Label: Pye
Year of Release: 1964
The identity of The Wedgwoods has, unfortunately, been a mystery for some time now. Despite their two folky-sounding singles on Pye (of which this was obviously one) and five on Columbia, and the fact that they were releasing records as late as 1977, they are something of an enigma.
Here's the little we do know. They supposedly consisted of four members, Betty Tiverington on vocals, David Tiverington on guitar, and two other individuals whose identities are unknown. Specialising in a melodic strain of harmony folk, they appeared not to be part of any radical Dylan-inspired movement (although I'm prepared to be corrected on this) and this might ultimately have been a reason for their failure.
Apparently this likable version of "September In The Rain" received an encouraging volume of airplay in 1964 and was expected to break through into the charts, but obviously didn't capture the public's imagination sufficiently. Hitless to the last, somebody at EMI obviously still had enough faith in their work to allow them to issue the album "Here Come The Wedgwoods" in 1976, a whole twelve years after this release was ignored. Does anyone know who they were or why their careers continued for a long while? My guess would be that they were known names on the folk circuit and had a niche following, but without any back-up evidence to hand this is all just speculation.
2 comments:
I sang with the Wedgwoods from 1973 to 1975. The band consisted of Betty Titherington and her husband Dave plus Betty's brother Bernard. Dave played guitar, Bernard played bongos and Betty arranged the music and sang the harmonies. They then took on a lead female vocalist and I was one of them.
We enjoyed quite a bit of succes with a lot of radio AirPlay and TV appearances on The Vera Lynn Show of The Week amongst others. We also played the London Palladium and toured South Africa with Rolf Harris. Dave and Betty later divorced and sadly Bernard died very young, having spent his final years in a home following oxygen starvation during an operation. Betty now lives with her husband Mitch and daughter Annabelle in Buckinghamshire.
I left the group to go solo and spent the next 15 years as a regular guest singer on Pebble Mill at One.
Diana Kirkwood
Thanks so much for dropping by and giving some added information, Diana. The Internet is a surprisingly weak source of information about The Wedgwoods at the moment despite the fact that the band obviously had a long career.
I've a sneaking suspicion I also remember you from Pebble Mill at One now you come to mention it!
Thanks again. Today is an ideal day for listening to "September In The Rain", actually.
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