Flying Pickets
| The Flying Pickets | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Manchester, United Kingdom |
| Genres | a cappella |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Labels | Virgin |
| Website | http://www.pickets.co.uk |
| Members | Martin George Andy Laycock Simon John Foster Michael Henry Christopher Brooker |
| Past members |
Brian Hibbard Ken Gregson David Brett Red Stripe Rick Lloyd Gareth Williams Ron Donachie Christopher Ryan Dylan Foster Hereward Kaye Gary Howard Nick Godfrey Lex Lewis Ricky Payne Henrik Wager Paul Kissaun Fraser Collins Andrea Figallo Damion Scarcella Gavin Muir |
The Flying Pickets are a British a cappella vocal group, who had a Christmas number one hit in 1983 in the UK Singles Chart with their cover of Yazoo's track "Only You".
The name 'Flying Pickets' refers to mobile strikers who travel in order to join a picket. The band of six was founded by Brian Hibbard in 1982 from a group of actors who had been active with him in John McGrath's '7:84 Theatre Group', a fringe theatre organisation who had sung a cappella in their production of the 1981 play One Big Blow. The group chose the name The Flying Pickets as band members had played a part in the UK miners' strikes of 1972 and 1974. The Flying Pickets came up with a novel concept of transferring the art of a cappella to the pop music scene. Joining Hibbard in the Group were Rick Lloyd (who also wrote the music to One Big Blow), Gareth Williams, David Brett, Ken Gregson (real name Kenneth Gregory) and Red Stripe (real name David Gittins). The members of the group were internationally renowned for their flamboyant appearance: Hibbard's huge sideburns, Stripe's thick eye-liner, and four others showing off gaudy suits and large hats. Two of the other original members, Ron Donachie and Christopher Ryan left the band before "Only You".
"Only You", their debut single, was the UK Christmas number one in 1983 spending a total of five weeks at the top, and also doing well around Europe and in Canada, where it hit #17 in the spring of 1984. It emulated the success of the original Yazoo version.
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