Plastic Penny

Plastic Penny were an English 1960s pop band, formed in November 1967 before splitting up in August 1969. The group had one hit single early in 1968: the song "Everything I Am". Most of the members went on to greater fame with other bands or in session work.

Plastic Penny
OriginUnited Kingdom
GenresPop • psychedelic pop
Years active1967–1969
LabelsPage One
Past membersBrian Keith
Paul Raymond
Mick Graham
Nigel Olsson
Tony Murray

Career

Most of their material was psychedelic pop, with leanings towards a prog rock sound on some of the band's album tracks.[1] The majority of the material was written by three of the band members: Brian Keith, Paul Raymond, and Tony Murray. Keith later left the band, leaving it a quartet, and Raymond took over lead vocals. Plastic Penny's output was released on the Page One Records. The band appeared at the first Isle of Wight Festival, held on 31 August 1968.[2]

"Everything I Am" reached a high of number six in the UK Singles Chart.[3] The song, enhanced with a string arrangement, was a slow ballad version[1] of a song originally recorded by the Box Tops.[4] It was written by Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn.[4] Their follow-up singles, such as the Bill Martin/Phil Coulter penned song "Nobody Knows It", were flops.[5]

Mick Grabham (then billed as Mick Graham) moved on to play with Cochise and then Procol Harum. Keith later became the lead vocalist with The Congregation, who share the "one-hit wonder" tag with Plastic Penny. Raymond replaced Christine Perfect in Chicken Shack, then joined Savoy Brown and later played several spells with the rock band UFO. Nigel Olsson became an in-demand session musician, most notably drumming on much of Elton John's early work and back with him from 2001. He also worked with the Spencer Davis Group, Uriah Heep, Kiki Dee, Neil Sedaka, Rod Stewart and Leo Sayer. Tony Murray played on Elton John’s Empty Sky with Olsson, and then joined The Troggs.[5]

The group's third and final album Heads I Win, Tails You Lose was a compilation of the band's more obscure recordings, issued in 1970 after the group had disbanded.

Band members
  • Brian Keith (born Brian O'Shea, 22 September 1942, Port Glasgow, West Renfrewshire, Scotland) - Vocalist[6]
  • Paul Raymond (born Paul Martin Raymond, 16 November 1945, St Albans, Hertfordshire – 13 April 2019) - Keyboardist/guitarist
  • Mick Graham (born Michael Grabham, 22 January 1948, Sunderland, County Durham) - Guitarist
  • Nigel Olsson (born 10 February 1949, Wallasey, Cheshire) - Drummer
  • Tony Murray (born Anthony Murray, 26 April 1943, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland) - Bassist

Discography

Singles
  • 1967 - "Everything I Am" / "No Pleasure Without Pain My Love" (Page One POF 051, UK, 1 December 1967)
  • 1968 - "Nobody Knows It" / "Happy Just to Be with You" (Page One POF 062, UK, 29 March 1968)
  • 1968 - "Your Way to Tell Me Go" / "Baby You're Not to Blame" (Page One POF 079, UK, 26 July 1968)
  • 1968 - "Hound Dog" / "Currency" (Page One POF 107, UK, 22 November 1968)
  • 1969 - "She Does" / "Genevieve" (Page One POF 146, UK, 11 July 1969)
  • 1975 - "Everything I Am" / "No Pleasure Without Pain" (DJM DJS 353, UK, 21 February 1975)

Albums
  • 1968 - Two Sides of a Penny (Page One POL 005 (mono)/POLS 005 (stereo), UK, April 1968)

Side One (Heads): "Everything I Am"/"Wake Me Up"/"Never My Love"/"Genevieve"/"No Pleasure Without Pain My Love"/"So Much Older Now" Side Two (Tails): "Mrs. Grundy"/"Take Me Back"/"I Want You"/"It's a Good Thing"/"Strawberry Fields Forever"

  • 1969 - Currency (Page One POLS 014 (stereo), UK, February 1969)

Side One: "Your Way to Tell Me Go"/"Hound Dog"/"Currency"/"Caledonian Mission"/"MacArthur Park" Side Two: "Turn to Me"/"Baby You're Not to Blame"/"Give Me Money"/"Sour Suite"

  • 1970 - Heads I Win, Tails You Lose (Compilation, Page One POS 611 (stereo), UK, April 1970)

Side One: "Hound Dog"/"She Does"/"Turn to Me"/"Caledonian Mission"/"Currency"/"Your Way to Tell Me Go" Side Two: "Celebrity Ball"/"Baby You're Not to Blame"/"I Want You"/"Take Me Back"/"Genevieve"/"Give Me Money" [1]

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References
  1. Richie Unterberger. "Plastic Penny | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  2. "Plastic Penny at the Isle of Wight Festival 1968". Isle of Wight Festival. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  3. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 429. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  4. "Everything I Am - The Box Tops | Listen, Appearances, Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  5. Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. pp. 958–9. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  6. "Oshea-keith.com". Oshea-keith.com. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
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