Saturday Club (BBC radio)
Encyclopedia
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
. For most of its history it was presented by Brian Matthew
.
group. At first, BBC management was unsure that there should be a radio show specifically for teenagers, but auditions were held for musicians including Chas McDevitt
, and a weekly programme was agreed. As Saturday Skiffle Club, it was first broadcast on 1 June 1957. It had a budget of £55 per week, and newsreader Brian Matthew as announcer. Cliff Richard
failed an audition for the programme and was not used, but early regular performers included McDevitt, the Vipers Skiffle Group, Johnny Duncan and his Bluegrass Boys, and George Melly
and his Bubbling Over Four. The budget was increased on occasions when Lonnie Donegan
, the top skiffle star of the time, performed. Although the experimental programme was successful, management was concerned about the high proportion of American songs performed, and also about the use of songs with religious themes.
" was dropped from the title, its budget was increased, and a wider range of performers began to appear. These included Cliff Richard, Adam Faith
, Chris Barber
, Humphrey Lyttelton
, Marty Wilde
, Terry Dene
, Vince Taylor
, Johnny Kidd, Michael Holliday
, Bert Weedon
and Clinton Ford
. Brian Matthew relaxed his style, and often started the show saying "Hello my ole mateys." The show consisted mainly of pre-recorded "live" performances, because of "needle time
" restrictions on the number of records that could be played by the BBC. Most programmes had four live acts and only contained around six record requests and three new releases. The theme music was "Saturday Jump" by Ted Heath
.
By August 1959 Saturday Club had a regular audience of five million listeners, including many children, as the programme immediately followed Children's Favourites
. It soon began featuring performances from touring American artists including Eddie Cochran
, Gene Vincent
, Duane Eddy
and Bobby Darin
, after a Musicians' Union
ban on performances by non-British musicians ended. Other American performers followed, including the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis
, Bo Diddley
, Chris Montez
and Tommy Roe
. In 1960, an LP, Saturday Club, was issued, on the Parlophone label, featuring 13 performers including Tommy Bruce
, Ricky Valance
, Bert Weedon and The King Brothers
.
, the Everly Brothers, Tommy Roe, Frank Ifield
, Kathy Kirby
, Clinton Ford, Joe Brown
and his Bruvvers, Kenny Ball
's Jazzmen and Arthur Greenslade
's group with strings. The producer, Bernie Andrews
, spent £483.12.6d on the performers. The Beatles received 50 guineas
.
In all, the Beatles appeared on the programme ten times. They first appeared on 26 January 1963, two weeks after the release of "Please Please Me
", when they performed "Some Other Guy
", "Love Me Do
", "Please Please Me", "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
" and "Beautiful Dreamer
." Their other appearances were on 16 March, 25 May, 29 June, 24 August, 5 October, and 21 December 1963; 15 February, 4 April, and, finally, 26 December 1964.
, had been replaced as host by Ray Orchard. The programme was effectively killed off by the advent of Radio 1
in 1967, although the BBC did keep it going for a year with Keith Skues
as host. The first Radio 1 Saturday Club on 30 September 1967 featured the Bee Gees
, and other editions included Dusty Springfield
, Wayne Fontana
, The Searchers
, Jimi Hendrix
, Manfred Mann
, Small Faces, Cream
and The Who
. The show completed 500 editions on 4 May 1968, but was axed on 18 January 1969.
, Small Faces, Cream and The Who have been released on CD in recent years.
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
programme in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, broadcast on the Light Programme and later Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
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
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. For most of its history it was presented by Brian Matthew
Brian Matthew
Brian Matthew is a veteran English broadcaster, who became well known in the 1960s. He is still broadcasting on radio for the BBC, having presented Sounds of the 60s since 1990, often employing the same vocabulary and the same measured delivery he used in previous decades.-Early life and...
.
Saturday Skiffle Club
The programme began following a suggestion by producer Jimmy Grant. He initially proposed a modest series called Skiffle Session, featuring two or three singers with a skiffleSkiffle
Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
group. At first, BBC management was unsure that there should be a radio show specifically for teenagers, but auditions were held for musicians including Chas McDevitt
Chas McDevitt
Chas McDevitt is a British musician, one of the leading lights of the skiffle genre which was highly influential and popular in the United Kingdom in the mid-to-late 1950s....
, and a weekly programme was agreed. As Saturday Skiffle Club, it was first broadcast on 1 June 1957. It had a budget of £55 per week, and newsreader Brian Matthew as announcer. Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
failed an audition for the programme and was not used, but early regular performers included McDevitt, the Vipers Skiffle Group, Johnny Duncan and his Bluegrass Boys, and George Melly
George Melly
Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.-Early life and career:He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Stowe...
and his Bubbling Over Four. The budget was increased on occasions when Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
, the top skiffle star of the time, performed. Although the experimental programme was successful, management was concerned about the high proportion of American songs performed, and also about the use of songs with religious themes.
