Founded in 1957 by John McNally (guitar/vocals), the Searchers were originally one of thousands of skiffle groups formed in the wake of Lonnie Donegan's success with "Rock Island Line." the Searchers' immediate competitors included bands such as the Wreckers and the Confederates, both led by Michael Pender (guitar, vocals), and the Martinis, led by Tony Jackson (guitar/vocals). By 1959, McNally and Pender were working together as a duet; later in the year, Jackson joined as the lead vocalist. After drummer Norman McGarry left the Searchers he was replaced by Chris Crummy, who quickly renamed himself Chris Curtis. Other changes were in the works as Jackson
built and learned to play a customized bass guitar. Learning his new
job on the four-stringed instrument proved too difficult to permit him
to continue singing lead, and McNally and Pender brought in a fifth member, Johnny Sandon (born Billy Beck). Johnny Sandon & the Searchers lasted from 1960 through February of 1962, and were extremely popular on the dance hall and club circuit in Liverpool. Sandon cut out for a career on his own, with another band called the Remo Four in early 1962.
Meanwhile, the Searchers, now a quartet with Jackson
once again lead singer, became one of the top acts on the Liverpool
band scene, playing textured renditions of American R&B, rock &
roll, country, soul, and rockabilly. The group was signed to Pye Records
in mid-1963 and their first single, a cover of the Drifters' "Sweets for My Sweet," was released in August of 1963, hitting number one on the British charts. While the Beatles quickly outdistanced all comers, the Searchers
did, indeed, go to the top of the charts with two of their next three
singles, "Needles and Pins" and "Don't Throw Your Love Away." Another
record, "Sugar and Spice," written by their producer Tony Hatch under the pseudonym Fred Nightingale,
stalled at the number two spot. Over the next nine months, the band
staked out a sound that was one of the most distinctive in a rock scene
crawling with hundreds of bands. Their music was built around the sound
of a crisply played 12-string guitar, coupled with strong lead vocals
and carefully, sometimes exquisitely arranged harmonies, so that they
could credibly cover American R&B standards like "Love Potion No. 9"
or Phil Spector-based
girl group pop like "Be My Baby." Their 1964 singles included a venture
into folk-rock before the genre had been "invented" in the press, in
the form of a cover of Malvina Reynolds'
"What Have They Done to the Rain." Interestingly, their 12-string
guitar sound would become a key ingredient in the success of the Byrds,
who even took the riff from "Needles and Pins" and transformed it into
the main riff of "Feel a Whole Lot Better."
In July of 1964, with the group riding the upper
reaches of the British charts, and with their third album in nine months
in release, it was announced that Tony Jackson was leaving the Searchers to form his own band, and would be replaced by Frank Allen, who had been playing bass with Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers.
The turning point for the band came in 1965, as the British and
international fascination with the Liverpool sound faded away. the Searchers began casting their net wider for material to cover, in addition to coming up with one original hit, the Curtis/Pender-authored "He's Got No Love." By the beginning of 1966, the group's string of chart hits seemed to have run out, and Chris Curtis exited in early 1966, claiming to have become exhausted from the group's constant touring. the Searchers, with Johnny Blunt
on drums, continued working and had their last hit, "Have You Ever
Loved Somebody," which barely cracked the Top 50 in October of 1966. The
group continued working, however, playing clubs and cabarets in England
and Europe. Blunt exited at the end of the '60s, but was replaced by Billy Adamson, and this lineup of the Searchers
continued intact until the mid-'80s, working for 35 weeks a year
throughout Europe with an occasional U.S. visit. Although they played as
part of Richard Nader's
"Rock 'n Roll Revival" shows, they never became an "oldies" act, always
adding new material, including originals and covers of work by
songwriters such as Neil Young to their sets, and in 1972, the band cut an album for British RCA.
