Middle Of The Road biography

 

Ken was managing and playing drums in a fairly successful university group known as The Talismen Beat Unit. When Ken departed from Glasgow University, he took time off playing to establish his "day job" as a film cameraman/sound recordist in a small Glasgow film and recording company.

Brothers, Ian and Eric McCredie, had been playing together in and around Glasgow since the early sixties in a band called The Dominos.

It was at this time that Ian and Eric approached Ken to join their outfit. He was not really interested in the music business any longer and declined their offer.

A year or so later, Ken received a phone call from Ian to see if he would change his mind about performing and join a small group, to be called The Electrons, playing interval breaks in one of Glasgow's best known dance halls; The Dennistoun Palais. (Click on the audio link (Real audio) for a 1964 recording)

Missing his time behind a drum kit, Ken agreed and the three formed a musical relationship which, together with a petite, vivacious blonde (right) from a small mining village in Lanarkshire, was to artistically ravish the International Music Business in the years to come.

After the season at the Palais ended, Ken, Ian and Eric continued playing together backing a Glasgow girl, Jan Douglas (right), who had had a hit single in the British Charts a year or so earlier.

Together they performed as Jan Douglas and the Douglas Boys and fulfilled a summer season in a seaside show featuring such Scottish stalwarts as the classic comedian, Chic Murray and the darling of the Scottish blue rinse brigade, Sidney Devine (see left).

The next stage of their show biz apprenticeship saw them performing a weekly stint at a small supper club in the centre of Glasgow in a new band, Karen and the Sophisticats.

Not content with this, Ian, Eric and Ken performed together in pubs in the east end of Glasgow as Part 3, on the nights when The Sophisticats were not playing. The audiences were unsophisticated and brutal, and if they didn't like you were lucky to escape with your life. It was in this environment that Ken first began singing behind the drums and the three developed their unique harmony sound.

Sally entered the fray in 1967 as a temporary replacement lead singer when Karen took time off due to illness. Sally was due to leave for a life in America after 3 months but she changed her mind when the boys asked her to join Part Three.

Part Four was now formed and this time everyone sang. The seeds of a successful vocal group were sown and soon they were in demand all over the central belt of Scotland.

By this time, the successful 4 were spotted by an astute management organisation who suggested that they become a specialty band and dress up in latin gear to complement the half dozen or so latin pop songs they included in their popular repertoire. Los Caracas was born and the next stage in the group's career began.

For the next three years the band travelled the length and breadth of the UK appearing in night clubs and restaurants and finally won a spot on a very popular national TV talent show known as Opportunity Knocks (click on the audio link to hear their appearance from September 1968). They appeared on the show 4 times making their final appearance on the All Winners programme in October 1968.

It was obvious that the band could no longer continue to perform part time since they were now very much in demand the length and breadth of the UK (click on the audio link for a 1968 cinema "ad" soundtrack).

Sally, Ken and Eric turned professional with the group in 1969 but it wasn't until April 1970 that Ian, always at the tail end, took the plunge and joined them full time.

After turning down offers of work from London Agents they decided to hook up with two croupiers from South America, who were working in a Glasgow Casino. (Sounds like good judgment!).

Before embarking on what was planned to be a trip to Argentina, they took an engagement on a cruise ship to the Caribbean, backing Kathie Kay, a well known British Big Band singer and wife of the man who was their friend and much-loved UK impresario, Archie McCulloch.

They were also given their own spot in the cabaret which was to be a precursor to their future act, but the name had to change. It was not considered appropriate to migrate to South America with a Latin American name. Ken came up with the idea of the name Middle of the Road and all four agreed to adopt the new image, still keeping the Latin content of their set but putting more of an accent on middle-of-the-road pop.

After the success of their appearance on the cruise ship they packed their bags and set off for South America, via Italy where they were to pick up another cruise ship to cross the Atlantic. After a few weeks of work in Italy, they discovered that their croupier manager (one had dropped out of the picture) was not quite what he said he was and they were forced to stay in Italy and find a new manager to provide them with an income and enough money to return to the UK and safety. During one of their appearances at a restaurant in Forte dei Marmi, La Cappannina de Francesci, an RCA A & R executive, who just happened to be on holiday there, invited them to Rome for a recording test.

The band caused such excitement with their vocal sound that producers in Rome were tripping over themselves to use them to record film soundtracks, back existing Italian singers and record other original material, in Italian, as Middle of the Road. It is possible that their less than exorbitant recording session fees had something to do with this as well.

