The Ferris Wheel (band)
Encyclopedia
The Ferris Wheel were a British
rock
and soul
band, who have been described as "one of England's great lost musical treasures of the mid- to late '60s" and as "one of the most popular club acts" of the time. They released two album
s, Can't Break the Habit in 1967 and Ferris Wheel in 1970, the latter featuring singer Linda Lewis
.
, had previously performed in a duo with singer Nicky Scott. They had been paired together and promoted by manager and record producer Simon Napier-Bell
, who gained substantial publicity for the duo through his contacts in the London
music business and because a pairing of white male and black female singers was unusual at the time. Ferraz and Scott released three singles on the Columbia
label in 1966, and toured with a backing band, Simon's Triangle. The group included keyboard
player Mike Liston, also known as Michael Snow, who had previously been a member of the group West Five and backed The She Trinity
. Ferraz and Scott had little commercial success together, although Napier-Bell's promotional skills on their behalf allowed him to move on to become manager of The Yardbirds
. After Scott left, the group were briefly billed as Diane Ferraz and Simon's Triangle.
Ferraz and Liston then formed The Ferris Wheel with Dave Sweetnam (saxophone), George Sweetnam (bass, vocals), and Barry Reeves (drums), who had been members of singer Emile Ford
's backing group, The Checkmates. The Sweetnam brothers (the name is sometimes incorrectly spelled Sweetman, and the brothers also used the surname Ford) were half-brothers of Emile Ford. The line-up of the Ferris Wheel - who took their name from that of Ferraz - was completed by guitarist Mike Anthony, later replaced by Keith Field. Vocals in the group were shared between Ferraz, Liston, and George Sweetnam.
The Ferris Wheel quickly became a popular club act in London, and toured more widely. They were signed to Pye Records
by producer John Schroeder
, who recorded an LP
with them, Can't Break the Habit, in 1967. The record drew on both psychedelic pop
and soul influences, with some of their songs and arrangements being likened to those of The Fifth Dimension
while others were described as a Motown-influenced "gently trippy, soaring, and occasionally searing brand of soul music". Three singles were released from the LP: "I Can't Break The Habit" (1967), "Let It Be Me" and "The Na Na Song" (both 1968), but none reached the UK singles chart
.
The group continued to tour before Ferraz decided to leave the music business to raise a family. She was briefly replaced, in 1968, by Marsha Hunt
, before she in turn left to be replaced by Linda Lewis
. Among other personnel changes, Reeves was replaced by drummer Dennis Elliott
, and in 1969 Field left, to be replaced by guitarist Terry Edmunds, who was in turn replaced towards the end of the group's career, first by Bernie Holland and finally Jim Cregan
. Featuring Lewis as lead singer, the group signed a recording contract with the Polydor
label, who issued a single, "Can't Stop Now" produced by Ian Samwell
, at the start of 1970, followed by an album, Ferris Wheel. The album was released on the Uni
label in the US, but was not successful. The group split up in 1970.
Michael Snow (aka
Liston) wrote Georgie Fame
and Alan Price
's UK hit single "Rosetta", and performed with Colin Blunstone
and Doris Troy
among others, before moving to Nashville in 1973 to work as a songwriter and producer. He recorded with Dennis Locorriere
and released three Irish-influenced albums, Here Comes The Skelly (1998), The Rats and the Rosary (2001) and Never Say No To A Jar (2003).
Bass player George Ford (aka Sweetnam, Sweetman, or Sweetnam-Ford) became a session musician
, and worked with Doris Troy, Medicine Head
and Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
among others in the 1970s. He featured on Al Stewart
's album Year of the Cat
and played with Cliff Richard
and The Shadows
, before moving to Canada
in the 1980s. There, he worked with Long John Baldry
among others. According to Snow, Ford died in Canada in 2007.
Barry Reeves became a member of Blossom Toes
before moving to Germany
, where he worked as a percussionist and songwriter with the James Last
Orchestra. He married singer Madeline Bell
in 1988, and died of pneumonia in 2010.
Linda Lewis and Jim Cregan later married, and subsequently divorced. Lewis worked as a solo artist from 1970, recording almost 20 albums and having several UK hit singles including "Rock-A-Doodle-Doo" (1973) and "It's In His Kiss
" (1975). Cregan worked with Family
, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart
, among many others. Marsha Hunt appeared in the musical Hair
in London, and worked as a model, actress, and as a solo singer in the 1970s, before becoming a noted writer and novelist. Dennis Elliott later played in the bands If
and Foreigner
.
Sequel Records issued an expanded CD edition of Can't Break the Habit in 2000, with reminiscences by Diane Ferraz.
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...
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...
and soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
band, who have been described as "one of England's great lost musical treasures of the mid- to late '60s" and as "one of the most popular club acts" of the time. They released two album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s, Can't Break the Habit in 1967 and Ferris Wheel in 1970, the latter featuring singer Linda Lewis
Linda Lewis
Linda Lewis is an English vocalist, songwriter and Guitarist. Lewis is the oldest of six children two of whom also had singing careers...
.
Career
The group formed in late 1966. Original singer Diane Ferraz, born in TrinidadTrinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, had previously performed in a duo with singer Nicky Scott. They had been paired together and promoted by manager and record producer Simon Napier-Bell
Simon Napier-Bell
Simon Napier-Bell has undertaken many jobs in the music industry, including bandboy, manager, producer, songwriter, journalist and author and gourmet...
, who gained substantial publicity for the duo through his contacts in the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
music business and because a pairing of white male and black female singers was unusual at the time. Ferraz and Scott released three singles on the Columbia
Columbia Graphophone Company
The Columbia Graphophone Company was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Under EMI, as Columbia Records, it became a very successful label in the 1950s and 1960s...
label in 1966, and toured with a backing band, Simon's Triangle. The group included keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
player Mike Liston, also known as Michael Snow, who had previously been a member of the group West Five and backed The She Trinity
The She Trinity
The She Trinity was a Canadian/British pop group of the 1960s, an all-girl group who played their instruments, quite unusual at the time. The original members, Robyn Yorke, Shelley Gillespie and Sue Kirby, were Canadians who came to England around 1965. They were joined by Pauline Moran on bass and...
. Ferraz and Scott had little commercial success together, although Napier-Bell's promotional skills on their behalf allowed him to move on to become manager of The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
. After Scott left, the group were briefly billed as Diane Ferraz and Simon's Triangle.
Ferraz and Liston then formed The Ferris Wheel with Dave Sweetnam (saxophone), George Sweetnam (bass, vocals), and Barry Reeves (drums), who had been members of singer Emile Ford
Emile Ford
Emile Ford is a musician and singer, who was popular in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s and early 1960s.-Life and career:...
's backing group, The Checkmates. The Sweetnam brothers (the name is sometimes incorrectly spelled Sweetman, and the brothers also used the surname Ford) were half-brothers of Emile Ford. The line-up of the Ferris Wheel - who took their name from that of Ferraz - was completed by guitarist Mike Anthony, later replaced by Keith Field. Vocals in the group were shared between Ferraz, Liston, and George Sweetnam.
The Ferris Wheel quickly became a popular club act in London, and toured more widely. They were signed to Pye Records
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
by producer John Schroeder
John Schroeder (musician)
John Francis Schroeder is a British easy listening composer, arranger, and producer.Schroeder worked as an A&R assistant to Norrie Paramor at Columbia Records. He was also a songwriter and, with Mike Hawker, wrote the song "Walkin' Back to Happiness", which in a version by Helen Shapiro reached...
, who recorded an LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
with them, Can't Break the Habit, in 1967. The record drew on both psychedelic pop
Psychedelic pop
Psychedelic pop is a psychedelic musical style inspired by the sounds of psychedelic folk and psychedelic rock, but applied to a pop music setting...
and soul influences, with some of their songs and arrangements being likened to those of The Fifth Dimension
The Fifth Dimension
The 5th Dimension is an American popular music vocal group, whose repertoire also includes pop, R&B, soul, and jazz.Originally known as The Hi-Fi's, the 5th Dimension changed its name in late 1966, and was best-known during the late 1960s and early 1970s for popularizing the hits "Up, Up and Away",...
while others were described as a Motown-influenced "gently trippy, soaring, and occasionally searing brand of soul music". Three singles were released from the LP: "I Can't Break The Habit" (1967), "Let It Be Me" and "The Na Na Song" (both 1968), but none reached 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 ...
