Last updated: 7 hours ago
Remembered if at all as the original lead singer for <a href="spotify:artist:4QmkLL9JOqM9dusHS1Hghe">the Searchers</a>, Johnny Sandon made a few solo singles during the British Invasion that didn't get anywhere. Actually, it isn't quite accurate to call Sandon the lead singer for the <a href="spotify:artist:4QmkLL9JOqM9dusHS1Hghe">Searchers</a>; from 1960 to early 1962, <a href="spotify:artist:4QmkLL9JOqM9dusHS1Hghe">the Searchers</a> were Sandon's backing group, the billing reading "Johnny Sandon and the Searchers."
Sandon was more country & western-oriented than the band, and he and the group parted ways in February 1962, well before <a href="spotify:artist:4QmkLL9JOqM9dusHS1Hghe">the Searchers</a> recorded and became stars. He recorded five singles in the mid-1960s, a couple of them using the Remo Four, another Liverpool band, as his backing group. These were unexceptional efforts, derivative of both <a href="spotify:artist:3plJVWt88EqjvtuB4ZDRV3">Ben E. King</a> on the American soul covers and of MOR country on his covers of "Sixteen Tons," "(I'd Be) A Legend in My Time," and Gene Pitney's "Donna Means Heartbreak"; interestingly, both Sandon and <a href="spotify:artist:4QmkLL9JOqM9dusHS1Hghe">the Searchers</a> covered "Magic Potion," an obscure <a href="spotify:artist:35y7CZMg7jbG8Q96JY7dyC">Bacharach</a>-David tune originally recorded by <a href="spotify:artist:2nrn5Hfpxg0SfuVLbnHwoL">Lou Johnson</a>. However, the 1963 single "Lies," written by Remo Four guitarist Colin Manley, was pretty fair tough Merseybeat; according to the Remo Four's Don Andrew, Bobby Rydell's manager even told producer <a href="spotify:artist:0k1Nc8EWBurYtiQXSW6rgj">Tony Hatch</a> that it sounded like <a href="spotify:artist:3plJVWt88EqjvtuB4ZDRV3">Ben E. King</a> backed by <a href="spotify:artist:2GaayiIs1kcyNqRXQuzp35">the Ventures</a>. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi
Sandon was more country & western-oriented than the band, and he and the group parted ways in February 1962, well before <a href="spotify:artist:4QmkLL9JOqM9dusHS1Hghe">the Searchers</a> recorded and became stars. He recorded five singles in the mid-1960s, a couple of them using the Remo Four, another Liverpool band, as his backing group. These were unexceptional efforts, derivative of both <a href="spotify:artist:3plJVWt88EqjvtuB4ZDRV3">Ben E. King</a> on the American soul covers and of MOR country on his covers of "Sixteen Tons," "(I'd Be) A Legend in My Time," and Gene Pitney's "Donna Means Heartbreak"; interestingly, both Sandon and <a href="spotify:artist:4QmkLL9JOqM9dusHS1Hghe">the Searchers</a> covered "Magic Potion," an obscure <a href="spotify:artist:35y7CZMg7jbG8Q96JY7dyC">Bacharach</a>-David tune originally recorded by <a href="spotify:artist:2nrn5Hfpxg0SfuVLbnHwoL">Lou Johnson</a>. However, the 1963 single "Lies," written by Remo Four guitarist Colin Manley, was pretty fair tough Merseybeat; according to the Remo Four's Don Andrew, Bobby Rydell's manager even told producer <a href="spotify:artist:0k1Nc8EWBurYtiQXSW6rgj">Tony Hatch</a> that it sounded like <a href="spotify:artist:3plJVWt88EqjvtuB4ZDRV3">Ben E. King</a> backed by <a href="spotify:artist:2GaayiIs1kcyNqRXQuzp35">the Ventures</a>. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi
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