The Spinners (English band)

The band began as a skiffle group with a mainly American repertoire,[2] until they were prompted by Redd Sullivan, a seaman, to include sea shanties and English folk songs. They started out as the Gin Mill Skiffle Group, which included guitarist Tony Davis and washboard player Mick Groves.[3] The group played the Cavern Club, Liverpool for the first time on 18 January 1957, with the Muskrat Jazz Band and the Liverpool University Jazz Band. They played there on a number of occasions during that summer. In September 1958, they became the Spinners. They founded a folk club in Liverpool, the 'Triton Club' (while they were still called 'The Liverpool Spinners'[4]), but soon were performing in London at places such as The Troubadour coffee house. Their first album, Songs Spun in Liverpool (released under the group name of 'The Liverpool Spinners'), was recorded by Bill Leader from live performances. In 1962 Peter Kennedy of the English Folk Dance & Song Society recorded an album with them called Quayside Songs Old & New. In 1963 Philips Records signed them, and they recorded eight more albums over the next eight years. They signed with EMI Records in the early 1970s.[5]

They became 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 Jones, such as "The Ellan Vannin 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 called Not Quite Folk.[6]

They produced over 40 albums, and made numerous concerts and TV appearances. In 1965, after seeing the group perform in Liverpool, BBC producer Trevor Hill invited them to appear in a new BBC One series called Dance and Skylark, aboard an old sailing barque owned by presenter, bosun Stan Hugill. In 1970 they were given their own television show on BBC One that ran for seven years. The Spinners Christmas Special attracted large audiences. 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. Mick Groves and Hughie Jones still occasionally perform,[7] although Cliff Hall retired to Australia, where he died in 2008. Tony Davis returned to playing jazz after retiring and also hosted Tony's Tradtime on Jazz FM. He died in 2017.[8][9]

Their version of the Ewan MacColl song, "Dirty Old Town", was included in the Terence Davies' 2008 memoir/documentary of Liverpool, Of Time and the City. A biography of the group Fried Bread and Brandy-O (the title of their signature tune) was written by Liverpool journalist David Stuckey (with a foreword by Pete Seeger and an introduction from Deryck Guyler) to coincide with their 25th anniversary. It was published by Robson Books.[10]

In 2009, "The Liverpool Barrow Boys", from Songs Spun in Liverpool, was included in Topic Records 70-year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten as track 19 on the sixth CD.[11]

The surviving members of the group, often with bass player/musical director John McCormick, continued playing at various venues such as Exeter, Buxton, London Olympia, Orpington and Liverpool as the "Spinners Legends". A plan to finish off with a two concert appearance at the Liverpool Philharmonic in spring 2020 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But on 2 and 3 October 2021 after 63 years in showbusiness the trio played their final concerts in the Music Room at Liverpool's Philharmonic Concert Hall.

• Tony Davis (born Anthony John Davis, 24 August 1930, Blackburn, Lancashire, England, died 10 February 2017)[12]
• Mick Groves (born 29 September 1936, Salford, Lancashire, England)
• Cliff Hall (born Clifford Samuel Hall, 11 September 1925, Oriente Province, Cuba, died 26 June 2008, Adelaide, South Australia)[8][13]
• Hughie Jones (born Hugh E. Jones, 21 July 1936, Liverpool, England)