Dave Shaw (lead vocals) 

Colin Pierce (guitar) 

Colin Fox (vocals, guitar) 

Ray Harper (bass) 

Rod Pittam (keyboards) 

Paul Dunn (drums) 

As Colin Fox recalls, “The formation of St John’s Wood started when two local Eastbourne groups, Spooks and 4-Bidden got together.

“I was in Spooks, and in 1966, the drummer, John Atkins, decided to join the RAF; the bass player Chris Putland decided to move to London and eventually became an accountant; and the guitarist, John Brooker, emigrated to New Zealand. That left singer Dave Shaw and me.

“4-Bidden were a four piece band whose lead guitarist wanted to leave, so they asked me to join. I said I would if Dave could also join as singer and they agreed.”

Fox adds that the band brought in a keyboard player and decided to change their name because there were now six musicians in the group.

“About that time there was a band called The Scots of St James, a nightclub in London by the same name. So, we thought, ‘What other parts of London are there?’ We came up with St John’s Wood.”

The guitarist notes that 1969 marked the 50^th anniversary of the first flight across the Atlantic by Alcock and Brown and the band was approached by a guy who asked if they would be interested in recording a song called “Alcock and Brown”, which was written by Blakely and Howard.

“As they had had many top ten hits, we of course said yes,” says Fox. “We went into the studio and recorded the song. The first Saturday in May 1969, Simon Dee had a special programme commemorating the 50^th year anniversary of the first flight. Blakely and Howard were there and wanted us to change our name to Balloon Busters. I found the whole thing embarrassing, the song and the name, but we went ahead and appeared on the Simon Dee show.”

After leaving the studio, the band reverted to the name St John’s Wood and on the Monday left for a three-week tour of Denmark.

The band’s first gig was at the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. During August, the band held down a month-residency at the Carousel Club in Copenhagen, supporting by local Danish bands.

“The agent who sent us there told us there would be plenty of bookings waiting for us when we got back but unfortunately they never materialised and I left the band a couple of months afterwards.”

Fox says that he was approached by lead singer Tony Kenward from another local Eastbourne band called Road.

“I knew that Ray Harper was also dissatisfied with St John’s Wood having no work so I agreed if he could join as well.

“Over the next few years we changed our name to Lyzander and finally Performance. We became quite popular on the circuit for our four/five-part harmonies. In the following years, I did go out in a duo, a trio and also a band with four members. I retired to Spain in 2004, and played some bars and clubs in a duo, but that’s another story.”

Thanks to Colin Fox for information and photos about the band