The Spinners (UK band)

The Spinners were a 1960s folk group from Liverpool, United Kingdom. They were unrelated to "The Spinners", an American soul band known variously in the UK as "The Motown Spinners" and "The Detroit Spinners".

The British folk band The Spinners consisted of:

* Hughie Jones (born Liverpool, United Kingdom).
* Cliff Hall (born 11 September, 1925, Oriente Province, Cuba, died 26 June, 2008, Adelaide, Australia)
* Mick Groves (born Salford, United Kingdom)
* Tony Davis (born Blackburn, United Kingdom).

Cliff Hall was born in Cuba, brought up in Jamaica and came to the UK to serve in the Royal Air Force. The group was unusual for its time in having a multiracial membership. John McCormick was the group's bassist and musical director for the final seventeen years.

The group began as a skiffle group with a mainly American repertoire, until they were prompted by Redd Sullivan, a seaman, to include sea shanties and other old English folk songs. They founded a folk club in Liverpool, the "Triton Club", but soon were performing in London at places such as "The Troubadour". Their first album, "Songs Spun in Liverpool", was recorded by Bill Leader from live performances. In 1962 Peter Kennedy of the English Folk Dance & Song Society recorded an album called "Quayside Songs Old & New". In 1963 Phillips Records signed them and they recorded eight more albums over the next eight years. They signed for EMI Records in the early 1970s.

They became highly popular by reviving some of the greatest folk music and singing new songs in the same vein. Although sounding like traditional English folk songs, some of their material was in fact composed by Hughie Jones, such as "The Ellan Vanin Tragedy" and "The Marco Polo". One of their best known songs, particularly in their native Liverpool, was "In My Liverpool Home", written by Peter McGovern in 1962. Cliff Hall also introduced traditional Jamaican songs to their repertoire. One of their albums was even called "Not Quite Folk". Critics claimed that their style was musically simple, cosy and sentimental but this is exactly what appealed to their fans.

They produced over forty albums and made numerous concerts and TV appearances. In 1970 they were given their own television show on BBC One that ran for seven years. They also had their own show on BBC Radio 2. They retired in 1988 after thirty years together, although they led the community singing at the 1989 FA Cup Final and played some Christmas shows in the early 1990s. Some members of the group still perform, although Hall retired to Australia, where he died in 2008 as noted above.

References

* "The Times" 1 July 2008 - Obituary of Cliff Hall