Foreigner drummer Dennis Elliott.
Pete Pavli also left to join High Tide while Mick Aron went on to work with Pete Brown.
Andy Rickell and Ron Berg kept the band going until around November/December of that year, bringing in a number of musicians, including Hammond organist Peter Jennings, who subsequently joined Cressida in September 1969.
Jennings says that he worked with Berg at Sidney Bron’s ‘Bron’s Orchestral Service’ in Oxford Street and then Newman Street, collecting music from publishers in the area and sending them to customers.
The Hammond organist recalls that they also had a singer, who he thinks came from Leicester and a trumpet player from Wales.
He remembers that Laurie O’Leary was still managing the group and that they rehearsed in a gym on Tottenham Court Road. Jennings recalls a gig in Ilford (most likely El Grotto; there is a guest group appearing there on 14 November 1968) one at Sybilla’s in Swallow Street, central London before splitting.
On the band’s demise, Ron Berg joined Mick Abrahams’ post-Jethro Tull group, Blodwyn Pig while Rickell later joined The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
Jennings worked with several bands before joining Cressida, including one with guitarist Ged Peck called Storm. The others were Van Dyke and Luther Morgan.
This author would be interested to hear from anyone who can add any further information. Huge thanks to Rod Goodway for photos and background information.
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.