The early years of Saturday Club
In October 1958, the programme was extended to two hours, from 10 am to 12 noon on Saturday mornings. The word "skiffleSkiffle
Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
" was dropped from the title, its budget was increased, and a wider range of performers began to appear. These included Cliff Richard, Adam Faith
Adam Faith
Terence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith was a Teen idol English singer, actor and later financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5...
, Chris Barber
Chris Barber
Donald Christopher 'Chris' Barber is best known as a jazz trombonist. As well as scoring a UK top twenty trad jazz hit he helped the careers of many musicians, notably the blues singer Ottilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife, and vocalist/banjoist Lonnie Donegan, whose appearances with...
, Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...
, Marty Wilde
Marty Wilde
Marty Wilde is an English singer and songwriter. He was among the first generation of British pop stars to emulate American rock and roll, and is the father of pop singers Ricky Wilde, Kim Wilde and Roxanne Wilde.-Career:Wilde was performing under the name Reg Patterson at London's Condor Club in...
, Terry Dene
Terry Dene
Terry Dene is a former British pop singer popular in the late 1950s. He achieved three Top Twenty hits between June 1957 and May 1958.-Career:...
, Vince Taylor
Vince Taylor
Vince Taylor was a British rock and roll singer. As the frontman for The Playboys, Taylor was successful primarily in France and the Continent during the late 1950s and early 1960s, afterwards falling into obscurity amidst personal problems and drug abuse.-Early life:Born Brian Maurice Holden,...
, Johnny Kidd, Michael Holliday
Michael Holliday
Norman Alexander Milne, known professionally as Michael Holliday was a British crooner popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s....
, Bert Weedon
Bert Weedon
Herbert Maurice William 'Bert' Weedon OBE is an English guitarist and composer whose style of guitar playing was popular and influential during the 1950s and 1960s. He was born in Burges Road, East Ham, Essex, now Greater London....
and Clinton Ford
Clinton Ford (singer)
Clinton Ford was an English popular singer of the 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:He was born Ian George Stopford Harrison, in Salford, Lancashire....
. Brian Matthew relaxed his style, and often started the show saying "Hello my ole mateys." The show consisted mainly of pre-recorded "live" performances, because of "needle time
Needle time
Needle time was created in the United Kingdom by the Musicians' Union and Phonographic Performance Limited, in order to restrict the amount of recorded music that could be transmitted by British Broadcasting Corporation during the course of any 24-hour period. Until 1967 the BBC was allowed to...
" restrictions on the number of records that could be played by the BBC. Most programmes had four live acts and only contained around six record requests and three new releases. The theme music was "Saturday Jump" by Ted Heath
Ted Heath (bandleader)
Ted Heath, musician and big band leader, led Britain's greatest post-war big band recording more than 100 albums and selling over 20 million records...
.
By August 1959 Saturday Club had a regular audience of five million listeners, including many children, as the programme immediately followed Children's Favourites
Children's Favourites
Children's Favourites was a BBC Radio programme from 1954 broadcast on the Light Programme on Saturday mornings from 9:00. A precursor had been called Children's Choice after the style of Housewives' Choice....
. It soon began featuring performances from touring American artists including Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
, Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock , known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly...
, Duane Eddy
Duane Eddy
Duane Eddy is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he had a string of hit records, produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel Rouser", "Peter Gunn", and "Because They're Young"...
and Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
, after a Musicians' Union
Musicians' Union (UK)
-About the MU:The Musicians' Union is an organisation which represents over 30,000 musicians working in all sectors of the UK music business.-Campaigns:The MU stages regular campaigns in relation to relevant musical and industrial issues...
ban on performances by non-British musicians ended. Other American performers followed, including the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
, Chris Montez
Chris Montez
Chris Montez , is an American singer.-Early life:Montez grew up in Hawthorne, California, influenced by the Latino-flavored music of his community and the success of Ritchie Valens....
and Tommy Roe
Tommy Roe
Tommy Roe is an American pop music singer-songwriter.Best-remembered for his hits "Sheila" and "Dizzy" , critic Bill Dahl wrote that Roe was "widely perceived as one of the archetypal bubblegum artists of the late 1960s, but Roe cut some pretty decent rockers along the way, especially early in his...
. In 1960, an LP, Saturday Club, was issued, on the Parlophone label, featuring 13 performers including Tommy Bruce
Tommy Bruce
Tommy Bruce was an English rock 'n' roll singer who had most success in the early 1960s.-Life and career:He was born Thomas Charles Bruce, in Stepney, London...
, Ricky Valance
Ricky Valance
Ricky Valance is a Welsh singer. He is best known for the number one single, "Tell Laura I Love Her", which sold over a million copies in 1960.-Life and career:...
, Bert Weedon and The King Brothers
The King Brothers
The King Brothers were a British pop vocal trio popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They are best remembered for their cover versions of "Standing on the Corner" and "A White Sport Coat ".-Career:...
