Carl Wayne - The Move Years

The Move Years

In December 1965 he joined The Move, a Brum beat supergroup drawn from top local bands. They included three members of the Vikings, bass guitarist Chris 'Ace' Kefford, drummer Bev Bevan and Wayne himself, alongside Trevor Burton, lead guitarist with Danny King and the Mayfair Set, and Roy Wood, lead guitarist with Mike Sheridan And The Nightriders. They enjoyed three years of hits with singles such as "Night of Fear", "I Can Hear The Grass Grow", "Flowers In The Rain", "Fire Brigade", and their only number one success "Blackberry Way". In their early years The Move had a stage act which occasionally saw Wayne taking an axe to television sets, or chainsawing a Cadillac to pieces at The Roundhouse, London during "Fire Brigade", an escapade which resulted in the Soho area being jammed with fire engines, and the group being banned for a while from every theatre venue in the UK.

But by the start of 1968, the group began fragmenting as a result of personal and musical differences. Wayne's increasingly MOR style, and aspirations towards cabaret, were at odds with Wood's desire to experiment in a more progressive and classical direction, which would lead to the foundation of the Electric Light Orchestra. As Wood not only wrote all the original material, but also replaced Wayne as the group's lead vocalist from Fire Brigade onwards, Wayne felt sidelined, and left the band shortly after the #12 hit "Curly" in 1969.

It was believed for some years that he walked out after a gig during which Wood threw a glass at a persistent heckler who was making fun of his long hair, though this was probably coincidence; Wayne had already decided that his days with the group were coming to an end.