Page 8 - August 2021

THE MINDBENDING CAREER OF WAYNE FONTANA
By Rob Atkins
Today the term ‘beat group’ appears to be redundant. ‘Rock band’ is probably the nearest equivalent, but doesn’t really fit the label in the way that it was applied in the UK, to a specific type of guitar combo during the mid-sixties.
Prior to the so-called ‘British Invasion’ of North America. The terms Rock ‘n’ Roll and Rhythm ‘n’ Blues were interchangeable for that amalgam of white country and black blues that had swept both sides of the Pond in the late1950s. By 1963, ‘Rock’ had been dropped from the then current parlance of the UK music industry, and reserved to describe those acts who still specialised in the ‘old’ fifties-style Rock ‘n’ Roll. ‘Beat’ became the generic term for the new ‘Anglicised’ version of hybrid American music now being doctored by young groups of musicians throughout the British Isles, while Rhythm’ ‘n’ Blues was the title reserved to describe the ‘purer’ less- diluted sound of those bent on retaining a more ethnic, Afro-American, feel to their interpretations.
Roughly speaking, at this stage of the rock evolution -and we’re talking the mid-sixties remember- outfits such as the ‘Stones’, ‘Pretty Things’, ‘Animals’, ‘Them’, ‘Spencer Davis Group’, and the ‘Yardbirds’, were labelled R & B, while (no matter what they became later), the ‘Beatles’, ‘Searchers’, ‘Swinging Blue Jeans’, ‘Dave Clark Five’, ‘Hollies’, etc, were beat groups. The latter all had somewhat differing sounds and styles, but still adhered to a similar form of cadre: controlled and melodic, with well- crafted harmonies, and unlike their blues-orientated opposite numbers, not overtly American sounding. If I could name one group that -in my opinion- typified this sub-genre, I think I would opt for the briefly ascendant ‘Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders.’
Wayne Fontana was born, Glyn Ellis, in 1945, in the north western English city of Manchester. His first venture into the art of performance was while still at school, singing in a skiffle group called the ‘Velfins’. His mid-teens saw him working briefly as
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an apprentice telephone engineer, before getting a job at a record store. This proved a good move as it gave him access to the latest sounds coming into Britain from the US. He developed his vocal style, and learned to play guitar. In 1962 he formed and fronted a group called the ‘Jets’. As Glyn Ellis wasn’t a particularly colourful name for a singer with eyes firmly set on a future of fame and stardom, he adopted ‘Wayne’ as his stage name. The ‘Fontana’ was added when the group’s lead guitarist told him that Elvis’s drummer was named D.J. Fontana.
For a year the band gigged around Manchester and its environs, until, like the Beatles, and many British groups before them, they crossed the North Sea to Germany -to play a season amid the flesh pots of Hamburg’s wild Reeperbahn.
It was not until they returned to their home city that they got their real break.They were performing at Manchester’s Oasis when they were spotted by Jack Baverstock, recording manager of the coincidentally (and appropriately) named Fontana Records. Baverstock immediately aware of the quality of Wayne’s vocals, plus his undoubted star potential -was also impressed by the Jet’s tightbacking. The story goes that he invited them to attend an audition at a local joint a short time later. Arriving for the sound check, Wayne was dismayed to find that only Bob Lang, the Jet’s bass player had turned up.
With the arrival of a company executive bearing a recording contract imminent, the two friends, fighting down a rising panic, dashed off to find the missing pair. Fortuitously, they came across Eric Stewart, lead guitarist of a rival group, sitting drinking coffee in a nearby café with Rick Rothwell -who just happened to be a drummer in yet another band. A few words of persuasion had both guitarist and drummer heading back to the venue with Wayne and the bassist. They played a short, impromptu set, and the contract was signed. Wayne, remembering the title of a Dirk Bogarde movie he had seen a while