Ivan Jaye and the Jaycats (2nd version)

Nottingham beat group

2nd version (Oct 1962 – 1963) This version has nothing to do with Alvin Lee and Leo Lyons. Read about The Jaybirds overview here.

Ivan Jaye: Vocals
Roy Cooper: Rhythm Guitar
Pete Evans: Drums
Alan Towers: Bass Guitar
Pat Wright: Lead Guitar

Ivan Jaye was the original lead singer of Ivan Jaye and the Jaymen (1960), Ivan Jaye and the Jaycats (Oct 1960-May 1961) and Ivan Love and the Jaybirds (May – Nov 1961) that featured Alvin Lee on guitar. Roy Cooper, Pete Evans and Leo Lyons also played with the Jaycats and the Jaybirds.

Ivan left the Jaybirds at the end of November 1961. Roy Cooper also left in early 1962 and after The Jaybirds returned from their German excursions in 1962 Pete Evans left being replaced by Dave ‘Clancy’ Quickmore leaving The Jaybirds as a new three piece of Alvin Lee, Leo Lyons and Dave Quickmire.

In the autumn of 1962 Ivan Jaye reformed ‘Ivan Jaye and the Jaycats’ with his old buddies Roy and Pete and adding two younger players to make a five piece group. They were managed by Phil Smith who by then had moved to Nottingham. They played on the local circuit at the Rainbow Rooms, The Crescent Club, The Wembley Club, Dancing Slipper, Bowling Green in Newark and further afield in South Yorkshire, the North West and even Scotland.

In October 1962 the group made the newspaper in a charity stunt with Nottingham University students being kinapped from the Mansfield Palais for a £50 ransom.

For close to a year (mainly 1963) the two groups Ivan Jaye and the Jaycats and The Jaybirds were on the local circuit together. However, Ivan Jaye’s new venture only lasted for 10 months.

Ivan Jaye (Ivan Joseph Harrison, born 1939, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire) would later move to the to the USA where he died in April 2002.

NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS

1962