The Shadows

The Shadows
The Shadows performing in Denmark, featuring long-time members from left Bruce Welch (far left), Mark Griffiths and Hank Marvin; Brian Bennett featured in background on drums.
The Shadows performing in Denmark, featuring long-time members from left Bruce Welch (far left), Mark Griffiths and Hank Marvin; Brian Bennett featured in background on drums.
Background information
OriginLondon, England
Genres
Years active1958–1968, 1969–1970, 1973–1990, 2004–2005, 2008–2010, 2015 (one-off reunion: 2020)[1]
LabelsColumbia (EMI), Polydor, Universal
SpinoffsMarvin, Welch & Farrar
Past members

The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters between 1958 and 1959) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre-Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard from 1958 to 1968, and have joined him for several reunion tours.

The Shadows have had 69 UK chart singles from the 1950s to the 2000s, 35 credited to the Shadows and 34 to Cliff Richard and the Shadows. The group, who were in the forefront of the UK beat-group boom,[2] were the first backing band to emerge as stars. As pioneers of the four-member instrumental format, the band consisted of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums. Their range covers pop, rock, surf rock and ballads with a jazz influence.[3]

The core members from 1958 to present are guitarists Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch and drummer Brian Bennett (who has been with the group since 1961) with various bassists and occasionally keyboardists through the years. Along with the Fender and the Burns guitars, another cornerstone of the Shadows sound was the Vox amplifier.

Around 1964, the Shadows replaced the Fender with the Burns, Bruce Welch citing tuning issues as the main reason.[4]

  1. ^ "The Shadows in 2020, reunite to play 'Apache'". YouTube. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Tony Meehan". Spectropop.com. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  3. ^ Perone, James E. (2009). Mods, Rockers, and the Music of the British Invasion. ABC-CLIO. pp. 51–52. ISBN 978-0-275-99860-8.
  4. ^ Music. This article from Burns sheds some light on the relationship between The Shadows and the development of the Burns Signature Marvin. Burns Marvin