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Johnny Sandon Biography

johnny-sandon
  • Born: in Liverpool, England
  • Years Active: 1960s
  • Member of: The Searchers
  • Genre: Rock & Alternative

Remembered if at all as the original lead singer for the Searchers, 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 Searchers; from 1960 to early 1962, the Searchers 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 the Searchers 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 Ben E. King 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 the Searchers covered "Magic Potion," an obscure Bacharach-David tune originally recorded by Lou Johnson. 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 Tony Hatch that it sounded like Ben E. King backed by the Ventures. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi

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