RICK BROWN info
Rick Brown
(bass)
Great, veteran bass player,
he also appears credited as Ricky Brown, or Ricky Fenson (or Ricky Fensen).
This was the backing band
for Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages in February 1960:
-
Lord Sutch (vocals)
-
Bernie Watson (guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Nicky Hopkins (keyboards)
-
Carlo Little (drums)
A fantastic band. All the musicians
were really superb. They were fired in June 1960, although they rejoined
Lord Sutch in September 1961.
In April 1962, the band changes.
Bernie Watson and Nicky Hopkins leave. The great Dave Wendells replaced
Bernie Watson, for some weeks:
-
Lord Sutch (vocals)
-
Dave
Wendells (guitar)
-
Ricky Brown (bass)
-
Andy Wren (keyboards)
-
Carlo Little (drums)
A powerful lineup! He was replaced by Ritchie Blackmore
in May 1962.
-
Lord Sutch (vocals)
-
Ritchie Blackmore (guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Andy Wren (keyboards)
-
Carlo Little (drums)
In November 1962, the original
lineup of The Savages get all together to join Cyril Davies in his original
lineup of Cyril Davis & His R&B All Stars:
-
Cyril Davies (vocals, harmonica)
-
Bernie Watson (guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Nicky Hopkins (keyboards)
-
Carlo Little (drums)
And, in January 1963, they augment
the band with another singer, the mythical Long John Baldry, as well as
a trio of backing vocalist, called The Velvettes:
-
Cyril Davies (vocals, harmonica)
-
Long John Baldry (vocals)
-
Bernie Watson (guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Nicky Hopkins (keyboards)
-
Carlo Little (drums)
-
+
-
The Velvettes (backing vocal
trio)
By the way, around January 1963,
Rick also played in the original incarnation of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers,
although not leaving Cyril Davies band:
-
John Mayall (vocals, harmonica)
-
Sammy Proser or Davy Graham
(guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Sam Stone (drums)
And even more surprising! Rick
also played with The Rolling Stones (along with Carlo Little) for BBC Radio's
'Jazz Club' program, as Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman couldn't attend due
to their work commitments. This was the one-off lineup::
-
Mick Jagger (vocals, harmonica)
-
Brian Jones (guitar)
-
Keith Richards (guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Ian 'Stu' Stewart (keyboards)
-
Carlo Little (drums)
Rick and Carlo also played some
odd gig with the band in July. This is what Bill Wyman says about Rick
in his fabulous, huge book "Rolling with the stones": "Brian [Jones]
even tried to get them to join the Stones on a permanent basiss, but was
out-voted by the others. I was again impressed with Ricky's driving bass
style and runs and I tried adding some of his ideas to my playing".
Coming back to Cyril history,
in May 1963, Nicky Hopkins is hospitalized. They kept on without him:
-
Cyril Davies (vocals, harmonica)
-
Long John Baldry (vocals)
-
Bernie Watson (guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Carlo Little (drums)
-
+
-
The Velvettes (backing vocal
trio)
But in June 1963, Rick leaves
to join Lord Sutch again (and Bernie Watson left to join John Mayall &
The Bluesbreakers - Rick was replaced in the band by Cliff
Barton). This was the new edition of Screaming Lord Sutch & The
Savages:
-
Lord Sutch (vocals)
-
Stuart Taylor (guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Paul Dean (keyboards)
-
Pete Phillips (drums)
In August 1963, they changed
their drummer, and Carlo Little returns:
-
Lord Sutch (vocals)
-
Stuart Taylor (guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Paul Dean (keyboards)
-
Carlo Little (drums)
Ricky left them in January 1964.
In November 1964, Brian Auger reforms his group
The Trinity, and Rick joins him.
-
Brian Auger (keyboards)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Micky
Waller (drums)
They only recorded 2 singles. Soon after, they are
joined by a new member:
-
Long John Baldry (vocals)
-
Brian Auger (keyboards)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Micky
Waller (drums)
In April 1965, the group evolves into a new band,
The Steampacket:
-
Long John Baldry (vocals)
-
Rod Stewart (vocals)
-
Julie Driscoll (vocals)
-
Vic Briggs (guitar)
-
Brian Auger (keyboards)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Micky
Waller (drums)
Their recordings, made in December 1965, were never
to be available, but after Rod Stewart's success (with Faces and later
solo career), the recordings were released in 1973. Since then, the album
has been reissued under different titles. It happens the same with several
obscure recordings by people under the influence of the same manager, Giorgio
Gomelski (The
Yardbirds, Jimmy Page, Brian Auger, etc.). I like
this album, it's has a very distinctive 60s sound.
It seems that Rod Stewart's Storyteller
box set must contain some other material from that group, but I'm not sure.
