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Carl Wayne
Colin David Tooley (18 August 1943 – 31 August 2004), better known as Carl Wayne, was an English singer and actor. He is best remembered as the lead singer of The Move, a group that he co-founded in 1965. He sings lead on several of the band's hits, such as "Curly", "Flowers in the Rain", "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", and "Night of Fear".
Wayne was born and raised in Birmingham and entered the music business playing bass guitar. However, he switched to vocals and formed the G-Men, but later joined The Vikings (later Carl Wayne and the Vikings), a band which also included Ace Kefford and Bev Bevan. Kefford and Trevor Burton formed a group, The Move, which Wayne, Bevan, and Roy Wood would join, hitting huge success within the band. He left in 1970, and pursued a cabaret career with slight success.
Wayne notably played Tom-Tom and Odd Job John in several episodes of Emu's TV programmes. In 2000, he joined The Hollies, and performed with them until his death in 2004.
Wayne was born in the area of Winson Green, Birmingham, and grew up in the Hodge Hill part of the city.
Inspired by the American rock'n'roll of Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, he formed the G-Men in the late 1950s, and joined local band the Vikings, where his powerful baritone voice and pink stage suit helped make them one of the leading rock groups in the Midlands. He initially played bass guitar and played the instrument in a gig for the Vikings, though decided to ditch the bass after he didn't enjoy his playing. His change of name was inspired by the movie star John Wayne, with the Scandinavian 'Carl' to fit into the 'Vikings' theme. In 1963 they followed in the footsteps of the Beatles and other Liverpool bands by performing in the clubs of Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg. On returning to Birmingham, in the wake of the Beatles' success, record companies were keen to sign similar guitar bands. The Vikings signed with Pye Records, but all three singles failed to chart.
Wayne represented England at the prestigious Golden Orpheus Song Festival in Bulgaria. In front of a live and televised audience of over 20 million, Wayne won first prize.
In December 1965 he joined the Move, a Birmingham beat supergroup drawn from top local bands. They included three members of the Vikings (bass guitarist Chris 'Ace' Kefford, drummer Bev Bevan and Wayne himself), Trevor Burton (lead guitarist with Danny King and the Mayfair Set), and Roy Wood (lead guitarist with Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders). They enjoyed three years of hits with singles such as "Night of Fear", "I Can Hear The Grass Grow", "Flowers in the Rain", "Fire Brigade", and their number-one success "Blackberry Way". In their early years the Move had a stage act which occasionally saw Wayne taking an axe to television sets, or chainsawing a Cadillac to pieces at the Roundhouse, London, during "Fire Brigade", an escapade which resulted in the Soho area being jammed with fire engines, and the group being banned for a while from every theatre venue in the UK.
But by the start of 1968, the group began fragmenting as a result of personal and musical differences. Wayne grew frustrated with the Move's management pushing Wood to the forefront of the band and himself to the background by encouraging Wood to write the Move's songs and allowing the Move to record songs which Wayne did not sing lead on. According to Wood, the management were indifferent to who sang lead, an indifference that proved justified after the Wood-sung "Fire Brigade" and "Blackberry Way" became two of the Move's biggest hits. When the management decided that Wood would be the producer for the band's second album, Shazam, Wayne pushed back, becoming a co-producer on Shazam and choosing many of the cover songs which appeared on it. Wayne's increasingly MOR style, and aspirations towards cabaret, were at odds with Wood's desire to experiment in a more progressive and classical direction, which would lead to the foundation of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). Wayne was initially offered to play timpani for ELO, but rejected the offer. Wayne left the band shortly after the band's sole tour of the United States.
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Carl Wayne
Colin David Tooley (18 August 1943 – 31 August 2004), better known as Carl Wayne, was an English singer and actor. He is best remembered as the lead singer of The Move, a group that he co-founded in 1965. He sings lead on several of the band's hits, such as "Curly", "Flowers in the Rain", "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", and "Night of Fear".
Wayne was born and raised in Birmingham and entered the music business playing bass guitar. However, he switched to vocals and formed the G-Men, but later joined The Vikings (later Carl Wayne and the Vikings), a band which also included Ace Kefford and Bev Bevan. Kefford and Trevor Burton formed a group, The Move, which Wayne, Bevan, and Roy Wood would join, hitting huge success within the band. He left in 1970, and pursued a cabaret career with slight success.
Wayne notably played Tom-Tom and Odd Job John in several episodes of Emu's TV programmes. In 2000, he joined The Hollies, and performed with them until his death in 2004.
Wayne was born in the area of Winson Green, Birmingham, and grew up in the Hodge Hill part of the city.
Inspired by the American rock'n'roll of Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, he formed the G-Men in the late 1950s, and joined local band the Vikings, where his powerful baritone voice and pink stage suit helped make them one of the leading rock groups in the Midlands. He initially played bass guitar and played the instrument in a gig for the Vikings, though decided to ditch the bass after he didn't enjoy his playing. His change of name was inspired by the movie star John Wayne, with the Scandinavian 'Carl' to fit into the 'Vikings' theme. In 1963 they followed in the footsteps of the Beatles and other Liverpool bands by performing in the clubs of Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg. On returning to Birmingham, in the wake of the Beatles' success, record companies were keen to sign similar guitar bands. The Vikings signed with Pye Records, but all three singles failed to chart.
Wayne represented England at the prestigious Golden Orpheus Song Festival in Bulgaria. In front of a live and televised audience of over 20 million, Wayne won first prize.
In December 1965 he joined the Move, a Birmingham beat supergroup drawn from top local bands. They included three members of the Vikings (bass guitarist Chris 'Ace' Kefford, drummer Bev Bevan and Wayne himself), Trevor Burton (lead guitarist with Danny King and the Mayfair Set), and Roy Wood (lead guitarist with Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders). They enjoyed three years of hits with singles such as "Night of Fear", "I Can Hear The Grass Grow", "Flowers in the Rain", "Fire Brigade", and their number-one success "Blackberry Way". In their early years the Move had a stage act which occasionally saw Wayne taking an axe to television sets, or chainsawing a Cadillac to pieces at the Roundhouse, London, during "Fire Brigade", an escapade which resulted in the Soho area being jammed with fire engines, and the group being banned for a while from every theatre venue in the UK.
But by the start of 1968, the group began fragmenting as a result of personal and musical differences. Wayne grew frustrated with the Move's management pushing Wood to the forefront of the band and himself to the background by encouraging Wood to write the Move's songs and allowing the Move to record songs which Wayne did not sing lead on. According to Wood, the management were indifferent to who sang lead, an indifference that proved justified after the Wood-sung "Fire Brigade" and "Blackberry Way" became two of the Move's biggest hits. When the management decided that Wood would be the producer for the band's second album, Shazam, Wayne pushed back, becoming a co-producer on Shazam and choosing many of the cover songs which appeared on it. Wayne's increasingly MOR style, and aspirations towards cabaret, were at odds with Wood's desire to experiment in a more progressive and classical direction, which would lead to the foundation of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). Wayne was initially offered to play timpani for ELO, but rejected the offer. Wayne left the band shortly after the band's sole tour of the United States.