Shotgun Express was a short-lived British R&B band formed in London in May 1966. Although it achieved little success at the time, it is notable for having briefly included such subsequently famous musicians as Rod Stewart, Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green.
The band emerged when Peter Bardens' instrumental group, Peter B's Looners, which included Bardens on keyboards, Peter Green on guitar, Dave Ambrose on bass and Mick Fleetwood on drums, decided to change styles and add vocalists. They were joined by singers Rod Stewart - previously of Steampacket - and Beryl Marsden - who had been the leading female singer on the Liverpool club scene - and took the name Shotgun Express.
The band played London clubs, and focused on performing soul classics such as "Knock On Wood", "In The Midnight Hour", and "Hold On, I'm Comin'". Green left the band in late 1966 to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and was replaced by, first, John Mooreshead and then Phil Sawyer. The group released their first single, "I Could Feel The Whole World Turn Round" (Columbia DB 8025), in October 1966, but it was regarded as over-orchestrated by the band's followers and was not successful. Stewart then left to join the Jeff Beck Group at the start of 1967. The group released a second single, "Funny 'Cos Neither Could I", again with little success.
Shotgun Express split up in early 1967. Fleetwood joined Green in John Mayall's band before founding Fleetwood Mac. Marsden joined The She Trinity, Ambrose joined Brian Auger, Sawyer joined Spencer Davis, and Bardens later formed prog-rock band Camel.
Famous quotes containing the word express:
“Towards him they bend
With awful reverence prone; and as a God
Extoll him equal to the highest in Heav’n:
Nor fail’d they to express how much they prais’d,
That for the general safety he despis’d
His own: for neither do the Spirits damn’d
Loose all thir vertue; lest bad men should boast
Thir specious deeds on earth, which glory excites,
Or close ambition varnisht o’er with zeal.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)