.
The Beatles on Saturday Club
The fifth anniversary show in October 1963 starred The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, the Everly Brothers, Tommy Roe, Frank Ifield
Frank Ifield
Francis Edward Ifield is an early Australian-English easy listening and country music singer. He achieved considerable success in the early 1960s, especially in the UK Singles Chart, where he had four Number 1 hits between 1962 and 1963....
, Kathy Kirby
Kathy Kirby
Kathy Kirby was an English singer who was reportedly the highest-paid female singer of her generation. She is best known for her cover version of Doris Day's "Secret Love" and for representing the United Kingdom in the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest, where she came in second place...
, Clinton Ford, Joe Brown
Joe Brown (singer)
Joe Brown, MBE is an English entertainer.He has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and a UK recording star in the early 1960s...
and his Bruvvers, Kenny Ball
Kenny Ball
Kenny Ball is an English jazz musician, best known as the lead trumpet player in Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen.-Career:...
's Jazzmen and Arthur Greenslade
Arthur Greenslade
Arthur Greenslade was a British conductor and arranger for films and television as well as for a number of performers. In the 1950s he was pianist and arranger with the Oscar Rabin Band. He has arranged for Jack Jones, Chris Farlowe, Serge Gainsbourg, Genesis, Cat Stevens, Diana Ross and Dusty...
's group with strings. The producer, Bernie Andrews
Bernie Andrews
Bernard Oliver "Bernie" Andrews was a British BBC radio producer, who was instrumental in the careers of many emerging rock and pop bands from the 1960s onwards, and responsible for producing such programmes as Saturday Club and John Peel's shows.He was raised in Eltham, a suburb of London, and...
, spent £483.12.6d on the performers. The Beatles received 50 guineas
Guinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
.
In all, the Beatles appeared on the programme ten times. They first appeared on 26 January 1963, two weeks after the release of "Please Please Me
Please Please Me (song)
"Please Please Me" is a song and the second single released by The Beatles in the United Kingdom, and the first to be issued in the United States. It was also the title track of their first LP, which was recorded to capitalise on the success of the single...
", when they performed "Some Other Guy
Some Other Guy
-Other recorded versions:The song was very popular in Liverpool's Merseybeat scene. Both the original and the version by fellow Merseybeaters The Big Three are part of John Lennon's jukebox...
", "Love Me Do
Love Me Do
"Love Me Do" is The Beatles' first single, backed by "P.S. I Love You" and released on 5 October 1962. When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom, it peaked at number seventeen; in 1982 it was re-issued and reached number four...
", "Please Please Me", "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
"Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It has been recorded by many artists, most notably Little Eva, who had a #12 hit with the song on the Billboard charts in 1962...
" and "Beautiful Dreamer
Beautiful Dreamer
"Beautiful Dreamer" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster . It was published posthumously in March 1864 by Wm. A. Pond & Co. of New York. The first edition declares on the title page that "Beautiful Dreamer" is "the last song ever written by Stephen C. Foster. Composed but a few days prior to his...
." Their other appearances were on 16 March, 25 May, 29 June, 24 August, 5 October, and 21 December 1963; 15 February, 4 April, and, finally, 26 December 1964.
Later years
By 1965, Brian Matthew, who had also begun a Sunday morning programme, Easy BeatEasy Beat (BBC radio)
Easy Beat was a BBC radio programme broadcast nationally in the UK on the Light Programme on Sunday mornings, between 1960 and 1967. It was one of the earliest BBC programmes to broadcast pop music...
, had been replaced as host by Ray Orchard. The programme was effectively killed off by the advent of Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
in 1967, although the BBC did keep it going for a year with Keith Skues
Keith Skues
Keith Skues MBE is a British radio personality. He is nicknamed "Cardboard Shoes".Skues was born in Timperley, Cheshire. His broadcasting career began on the British Forces Network in Cologne, Germany in 1958. This was followed by overseas tours to Kuwait, Kenya and Aden...
as host. The first Radio 1 Saturday Club on 30 September 1967 featured the Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
, and other editions included Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
, Wayne Fontana
Wayne Fontana
Wayne Fontana is an English pop singer. In 1962, he formed his backing group, the Mindbenders and got a recording contract.-Biography:...
, The Searchers
The Searchers (band)
The Searchers are an English beat group, who emerged as part of the 1960s Merseybeat scene along with The Beatles, The Fourmost, The Merseybeats, The Swinging Blue Jeans, and Gerry & The Pacemakers....
, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
, Small Faces, Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
and 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...
. The show completed 500 editions on 4 May 1968, but was axed on 18 January 1969.
Recorded legacy
Sessions recorded for Saturday Club by Chas McDevitt, the Everly Brothers, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Johnny Kidd, Billy Fury, Dusty Springfield, Marianne FaithfullMarianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
, Small Faces, Cream and The Who have been released on CD in recent years.