History
The group were resident at a number of London clubs such as The Whiskey-A-Go-Go in Soho's Wardour Street, home of The Flamingo Club. The club's owner, Rik Gunnell, became the group's manager. In August 1963 the band took a weekly Friday night spot at "The Scene" on Great Windmill Street and they also performed at The Roaring Twenties club near Carnaby Street, run by Jamaican DJ Count Suckle. They were often playing several sets per night on the weekend and at Klooks Kleek, The Ricky Tick in Windsor and The Scene during the week.
They were influenced by the jazz of Jon Hendricks, Mose Allison and blues musicians such as Willie Mabon and by the ska music then heard in Jamaican cafes in and around Ladbroke Grove. The group's trumpeter Eddie Thornton was Jamaican. During their three-year residency at the Flamingo American soldiers who visited the club would play the latest jazz and blues releases from America: it was "Green Onions" by Booker T. & the M.G.'s that caused Fame to change to the Hammond organ.
The group recorded its debut album Rhythm And Blues At the Flamingo in September 1963. Produced by Ian Samwell and engineered by Glyn Johns, the album was released on the EMI Columbia label. It failed to appear on the charts, and first three singles, released in 1964, 'Do The Dog', 'Do Re Mi', and 'Bend A Little', also didn't go very far. In 1964 Fame and the band appeared on five episodes of ITV's Ready Steady Go!. The October 1964 follow-up album Fame At Last reached No. 15 on the UK chart. Their version of the song "Yeh Yeh", a tune by Mongo Santamaría with lyrics by Jon Hendricks, released on 14 January 1965, spent two weeks at No. 1 on the UK singles chart and a total of 12 weeks on the chart. Fame also appeared on television in 1965 in the "New Musical Express Poll Winners' Concert" held at the Empire Pool, Wembley on 11 April 1965, playing "Yeh Yeh" and Rufus Thomas' "Walking the Dog".
The follow-up "In The Meantime" (February 1965) only scraped the top twenty and the next two offerings were little heard. Then "Getaway", released on 21 July 1966, did very well reaching the top of the UK chart for a week and spending 11 weeks on the chart in all. The song, originally recorded with a view to using it as a television jingle for a petrol advertisement, was later used as the theme tune for a quiz show on Australian television. The two subsequent singles, "Sunny" and "Sitting in the Park" made number 13 and 12 respectively. At this point, after 1966's album Sweet Thing was released, Fame broke up the band, signed to CBS and went on to record solo, having been advised by his management to pursue an "all-round entertainment" career, somewhat as Manfred Mann's Paul Jones was then doing.
Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames were the only act from the UK invited to perform with the first Motown Review in the UK in the mid-1960s. The 'Tamla Motown Package Show' was a 21-date UK tour featuring, amongst others, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas. Cat Stevens, who had released his first hit song "I Love My Dog", opened with Fame on 26 December 1966 for three weeks in the "Fame in '67 Show" at London's Saville Theatre.
In later years Fame was billed again with the Blue Flames: in the early 2000s he led a new line-up including his son.
Read more about this topic: Georgie Fame And The Blue Flames
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