One of the first of these was a recording with an unknown Italian singer called Jordan. The song was an entry to the San Remo Song Festival in 1971 and the group had to perform it with Jordan live on TV, broadcast from the Casino theatre. The main part of the song began with everybody screaming "Aaaagh" at which point the four Scots would jump forward on stage almost knocking poor old Jordan into the wings. He had to recover quickly since the next line was his alone. The performance was noted for its amusement but the song didn't win. The competition was pretty hot with artistes like José Feliciano and a host of top Italian groups and singers taking part.

The audio track is "Lo Schiaffo" (The Slap)

Another of those recording artistes backed vocally by Middle of the Road was none other than screen icon Sophia Loren and a fairly successful single entitled "Anyone" backed by "There is a Star" was released as a spin off for the film "The Priest's Wife" (1971).

The publicity from this unexpected collaboration hit the world entertainment headlines, (except the UK) and Middle of the Road were established as a marketable product for RCA Italiana. Today these songs may be heard on recently released CDs in Europe. It was at this time that they were teamed up with a bright, up and coming Italian producer, Giacomo Tosti. Then began the search for suitable material to launch RCA Italiana's latest signing. Lally Stott, one of the many Brits working in Rome's lively music recording scene, approached RCA with a song he had written and recorded himself. His record label, Philips, had already had a hit with his version of the song in Italy but they were reluctant to release it anywhere else. Giacomo heard it and immediately volunteered to produce a new version featuring his new Scottish band. When Ken, Ian and Eric heard it they fell about laughing.

They reckoned that if anyone in the UK or any English speaking territory heard this, Middle of the Road would never be able to hold their heads up in public ever again. Sally, however, thought it was really catchy and finally the boys agreed to do it on condition that the recording session was supported with a supply of Bourbon to keep the spirits up.

The session was not without its problems and the Bourbon came in handy but finally the song was ready. In the photo, Lally Stott is behind the mic stand next to Ken, the source of one of the problems.

By a strange coincidence RCA executives from all over the world were visiting the studios for a company convention and they were invited to the studio to hear the finished product. They all gave it the thumbs up and master copies were sent to all territories for release there. "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" was set loose on the unsuspecting world.

It was now obvious that more material was needed to follow up this first single and writers and arrangers Mario and Giosy Capuano joined the production team.

They shared many long and tiresome recording sessions in the enormous Studio One of the RCA complex in Rome. Often they would be leaving the studios to go home when the morning shift of engineers was coming in to begin their day. The combination of their production team, jointly known as Catoca, and the Scottish quartet was to prove to be a spectacular formula for success.

"Chirpy" was a runaway success but for the follow up single, "Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum" needed some innovative promotion. What better than to put a new car on the road with "Middle of the Road". As it happens, Fiat were launching their mini hatchback, the Fiat 127, and they were producing a short film for release in cinemas all over Europe. RCA struck a deal with them to feature "Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum" and the band in the film. The foursome, who were still living in Rome, had the dubious pleasure of seeing themselves on the big screen, quite by accident, when they visited their local cinema one evening to see "Love Story".

They have never been able to work out what "Tweedle Dee" had to do with a car but in spite of this both car and song were highly successful.

 

After "Chirpy" and "Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum" had hit the charts, their third single broke the mould of nonsense songs and was a resounding hit. Written by a Spanish songwriter, Fernando Arbex, with lyrics co-written by Sally herself and produced by Giacomo Tosti just before Catoca was formed, "Soley Soley", recorded in Madrid, became the summer hit for Europe that year. With astonishingly 'good' planning, RCA released the single in Britain... for Christmas! It wasn't until March that "Soley" reached the number two spot in the UK charts when the weather was beginning to reflect the mood of the song.

"Soley Soley" was deprived of a UK number one spot by a traditional song recorded by the pipes and military band of a Scottish regiment. The regiment was the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the song was "Amazing Grace". As a mark of respect, or perhaps it was to concede defeat, Ian, Middle of the Road's guitarist and piper, performed a rendition of the military hit on his pipes, backed by the brass like voices of Sally, Ken and Eric, to open the group's act at live concerts.

"Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep", "Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum", "Soley Soley", "Sacramento" and "Samson and Delilah" were the group's main hits in the UK, but world-wide they had numerous more. The record market, however, was suffering from the oil crisis and vinyl was in short supply putting pressure on the release of new material. The UK record label apparently turned its back on "the foursome from Italy", the band's perceived country of origin. As a result, the UK public were given no further opportunity to follow the Scots group in spite of numerous appearances on Top of the Pops for BBC Television.

Not so in the rest of the world. RCA Italiana were not going to allow any oil crisis to affect the popularity of their first and biggest international product and there followed a succession of releases that had the band travelling non stop round the world for the next two years. Brazil, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Europe were treated to more "Middle of The Road" fun with singles like "Yellow Boomerang", "Kailakee Kailako", "Talk of all the USA" and many more.