In April 1966, Rod Stewart leaves, and the band
disbanded.
Around September 1966, he joined Georgie Fame &
The Blue Flames for a few weeks, replacing Colin Green:
-
Georgie Fame (vocals, keyboards)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Eddie Thornton (trumpet)
-
Peter Coe (sax)
-
Glenn Hughes (sax)
-
Mitch Mitchell (drums)
But they called it a day in October 1966.
Most of The Steampacket remained as the nucleus
of a new band, Brian Auger - Julie Driscoll & The Trinity:
-
Julie Driscoll (vocals)
-
Vic Briggs (guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Brian Auger (keyboards)
-
Micky
Waller (drums)
Rick Brown left them, around March 1967, joining Georgie
Fame Band again:
-
Georgie Fame (vocals, keyboards)
-
John McLaughlin (guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Eddie Thornton (trumpet)
-
Johnny Marshall (sax)
-
Lyn Dobson (sax, flute)
-
Derek Wadsworth (trombone)
-
Hughie Flint (drums)
-
J. Scott (percussion)
This was their new lineup in January 1968:
-
Georgie Fame (vocals, keyboards)
-
John McLaughlin (guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Eddie Thornton (trumpet)
-
Johnny Marshall (sax)
-
Lyn Dobson (sax, flute)
-
Derek Wadsworth (trombone)
-
Jon Hiseman (drums)
-
+ percussionist
And then? Well, as it happened with so many great,
unsung heroes of the 60s, he seemed to disappear. But he's alive and well,
and after 30 years of not knowing about his musical projects, he reappear
as part of Carlo Little All Stars in 1999:
-
Art Wood (vocals)
-
Eddie Armer (harmonica)
-
Alex Chanter (guitar)
-
Rick Brown (bass)
-
Johnny Casanova (keyboards)
-
Carlo Little (drums)
QUESTIONS:
1. Did he ever play in the
first times of The Jeff Beck Group? I mean, sometime in the period from
March to September 1967.
Albums by The Steampacket:
Albums by Brian Auger:
-
Don't send me no flowers (1969, with
Brian Auger, Jimmy Page, Alan Skidmore, Micky
Waller) (recorded in 1965)
-
Attention! (with Brian Auger, Rod Stewart,
Julie Driscoll, Long John Baldry, Vic Briggs, Gary Boyle, Roger Sutton,
Clive Thacker, Micky Waller,
Clem Cattini) (recorded in 1965)
-
The mod years 1965-1969 (with Brian
Auger, Rod Stewart, Julie Driscoll, Long John Baldry, Vic Briggs, Gary
Boyle, Roger Sutton, Clive Thacker, Micky
Waller, Clem Cattini)
Albums by Georgie Fame:
-
Two faces of Fame (1967, with Georgie
Fame, Tony Coe, Ian Hammer, Lyn Dobson, Eddie Thornton, Derek Wadsworth,
Derek Watkins, Kenny Wheeler, John Marshall, Dick Morrisey, Jeff Clyne,
Tony Oxley, Bill Eyden)
Albums by Long John Baldry:
-
Everything stops for tea
(1972, with Elton John, Davey Johnstone, Ray Cooper, Nigel Olsson, Rod
Stewart, Jimmy Litherland, Bob Weston, Sam Mitchell, John Porter, Bill
Smith, Ian Armitt, Jimmy Horowitz, Terry
Stannard, Micky Waller,
Madeline Bell, Barry St John, Liza Strike, Doris Troy)
Sessions:
-
Lord Sutch (Lord Sutch & Heavy Friends,
1970, with Jeff Beck, Jimmy
Page, Noel Redding, Nicky Hopkins, Carlo Little, John Bonham)
-
Rod Stewart (1964-1969, Jun 2000, with
Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck,
Gary Boyle, Geoff Bradford, Ron Wood, Vic Briggs, Keith Richards, Dave
Ambrose, Cliff Barton, Kim Gardner, John
Paul Jones, Victor Brox, Mike D'Abo, Nicky Hopkins, Ian
Armitt, Ian McLagan, Brian Auger, Peter Bardens, Keith Emerson,
Art Themen, Aynsley Dunbar,
Micky Waller, Mick Fleetwood,
Bobby Graham, Long John Baldry, PP Arnold, Beryl Marsden, Art Wood) (2CD,
compilation with lots of unreleased tracks)
Related links:
Thanks section
Very special thanks to: ....
Special thanks to: ...
Thanks to: ...
If you can contribute (with
additions, corrections, opinions, etc.), please, send me an e-mail message
at mterol@myrealbox.com
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by Miguel Terol on: 29/September/2003. First published on: 29/September/2003.
Last modified on: 29/September/2003.
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