Ray Martin – lead vocals
John Thompson – lead guitar (replaced by Pete Ross)
Brian Brown – bass
Terry Marshall – tenor saxophone
Peter Wright – tenor saxophone
Paul Atkinson – drums
Formed sometime in 1964 after Terry Marshall left The Soul Messengers, the band appears to have worked at the Ealing Club on a weekly basis throughout 1965.
Ray Martin (aka Raymond Richardson) is the same Ray Martin who had previously led Ray Martin & The Corvettes.
The Middlesex County Times & West Middlesex Gazette has The Ray Martin Group appearing at the Ealing Club on a Saturday (and sometimes a Sunday) throughout 1965, except in December when they switched to Fridays (see gig list below which is incomplete).
Ross, however, didn’t join until July 1965 after The Flexmen split up and John Thompson (see comments) was the original guitarist.
According to Ross, the band opened for James Brown at Tiles (circa March 1966). They also opened for Neil Christian & The Crusaders at Tiles later in July.
Thanks to Pete Ross and Terry Marshall for input. Thanks also to Dean Richardson (see comments) for images and further information.
The band recorded two tracks, which were never released. Dean Richardson has these recordings (see below)
Selected gigs:
16 January 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)
23 January 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)
31 January 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)
6 February 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)
13 February 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday) Needs confirmation
20 February 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)
27 February 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)
7 March 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)
13 March 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)
27 March 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)
4 April 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)
17 April 1965 – Cricketers Inn, Westcliff, Southend, Essex (Southend Standard)
18 April 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)
25 April 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)
8 May 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
15 May 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
20 May 1965 – Spider Club, Memorial Hall, Harrow Weald, west London with support (Thursday)
22 May 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
28 May 1965 – Cricketers Inn, Westcliff, Southend, Essex with The Paramounts (Southend Standard)
29 May 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
5 June 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
12 June 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
19 June 1965 – Uxbridge Blues Festival, Uxbridge, northwest London with Marianne Faithfull, The Who, Solomon Burke, Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers, Long John Baldry, Zoot Money, The Birds, John Mayall, The Spencer Davis Group and Dave Whittling (Ruislip & Northwood Gazette)
24 July 1965 – Blue Moon, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (Saturday)
31 July 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
7 August 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
14 August 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
21 August 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
11 September 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
18 September 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
30 October 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
20 November 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)
10 December 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Friday)
17 December 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Friday)
24 December 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Friday)
31 December 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Friday)
15 July 1966 – Tiles, Oxford Street, central London with Neil Christian & The Crusaders (Melody Maker)
16 December (Friday) – White Hall, Southall, west London (Harrow Observer)
If you can add any further information, please leave a message in the comments below.
I was a founder member of the ray martin group in early 1965 on lead guitar played every week in 65 John Thompson
Hi John,
Is there any way we could get in contact? I know this comment was over a year ago but I’m trying to find out whether my grandfather, Pete (Peter) Wright, may have been the other tenor saxophone player mentioned here.
All the best!
Hello,
I think my grandfather may be the tenor saxophone player ‘Pete ??’! My grandmother has told me about him playing in a band named the Ray Martin Group as a saxophone player many times, and has mentioned Terry Marshall on a few occasions. His name is Pete (Peter) Wright, I’m devastated his dementia has progressed too far for me to be able to show this to him.
Hi,
I’ve been doing a lot of digging and I think the tenor saxophone player may well have been my grandfather, Pete (Peter) Wright.
Unfortunately his dementia has progressed now and so I won’t be able to show this to him, but my grandmother has said it was the Ray Martin Group he played in on the sax and Terry Marshall rings a bell!
My Dad (Peter Wright) was the saxophone player for this group. He’s from Southall Middlesex and used to tell me stories about this fairly often
My Dad Raymond Richardson was the singer in both The Ray Martin Group and Ray Martin & The Corvettes.
Sadly he passed away on the 17th March 2025 aged 84 years old.
We have his copies of some vinyl recordings of the band in a studio. It’s been great to listen to dad sing and we will be playing the bands cover of Groovin’ by Ben E King during his photo tribute at his funeral next week on the 15th April 2025.
He loved singing and playing gigs with the band.
Hi Dean
Was your dad’s stage name Ray Martin then? If you scan the vinyl recordings, I am happy to add the images to the site. Looks like they may have been acetates
Nick
Hi Nick
Yes you’re are right, Ray Martin was his stage name.
I have scanned the acetates and also a poster and programme from the Uxbridge festival and various flyers for events and a couple of different band pictures to the ones you have.
What’s the best email address to send them to?
Dean
Thanks Dean. I will email you directly