The Tremeloes are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, Essex, and still active today.
They formed as Brian Poole & The Tremoloes (The Tremoloes being the backing group to Brian Poole, and the name soon being changed because of the spelling mistake of an Essex newspaper) influenced by Buddy Holly and The Crickets. On New Years Day, 1962, Decca, looking for a Beat group, auditioned two promising young bands: Brian Poole and The Tremeloes and a somewhat similar combo (also heavily influenced by Buddy Holly) from Liverpool called The Beatles.
Decca chose Brian Poole & The Tremeloes over the Beatles. The Tremeloes proved to be a very talented band in their own right and had a successful career. Like the Beatles, the band seamlessly combined rock and roll with a variety of other genres.
The original quintet consisted of lead vocalist Brian Poole, lead guitarist Ricky West, keyboardist Alan Blakley, bassist Alan Howard and drummer Dave Munden.
Brian Poole & the Tremeloes first charted in the UK in July 1963 with a version of “Twist and Shout“, a song previously popularised in America by The Isley Brothers, but also already recorded by The Beatles and released in the UK in March 1963.
With Poole leaving to attempt a solo career (which proved unsuccessful) in 1966, The Tremeloes continued as a four-piece band with a revised line-up (Howard left the band in 1966) and new leadership (Alan Blakley). Len “Chip” Hawkes, father of 1990s hitmaker Chesney Hawkes, replaced Howard.
After switching from Decca to CBS Records, The Tremeloes started a successful hit run from 1967 onwards with Cat Stevens’ “Here Comes My Baby“; “Hello World”; three Italian hits translated into English (“Suddenly You Love Me”, which is Riccardo Del Turco’s “Uno tranquillo” (“One quiet man”), “I’m Gonna Try”, which is Riccardo Del Turco’s 1967 hit “Luglio” (“July”), and “My Little Lady”, based on Orietta Berti’s “Non illuderti mai” (“Never deceive yourself”)); and their Number one recording of an old Four Seasons’ B-side “Silence Is Golden“. Both this last single and “Here Comes My Baby” also entered the Top Twenty of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on CBS’ co-owned Epic Records.
The Tremeloes are still together today: West and Munden perform their old material in concert throughout Europe with musicians from other 1960s and 1970s bands. Hawkes is also still an active performer and leads his own band Class of ’64. Brian Poole still tours with his band the Electrix.
Source: Wikipedia.org