.
The group continued to tour before Ferraz decided to leave the music business to raise a family. She was briefly replaced, in 1968, by Marsha Hunt
Marsha Hunt (singer and novelist)
Marsha Hunt is an American singer, novelist, actress and model.-Early life:Hunt was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1946 and lived in North Philadelphia near 23rd and Columbia then in Germantown and Mount Airy for the first 13 years of her life...
, before she in turn left to be replaced by Linda Lewis
Linda Lewis
Linda Lewis is an English vocalist, songwriter and Guitarist. Lewis is the oldest of six children two of whom also had singing careers...
. Among other personnel changes, Reeves was replaced by drummer Dennis Elliott
Dennis Elliott
Dennis Leslie Eliott is most famous as the drummer who played for Foreigner from 1976 to 1992. In later years he became a professional sculptor.-Life and careers:...
, and in 1969 Field left, to be replaced by guitarist Terry Edmunds, who was in turn replaced towards the end of the group's career, first by Bernie Holland and finally Jim Cregan
Jim Cregan
Jim Cregan, born James Cregan, 9 March 1946, Yeovil, Somerset, England is an English rock guitarist and bassist who best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her as a record producer...
. Featuring Lewis as lead singer, the group signed a recording contract with the Polydor
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
label, who issued a single, "Can't Stop Now" produced by Ian Samwell
Ian Samwell
Ian "Sammy" Samwell was an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known as the writer of Cliff Richard's debut hit "Move It" and his association with the rock band America with whom he had his biggest commercial success with their hit single "A Horse With No Name"...
, at the start of 1970, followed by an album, Ferris Wheel. The album was released on the Uni
Uni Records
Uni Records was a record label owned by MCA Inc. The brand, which long featured a distinct UNi logo, was established in 1966 by MCA executive Ned Tanen and developed by music industry veteran Russ Regan...
label in the US, but was not successful. The group split up in 1970.
Later activities
Although Ferraz took no further part in the music business, several other band members continued their musical careers.Michael Snow (aka
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
Liston) wrote Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
and Alan Price
Alan Price
Alan Price is an English musician, best known as the original keyboardist for the English band The Animals, and for his subsequent solo work....
's UK hit single "Rosetta", and performed with Colin Blunstone
Colin Blunstone
Colin Blunstone is an English pop singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the pop group The Zombies, and for his participation on various albums with The Alan Parsons Project.-Biography:...
and Doris Troy
Doris Troy
Doris Troy was an American R&B singer, known to her many fans as "Mama Soul".She was born as Doris Higginson in The Bronx, the daughter of a Barbadian Pentecostal minister. Her parents disapproved of "subversive" forms of music like rhythm & blues, so she cut her teeth singing in her father's choir...
among others, before moving to Nashville in 1973 to work as a songwriter and producer. He recorded with Dennis Locorriere
Dennis Locorriere
Dennis Locorriere was the lead vocalist, guitarist of the pop group Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show, later Dr Hook...
and released three Irish-influenced albums, Here Comes The Skelly (1998), The Rats and the Rosary (2001) and Never Say No To A Jar (2003).
Bass player George Ford (aka Sweetnam, Sweetman, or Sweetnam-Ford) became a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
, and worked with Doris Troy, Medicine Head
Medicine Head
Medicine Head were a British blues rock band, active in the 1970s. Their biggest single success was in 1973, with "One and One is One", a Number 3 hit in the UK Singles Chart.-Main personnel:The group worked as a duo for most of its career, consisting of...
and Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are an English rock band from the early 1970s. Their music covers a range of styles from pop to progressive rock. Over the years they have had five albums in the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles in the UK Singles Chart.-Career:...
among others in the 1970s. He featured on Al Stewart
Al Stewart
Al Stewart is a Scottish singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician.Stewart came to stardom as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s, and developed his own unique style of combining folk-rock songs with delicately woven tales of the great characters and events from history.He is...
's album Year of the Cat
Year of the Cat
Year of the Cat is the seventh studio album by Al Stewart, released in 1976 and engineered by Alan Parsons; it is considered his masterpiece, its sales helped by the hit single "Year of the Cat," "one of those 'mysterious woman' songs," co-written by Peter Wood...
and played with 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....
and The Shadows
The Shadows
The Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'...
, before moving to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in the 1980s. There, he worked with Long John Baldry
Long John Baldry
John William "Long John" Baldry was an English and Canadian blues singer and a voice actor. He sang with many British musicians, with Rod Stewart and Elton John appearing in bands led by Baldry in the 1960s. He enjoyed pop success in the UK where Let the Heartaches Begin reached No...
among others. According to Snow, Ford died in Canada in 2007.
Barry Reeves became a member of Blossom Toes
Blossom Toes
Blossom Toes were an English psychedelic pop band active between 1967 and 1969. Initially known as The Ingoes, they were renamed and signed to manager Giorgio Gomelsky's Marmalade label...
before moving to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where he worked as a percussionist and songwriter with the James Last
James Last
James Last is a German composer and big band leader. His "happy music" made his numerous albums best-sellers in Germany and the United Kingdom. His composition, "Happy Heart", became an international success in interpretations by Andy Williams and Petula Clark...
Orchestra. He married singer Madeline Bell
Madeline Bell
Madeline Bell is an American soul singer, who became famous as a performer in the United Kingdom during the 1960s, having arrived from the US in the gospel show Black Nativity in 1962, with vocal group The Bradford Singers.-Career:She worked as a session singer, most notably backing for Dusty...
in 1988, and died of pneumonia in 2010.
Linda Lewis and Jim Cregan later married, and subsequently divorced. Lewis worked as a solo artist from 1970, recording almost 20 albums and having several UK hit singles including "Rock-A-Doodle-Doo" (1973) and "It's In His Kiss
The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)
"The Shoop Shoop Song " is a song written by Rudy Clark. The song was made a hit when recorded by Betty Everett, who hit #1 on the Cashbox magazine R&B charts with it in 1964...
" (1975). Cregan worked with Family
Family (band)
Family were an English rock band that formed in late 1966 and disbanded in October 1973. Their style has been characterised as progressive rock, although their sound often explored other genres, incorporating elements of styles like as folk, psychedelia, acid, jazz fusion and rock and roll...
, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
, among many others. Marsha Hunt appeared in the musical Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
in London, and worked as a model, actress, and as a solo singer in the 1970s, before becoming a noted writer and novelist. Dennis Elliott later played in the bands If
If (band)
If was a progressive rock band formed in Britain in 1969.Referred to by Billboard as "unquestionably the best of the so-called jazz-rock bands", in the period spanning 1970-1975, they produced 8 studio-recorded albums and did some 17 tours of Europe, the US and Canada.-History:They toured...
and Foreigner
Foreigner (band)
Foreigner is a British-American rock band, originally formed in 1976 by veteran English musicians Mick Jones and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm...
.
Sequel Records issued an expanded CD edition of Can't Break the Habit in 2000, with reminiscences by Diane Ferraz.
Albums
- Can't Break the Habit (PyePye RecordsPye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
, 1967) - Ferris Wheel (PolydorPolydor RecordsPolydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
, 1970)
Singles
- "I Can't Break The Habit" / "Number One Guy" (Pye, 1967)
- "Let It Be Me" / "You Look At Me" (Pye, 1968)
- "The Na Na Song" / "Three Cool CatsThree Cool Cats"Three Cool Cats" is a 1958 song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally recorded by The Coasters and released as the B-side of their hit single, "Charlie Brown"....
" (Pye, 1968) - "Can't Stop Now" / "I Know You Well" (Polydor, 1970)