After 3 highly successful years with RCA and Catoca the band were approached by a German record label, Ariola Eurodisc. They were a well established European label catering for the German speaking market.

They, like RCA Italiana in 1970, were keen to capitalise on the lucrative English language music scene.

Ariola made an offer to Middle of the Road that the band just couldn't refuse. Their short term contract with RCA was coming to an end and it seemed like a good opportunity for them to develop their style and try to shake off the flippant pop image of their singles. They wanted to go their own musical way.

The transfer from label to label, however, was far from smooth. It set off a marketing war between Ariola and the giant RCA Corporation with the band well and truly in the middle. RCA had a stock pile of relatively commercial songs from the "old team" still available for release as singles. Ariola were starting from scratch placing all their faith in a renewed collaboration between Middle of the Road and the successful Spanish songwriter/producer Fernando Arbex, the writer of "Soley Soley".

The release of their first Ariola Album, "Music Music", was timed for the 1973 Berlin Radio Fair in the late summer. The single chosen for release was "Samba D'amor", a Latin style song from Fernando Arbex. It struggled against the strength of the RCA releases but with TV appearances and radio interviews galore it became a minor hit in Europe.

Ariola did not have the rights to release material in the UK and so an arrangement was made with a local Scottish record company to distribute "Music Music". The album, originally recorded in the Madrid Studios of RCA in Spain, seemed a little lacking in drive and so arrangements were made for the band to go in to Manfred Man's Workhouse Studios in Old Kent Road and "10cc's" Strawberry Studios in Manchester to spice them up a bit with additional percussion, strings and remixes.

In spite of these improvements it failed to attract national attention in the UK and was relegated to obscurity there. The European version went on to be quite successful.

After the failure of "Music Music" a single, which was already doing quite well in Europe, was launched on the DJM Label in the UK. Dick James Music was a well respected label based in London and distributed by Pye. They initially signed Middle of the Road for a single release. "Hitchin' a Ride in the Moonlight" written by the band's lead guitarist, Neil Henderson, and long time writing partner, Ricky Peebles, was a vigourous recording which brought back the groups more recognisable sound.

Not only was it a song more suited to Sally's voice but the old group harmonies were once again in evidence. However, it looked as though either the group and/or the record company were no longer in favour with the UK music scene and the single flopped. Once again Europe demonstrated its loyalty to the group and the single was a minor hit there.

It was obvious that the band was searching for a style now that it had been given the opportunity to go its own way. Unfortunately, the music business would not wait for something to develop and the next few albums were a bit of a mix of pop and somewhat old time Rock and Roll.

But they were edging towards a brand of music which was not what the business wanted, nor was it what they could afford to continue to record. With their new found freedom came the realisation that the days of languishing in a recording studio with time to create new ideas was expensive and more and more their sound was beginning to be swamped by orchestration.

The individual sound of their vocals, in particular Sally's voice, was being compromised by material that really did not suit them. In short they had lost their way - at least as far as the record company was concerned. With no releases reaching the top ten anywhere, Ariola appeared to lose interest in Middle of the Road. Although the band were contracted to provide the company with only 4 albums during the duration of their contract the record company had the option of requesting an extra one. This was supplied, but it was never released to the band's knowledge.

The writing was well and truly on the wall for Middle of the Road and one last effort was made to recapture at least one European market. Their final album, which included the single "Bubblegum Baby" was put together in 1976 for a French record label. "Black Gold" was a last fling in the studio and they decided to go out with a bang - full orchestral backing.

Sadly, the bang became a resounding thud and Middle of the Road's 6 year tour of success was at an end.

With no real prospects of the band recovering, Sally left to try a solo career but her heart wasn't in it and with the sad death of her mother the line "Where's your Mama Gone?" became too painful to contemplate. She resigned from the band in 1977.

The boys tried to find a suitable replacement but the spark had gone and Middle of the Road was soon to be relegated to be nothing more than a tribute band.

In 1978, Ken left to return to his earlier career in film production and sound recording while Ian and Eric continued to exploit what was left of the Middle of the Road reputation with a new singer, Linda Carroll.

Finally, they settled on a line up consisting of an almost look alike blond, Lorraine Felberg, fronting the band, Ian on guitar, Eric on Bass Guitar and Ian's son, Stuart, on keyboards and programming. Later Lorraine and Stuart married keeping everything in the family.

For quite a few years this formula worked on the concert circuit in Europe but when major Nostalgia TV shows required the original band, Ken and Sally were called in to make guest appearances relegating any look alike to the dressing room. These TV appearances must have rekindled some interest because during the early eighties when the Stars on 45 phenomenon was popular, all of the originals travelled to Holland to record a disco medley of their hits for CNR.

The eighties were to be the last few years of work for Middle of the Road until....