The Swinging Blue Jeans

The Swinging Blue Jeans
The Swinging Blue Jeans in 1965
Background information
Origin	Liverpool, England
Genres	Merseybeat, pop music
Years active	1962 - present
Labels	His Master's Voice, Imperial, Capitol, Bellaphon, Columbia (EMI), RCA
Website	www.swingingbluejeans.co.uk
Past members	Ralph Ellis Ray Ennis Les Braid Norman Kuhlke Terry Sylvester Colin Manley John Ryan Bruce McCaskill Mike Gregory Mick McCann Jim Rodford Hedley Vick Garth Elliott Phil Thompson Tommy Hughes Alan Lovell

The Swinging Blue Jeans are a four-piece 1960s British Merseybeat band, best known for their hit singles with the HMV label; "Hippy Hippy Shake", "Good Golly Miss Molly", and "You're No Good", issued in 1964. Subsequent singles released that year and the next made no impression. In 1966, their version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Don't Make Me Over" peaked at no. 31 in the UK Singles Chart, but the group never charted again.

The group had its origins in 1957, when Bruce McCaskill formed a jazz influenced skiffle sextet group called the Bluegenes. Besides guitarist/vocalist McCaskill, the original line-up also included banjo player Tommy Hughes, washboard player Norman Kuhlke, and oil drum bass player Spud Ward. There were a number of early personnel changes, as guitarist Ralph Ellis joined the band and Ward was replaced by Les Braid. Johnny Carter and Paul Moss entered the band to replace Hughes and McCaskill. They were a fully working band by 1962, playing skiffle at venues in Liverpool and at the Star Club in Hamburg. However the German audiences booed them off the stage, and the group rapidly changed direction and focus.

They switched to rock and roll, and with a name change to reflect their attire, to the Swinging Blue Jeans. This earned the band, then a quintet featuring Ennis, Braid, Ellis, Kuhlke and Moss, a recording contract with HMV with record producer, Walter Ridley. The quintet's first recording, "It's Too Late Now", which was written by Ennis, made the British Top 30. After the departure of Moss, the band became a quartet. In December 1963, a cover of the song "Hippy Hippy Shake" took the band to Number two on the British charts and established them as stars.