Buddy Britten

A minor figure on the British rock scene of the 1960s, Buddy Britten managed to have a fascinating career for a guy who never scored a hit record: he crossed paths with stars, worked with cult heroes, recorded a handful of memorable singles, and even fashioned a new identity for himself as the decade wore on. Buddy Britten was born Geoffrey Glover-Wright in 1940, to British parents living in Bombay (now known as Mumbai) when it was still a British colony. In 1947, after India gained its independence, Glover-Wright's family relocated to Harrow, Middlesex, and young Geoffrey began learning the guitar from his older brother, who played in a jazz combo. Glover-Wright became more passionate about the guitar as skiffle and the first wave of rock & roll swept the U.K., and his fate was sealed after seeing <a href="spotify:artist:3wYyutjgII8LJVVOLrGI0D">Buddy Holly</a> on his British tour of 1958. After a spell playing guitar with Vince Taylor & the Playboys (led by the American expatriate who wrote the classic "Brand New Cadillac"), Glover-Wright was approached by impresario Reg Calvert, who along with promoting shows was backing local acts who would perform in the style of American rock heroes. Calvert felt Glover-Wright -- a tall, lanky young man with horn rim glasses and a Fender Stratocaster -- was a perfect fit for a <a href="spotify:artist:3wYyutjgII8LJVVOLrGI0D">Buddy Holly</a> act, and he promptly signed Geoffrey to a management deal and gave him the new stage name of Buddy Britten. Britten's backing band the Regents -- bassist Pete Mist and drummer Barney Peacock -- also wore <a href="spotify:artist:3wYyutjgII8LJVVOLrGI0D">Holly</a>-style specs on-stage, and after the fact, Peacock would be able to brag that he beat out <a href="spotify:artist:7i9m03TFsX9pDuP4CFDw3o">Keith Moon</a> for the job, as the future <a href="spotify:artist:67ea9eGLXYMsO2eYQRui3w">Who</a> wildman auditioned for Britten but didn't make the grade. Along with <a href="spotify:artist:3wYyutjgII8LJVVOLrGI0D">Buddy Holly</a>'s hits, Britten & the Regents played a variety of pop and rock material as well as a few originals, and they landed a one-off deal with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Decca+Records%22">Decca Records</a> in 1962, the same year Britten scored a residency at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany. When the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Decca%22">Decca</a> single failed to click, Britten & the Regents cut a 1962 session for the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Pye%22">Pye</a>-distributed <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Piccadilly%22">Piccadilly</a> label before finding a home at the long-lived British independent label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Oriole+Records%22">Oriole Records</a>. Britten & the Regents' first single for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Oriole%22">Oriole</a> was "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody," a tune recommended to the band by <a href="spotify:artist:4x1nvY2FN8jxqAFA0DA02H">John Lennon</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">the Beatles</a> shared bills with the Regents in their early days), but the record fell by the wayside when <a href="spotify:artist:1wCc2Wgga1H8C7u57pcqYk">Freddie & the Dreamers</a> released a version of the same tune that became a hit. After releasing a handful of singles through <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Oriole%22">Oriole</a>, Britten & the Regents returned to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Piccadilly%22">Piccadilly</a> in 1965, cutting a cover of <a href="spotify:artist:3A2UXqQgMDJ3YNvLPyX5NW">the Sir Douglas Quintet</a> hit "She's About a Mover," but it was steady live work that was supporting the group by this point. Hoping to give himself a fresh start, in 1966 Geoffrey Glover-Wright abandoned the name Buddy Britten and formed a new group, the Simon Raven Cult, giving the members suitably heroic handles like Richard Honour, Kid Freedom, and Conrad Truth, and awarding himself the mysterious billing of Simon Raverne. The Simon Raven Cult cut one single for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Piccadilly%22">Piccadilly</a>, and another as Simon Raverne for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Fontana%22">Fontana</a>, before Glover-Wright called it a day. Glover-Wright stayed in music for a while, landing a position as a staff producer and songwriter with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Apple+Music%22">Apple Music</a> through his old friend <a href="spotify:artist:4x1nvY2FN8jxqAFA0DA02H">John Lennon</a>, but he would enjoy greater success as a novelist, writing a series of thrillers based on real life events. Glover-Wright still performs occasionally as Buddy Britten at oldies shows in the U.K., and a collection of his '60s recordings, Long Gone Baby: Complete Singles 1962-1967, was issued in 2013. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi