The John Smith Affair

1967 – 68. Nottingham group

See them at the Playedinaband website

A six or seven piece group (I think).

They had roots in Rockin’ Ron’s Combo from 1964-65 and the Artful Dodgers 1965-67 and in October 1968, with a name change, the rump of the group became Whichwhat who found recording success on Beacon Records.

Line up *1:

Terry Penn: Bass
Mel Munks: Guitar
Walt Savage: Keyboards
Mick Brown: Sax / Flute
Ken Henshaw: Tenor Sax
Unknown: Drums
John Smith: Vocals

Line up *2:

Terry Penn: Bass
Mel Munks: Guitar
Walt Savage: Keyboards
Mick Brown: Sax / Flute
Ken Henshaw: Tenor Sax
John Bednall: Drums
John Smith: Vocals

1967

1968

January

John Bednall joined on drums after Robert Hirst and the Big Taste split up.

February

March

April

May

June

August

October

By October 1968 they had changed their name to Whichwhat but were stilled billed by some venues as John Smith Affair. It is probable that that they either didn’t know or thought it better to keep the old name until the local punters got to know of the change.

In January 1969 an advertisement confirms this group name change.