21 Facts About The Shadows

The Shadows were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre-Beatles era.

The Shadows are the fifth most successful act in the UK singles chart, behind Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Cliff Richard and Madonna.

The Shadows'sridan was not there but Foster's attention was caught by Hank Marvin, who played guitar well and wore Buddy Holly-style glasses.

The name "The Shadows" was thought up by bass guitarist Jet Harris while he and Marvin were at the Six Bells pub in Ruislip in July 1959.

The Shadows were becoming a popular band in their own right and in 1960, "Apache", an instrumental by Jerry Lordan, topped the UK charts for five weeks.

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The Shadows, meanwhile, had issued a run of 13 consecutive top 10 UK hits from 1960 through 1963.

The Shadows had met John Rostill on tour with other bands and had been impressed by his playing, so they invited him to join.

In 1967, the Shadows used Olivia Newton-John on the track "The Day I Met Marie" on their album From Hank Bruce Brian and John.

The Shadows recorded six songs, seen each week on a weekly television show It's Lulu, on BBC1 and hosted by Lulu, a former Eurovision winner.

Highlights of the concert, including four solo The Shadows tracks, were released the following year on the top ten charting album Thank You Very Much.

Group's 25th anniversary in 1983, the Shadows released a double album on the Tellydisc label entitled "Shadows silver Album" which contained previously released recent material along with new recently recorded tracks.

In July 1984 the Shadows reunited with Cliff Richard for a series of celebratory concerts at Wembley Arena and Birmingham NEC.

In 1986, the Shadows had a top ten hit on the LP chart with 'Moonlight Shadows' a cover album in the same vein as early Polydor releases with singles "Moonlight Shadow" and Bruce Springsteen's, "Dancing in the Dark" both failing to make a dent in the singles chart.

Moonlight The Shadows was released on LP and CD simultaneously as the group's third CD release.

In December 2004, each of the then-current members of the Shadows was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, but Marvin declined.

On 11 December 2008, Richard and the Shadows performed at the Royal Variety Performance, at the same time announcing their forthcoming 50th anniversary tour.

The Shadows recorded an interpretation of John Barry's "The Appointment" for the 2015 Brian Bennett album Shadowing John Barry.

The Shadows are difficult to categorise because of their stylistic range, which includes pop, rock, surf rock and ballads with a jazz influence.

The Shadows never used the logo on the front of the bass drum, preferring to allow Meehan and Bennett to use their names instead.

The Shadows developed sequences using their bodies and guitars in tempo with the music, such as 'the walk'.

The Shadows influenced 1960s Yugoslav beat bands like Atomi, Bele Visnje, Bijele Strijele, Crni Biseri, Crveni Koralji, Daltoni, Delfini, Elektroni, Elipse, Iskre, Samonikli, Siluete and Zlatni Decaci, all of whom were the pioneers of the Yugoslav rock scene.