Chart entered : 11 June 1963
Chart peak : 46
Number of hits : 10 each, 6 of them together
Damn ! Another low hit I missed earlier. If the OCC hadn't squashed Chartstats this wouldn't be happening !
Wayne was born Glyn Ellis in Manchester in October 1945 making him the second post-war babe we've covered. He started out as a solo artist in 1962 taking his name from Elvis's drummer DJ Fontana but quickly saw which way things were heading and put a band together. Eric Stewart ( guitar ), Bob Lang ( bass ) and Ric Rothwell ( drums ) made up the Mindbenders who took their name from a Dirk Bogarde film. They were instantly snapped up by Fontana which can't have been entirely a coincidence and soon in the charts with this Fats Domino cover. I wonder if they hold the record for the shortest time between band formation and appearance in the charts.
"Hello Josephine" , a good-natured song about a childhood sweetheart. had been a minor hit ( much bigger in the States ) for Domino in January 1961 ( as My Girl Josephine ). Wayne and the boys re-tool it as an Eddie Cochran number with Eric laying down a buzzing rhythm as well as a nifty solo. The original was on the short side so doing it faster presented a problem which they solved by adding two verses of laughter which, given Wayne's latter day travails,. adds a certain frisson when listened to now. Like their Mancunian counterparts the Hollies, their first single is a bit rough and ready but does capture the excitement of the time well enough.
I imagine when you get to the dreaded Cowell-era, you'll see "bands" have hits in record time following being put together. Not many of them will get ten hits, though!
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