Nottingham / Mansfield rock and roll group May 1961 – Dec 1961.
Forerunner to The Jaybirds (Nottingham / Mansfield sixties local legends).

To see where this fits in with the whole ‘JAYBIRDS’ story go here.

This is a continuation from the last chapter ‘Ivan Jaye and the Jaycats‘ and basically lead singer Ivan Jaye and the band were asked to use the moniker Ivan Love and the Jaybirds when they moved to London under the guidance of manager Phil Smith for Joe Meek who had plans for them. The group would be found concerts by the agency of London impresario Tito Burns in May 1961.

Reminiscing:
Phil Smith (manager) “Joe Meek chose the name because he didn’t like ‘Jaycats'”
Leo Lyons “Joe Meek wanted us to be called ‘The Lovebirds, we settled for ‘The Jaybirds”

The same line up was :
Ivan Love: lead vocals
Alvin Lee: lead guitar
Roy Cooper: rhythm guitar,
Leo Lyons: bass
Pete Redman (Pete Evans): drums

They headed off for London with great anticipation having turned professional and having made an impression with Tito Burns, a former musician and now with a management agency, who put them on his list of clients. They had been a given a recording test earlier in the year and they were soon put to work. The group became the backing band not only for Ivan Love but Brian Rossi and particularly Linda Lane. They got a big break in August 1961 when they were suggested as the backing group for Eden Kane, riding high with his record “Well I Ask You” for a week. Ivan Love was not called upon but he went with them to Manchester in support. In between all there engagements they had in London they were also finding time to work on a record. This was at Joe Meeks studio on Holloway Road. They were billed as a ‘H.M.V. Recording group’ so this might have been an opening for them but nothing came of it.
The two songs written for Ivan were “Sometimes I Wish” and “Oh Angel Face“.

After a lot of work both in London and around the Midlands by the end of November Ivan Love decided to leave the group. He hadn’t liked the name Ivan Love as neither had the group and maybe with the failure to get a record deal he felt like returning home. The rest of the group asked friend and lead singer Farran Kristy of the Sapphires to take over in December and this would mark the next chapter in the evolution of ‘The Jaybirds’.

You can read that next chapter here.

NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS