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Lionel Morton - guitar/vocals Fritz Fryer - guitar/bass Mike Wilsher - guitar/keyboards Alan Buck - drums
Lionel Morton led this group of Lancastrians from Blackburn and, for the time, he possessed an exceptionally well-trained voice, having sung in a cathedral choir for several years. They were originally called The Lionel Morton Four and drummer Buck had previously played with both Johnny Kidd and Joe Brown. The Pennies had a wide range, musically, but commercially they fared best with slower numbers. Their biggest success was the beautiful ballad, "Juliet", written by band-members Wilsh and Fryer that reached the top of the charts in May 1964. Only three of their other singles made the top twenty, including a re-working of Leadbelly's "Black Girl". After "Trouble Is My Middle Name" just failed to make the top thirty the hits failed to come and The Four Pennies found most of their work on the cabaret circuit. Fryer later left the group and formed Fritz, Mike and Mo (he would re-join in mid '66). Morton went into a career in children's television, while Wilsh continues to run The Four Pennies to this day. Singles Nov '63 Do You Want Me To/ Philips BF 1296 UK#47 Mar '64 Juliet/ Philips BF 1322 UK#1 Jun '64 I Found Out The Hard Way/ Philips BF 1349 UK#14 Oct '64 Black Girl/ Philips BF 1366 UK#20 1965 A Way Of Love/ Philips BF 1398 - Oct '65 Until It's Time For You To Go Philips BF 1435 UK#19 Feb '66 Trouble Is My Middle Name/ Philips BF 1469 UK#32 1966 Keep The Freeway Open/ Philips BF 1491 - Oct '66 No Sad Songs For Me/ Philips BF 1519 - E.P.s 1964 The Four Pennies Philips BBE 12561 1964 Spin With The Pennies Philips BBE 12562 1965 The Swinging Side Of The Pennies Philips BBE 12570 1965 The Smooth Side Of The Pennies Philips BBE 12571 L.P.s 1965 Two Sides Of The Four Pennies Philips BL 7642 Nov '66 Mixed Bag Philips BL 7734 Re-issues Two Sides Of The Four Pennies/Mixed Bag - BGO 346 |