The Shadows are a British instrumental rock group, and Cliff Richard’s backing band, with 69 UK chart singles from the 1950s to the 2000s, 35 credited to the Shadows and 34 to Cliff Richard and the Shadows. The group, who were in the forefront of the UK beat-group boom, were the first backing band to emerge as stars. As pioneers of the four-member instrumental format, the band consisted of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, and drums. Their range covers pop, rock, surf rock, and ballads with a jazz influence. Although they lost ground in the late sixties, the band had a second success from the late seventies. The Shadows are the fourth most successful act in the UK singles chart, behind Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Cliff Richard. The Shadows and Cliff Richard & the Shadows each have had four No.1 selling EPs. (More from Wikipedia) the free encyclopedia
Even beyond musical influence, the Buddy Holly persona is also evident among British musicians. In the late 1950’s, at least one British guitarist, Hank Marvin of the Shadows – the premier English instrumental rock band of the 1960’s that also backed Cliff Richard for several years – took the Buddy Holly look on stage, down to the glasses. Marvin is also reputed to be the first man to bring a Fender Stratocaster guitar to England.
(June 2013/1)
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On June 2, 1964, the Soul Agents released their first single on Pye Records, “I Just Wanna Make Love to You” b/w “Mean Woman Blues”. “Mean Woman Blues” is also an oft recorded song; Elvis Presley included “Mean Woman Blues” in the soundtrack for his 1957 film, Loving You (his first starring role in a movie), and “Mean Woman Blues” was the flip side of Roy Orbison’s immortal “Blue Bayou” when the song was originally released in 1963. In the U.K., Cliff Richard and the Shadows had released “Mean Woman Blues” in 1959.
(May 2014)
Instrumental rock music is common in the surf world, but there were instrumental rock bands that predated the surf craze. One is the past UARB the Piltdown Men. But the most popular instrumental rock band of all time is unquestionably the Ventures. Still, surf rock and rock instrumentals are indelibly linked these days. The website Rate Your Music shows a list of the Top 50 Surf Rock Instrumentals as rated by visitors to their site; they include 4 tracks by the Ventures and 7 by the British band the Shadows.
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The original line-up of Davie Allan and the Arrows was Davie Allan (lead guitar), Paul Johnson (rhythm guitar), Steve Pugh (bass), and Larry Brown (drums); but there have been a variety of Arrows over the decades since. Their early sides were conventional rock instrumentals, with a remake of the Shadows hit called “Apache ’65” being a particular success.
(December 2014)
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Singer and band combinations like this were fairly common in this era; past UARB the Soul Agents backed Rod Stewart during the first half of 1965 for instance. The backing band for the major English rock star Cliff Richard for many years was one of Britain’s top instrumental rock bands, the Shadows.
(May 2015)
