The New Vaudeville Band

From "45-rpm.org.uk"... The New Vaudeville Band could almost be described as the band that never was- or at least nearly never was. They were almost entirely the brainchild of Tin Pan Alley songwriter Geoff Stephens. He had written a good song, 'Winchester Cathedral' and thought it would sound best if played in the fashion of a 1930s dance band. So he hired a group of session musicians and recorded it. The idea of an old jazz band wasn't new; an established band- the Temperance Seven- had played similar old time music four years or so earlier, but Geoff's record was an enormous success. In fact it was so successful that it reached #1 in the USA. Unfortunately, following this sudden high profile, Geoff was expected to take his band on concert tours! Musicians were quickly gathered together largely through the efforts of Henri Harrison- including a vocalist, Alan Klein, who had not been on the original hit (alleged to be John Carter from the Ivy League/ Flowerpot Men). To cloud the issue the new singer was cast as 'Tristram- Seventh Earl Of Cricklewood'. This was presumably designed to sound ultra-English for the American market. Alan Klein and the band went on the road, while Geoff stayed in his office in Denmark Street to keep writing the songs (he probably did so with an English travel book by his side!) and the band managed to squeeze out a few more hits before the novelty wore off. The band became a particular success in America and spent most of its later existence there, finally breaking up during the 1970s. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia... The New Vaudeville Band was a group created by songwriter Geoff Stephens (born 1 October 1934 in New Southgate, North London) in 1966 to record his novelty composition "Winchester Cathedral", a song inspired by the dance bands of the 1920s. To his surprise, the song became an international hit, rising to #1 in the United States. When Stephens received several requests for The New Vaudeville Band to tour he had to put together a group, since the song was recorded by studio musicians hired only for the recording session. He contacted a real group, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, which played similar music at the time. Only Bob Kerr from that group was interested, so he left The Bonzos to help Stephens form a touring version of The New Vaudeville Band which included original session drummer Henri Harrison. The lead singer of the touring version of the group was Alan Klein, who was billed as 'Tristram—Seventh Earl Of Cricklewood'. The group enjoyed success for two years until the novelty wore off. Kerr then formed his own group, Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band, which continues to perform with Henri Harrison. In 1967, The New Vaudeville Band released the Finchley Central LP. The New Vaudeville Band was managed by Peter Grant.