Carter-Lewis and the Southerners were an early-1960s rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band formed by the Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

-born musicians Ken Lewis

Ken Lewis (songwriter)

Ken Lewis is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He is considered one of the most successful songwriters of the 1960s as a result of his collaborations with John Carter...

 (guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

, singer, songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

) and John Carter

John Carter (musician)

For the jazz clarinet player John Carter, see John Carter .John Carter is an English singer, songwriter and record producer.-Overview:...

 (producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

, singer, songwriter).

Carter and Lewis were initially songwriters. The early sixties saw the rise of the Liverpool Sound, and Carter and Lewis recorded copies of the latest group hits and performed them for the BBC Light Programme

BBC Light Programme

The Light Programme was a BBC radio station which broadcast mainstream light entertainment and music from 1945 until 1967, when it was rebranded as BBC Radio 2...

's shows Easy Beat and Saturday Club

Saturday Club (BBC radio)

Saturday Club was an influential BBC radio programme in Britain, broadcast on the Light Programme and later Radio 1 between 1957 and 1969. It was one of the earliest - and for several years almost the only - radio programme in the country to broadcast pop music...

; working with jazz musicians such as Marion Montgomery

Marion Montgomery

Marion Montgomery was a United States born jazz singer who lived in the United Kingdom.Born Maud Runnells in Natchez, Mississippi, she began her career in Atlanta working clubs, and then in Chicago where singer Peggy Lee heard her on an audition tape and suggested she should be signed up by...

, Marion Ryan

Marion Ryan

Marion Ryan was a popular British singer in the 1950s.-Career:Born Marian Ryan in Middlesbrough, England, and once called "the Marilyn Monroe of popular song", Marion Ryan was a pop singer of the 1950s in the early years of British Independent Television...

 and session musicians such as Kenny Clare

Kenny Clare

Kenneth 'Kenny' Clare was an English jazz drummer. He should not be confused with Kenny Clarke, whose band he played in....

 (drums) and Roy Deltrice (bass), under the direction of their music publisher Freddy Webb of Southern Music. They wrote Mike Sarne's

Mike Sarne

Mike Sarne is a British actor, director and former pop singer.Sarne was born Michael Scheuer at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London. Active in the 1960s as singer, he is best known for his 1962 UK comedy number one hit, "Come Outside"...

 1962 chart-topping single "Will I What?". Eventually their manager Terry Kennedy

Terry Kennedy

Terrence Edward Kennedy is a former All-Star Major League Baseball catcher who played for the St. Louis Cardinals , San Diego Padres , Baltimore Orioles and San Francisco Giants . Kennedy batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He is the son of former major league player and manager Bob Kennedy...

 convinced them that they needed to form a band to showcase their songs. Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page

James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...

, Viv Prince (later of the Pretty Things

The Pretty Things

The Pretty Things are an English rock and roll band from London, who originally formed in 1963. They took their name from Bo Diddley's 1955 song "Pretty Thing" and, in their early days, were dubbed by the British press the "uglier cousins of the Rolling Stones". Their most commercially successful...

 fame) and Perry Ford from Lincoln

Lincoln, Lincolnshire

Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....

 were members of the band, although Page was only there briefly. Ironically, few of their single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

s featured Carter-Lewis compositions.

Carter and Lewis also composed songs for a number of other artists, including Brenda Lee

Brenda Lee

Brenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...

 and P.J. Proby. John Carter sang the lead on the New Vaudeville Band's 1964 #1 hit "Winchester Cathedral", and the pair wrote Herman's Hermits 1965 hit "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat", which reached no.2 on the U.S. charts, and featured Jimmy Page on lead guitar.

Carter, Lewis and Ford continued as The Ivy League

The Ivy League (band)

The Ivy League are an English vocal trio, created in 1964, who enjoyed two Top 10 hit singles in the UK Singles Chart in 1965. The group's sound was characterised by rich, three-part vocal harmonies.-Career:...

, who had a number of chart hits, and also providing backing vocals

Backing vocalist

A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...

 on such hit single

Hit single

A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...

s as The Who

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

's "I Can't Explain

I Can't Explain

"I Can't Explain" is a song by the English rock band The Who, written by Pete Townshend, and produced by Shel Talmy. The song was issued as a single in December 1964 in the United States and on 15 January 1965 in the United Kingdom.-Background:...

"). In 1966 they left the Ivy League to form the production company 'Sunny Music', creating The Flower Pot Men whose hit "Let's Go To San Francisco

Let's Go To San Francisco

"Let's Go to San Francisco" is the only UK-charting single by the British pop group The Flower Pot Men. A light-hearted pastiche of the work of Brian Wilson, the song achieved a similar musical level and has remained popular...

" reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 in 1967. By this time Carter and Lewis worked purely as songwriters, arranger

Arrangement

The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...

s, producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

s and studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

-based musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

s - if their recorded work subsequently found an audience (as with The Flower Pot Men), they would then organize a group around that name to actively promote the recording

Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

s via concert

Concert

A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...

s, etc. In this fashion they were responsible for White Plains

White Plains (band)

White Plains were a British pop music group, that existed from 1969 to 1976.-Career:White Plains evolved from the late 1960s pop/psychedelic band The Flower Pot Men, composed of Tony Burrows, Pete Nelson, and Robin Shaw together with Neil Landon . The band was primarily a studio project led by John...

, First Class (whose hit song "Beach Baby", reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 in 1974), and others in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Discography

• June 1963 - "Sweet and Tender Romance" / "Who Told You?" - Carter-Lewis and the Southerners (featuring Jimmy Page) Oriole CB 1835
• November 1963 - "Somebody Told My Girl / Your Momma's Out Of Town" - Carter-Lewis & The Southerners (featuring Jimmy Page) Oriole
• March 1964 - "Skinny Minnie" / "Easy to Cry" - Carter-Lewis and the Southerners (featuring Jimmy Page) Oriole CB 1919
• "Back On The Scene" - Carter-Lewis & The Southerners
• "So Much In Love" - Carter-Lewis & The Southerners
• "Here's Hopin'" - Carter-Lewis
• "Poor Joe" - Carter-Lewis
• "Two-Timing Baby" - Carter-Lewis & The Southerners
• "Will It Happen To Me" - Carter-Lewis & The Southerners
• "Tell Me" - Carter-Lewis & The Southerners
• "My Brown Heart" - Carter-Lewis & The Southerners

Compilation:

• "The Carter-Lewis Story" (Sequel 1993)

External links

• An early 1960s publicity photo of the band featuring lead guitarist Jimmy Page
  Jimmy Page
  James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
  
  , on left: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/features/images/aviator_exhibition_page_15.jpg
• Your Time is Gonna Come: The Roots of Led Zeppelin, 1964-1969 compilation album, 2007, Castle Music
• That Driving Beat: U.K. Freakbeat Rarities [5 CD Box Set], Psychic Circle, 2008