Steve Laine

Steve Laine (born 19 March 1940, London) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the beat group, Liverpool Five.[1]

Career

Laine started music playing washboard in a skiffle group the Streamliners, and was later lead singer with the Zodiacs. His first recording, as a semi professional, was with an unnamed group including Dave Sampson. On that unreleased recording Laine sang "Great Balls of Fire", Sampson sang "Dream Lover" and together they sang "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and "Shakin' All Over". Later,in the early 1960s, Laine concentrated on playing rhythm and blues, and he formed the Steve Laine Combo and went professional. In addition to Laine usually singing lead, the band comprised Ken Cox on guitar, Dave Burgess on bass, Ron Henley on keyboards and saxophone and Jimmy May on drums. Many of their songs featured all five singing.

The Steve Laine Combo played clubs such as the Flamingo in Soho and caught the eye of the owners Rik and Johnny Gunnell. On a tour of Germany arranged by the Gunnells in early 1964, the band was signed to a management contract by German impresario Karl Buchmann, who included them in a package tour of the largest venues in Germany and Austria. Following that tour, at Buchmann's suggestion, the group changed its name to The Liverpool Five, to capitalize on the international popularity of The Beatles. Prior to leaving Germany, the band recorded an album on CBS Records for European release titled Tokio International. The group then flew to Japan as the official rock and roll representatives at the 1964 Summer Olympics, playing the Korakuen Arena in Tokyo.

Following their tour of the Far East (the first English R&R band to do so) The Liverpool Five traveled to the United States in March 1965. Originally based in Spokane, Washington and later in Los Angeles, the group became resident aliens and spent the next three years touring the United States, releasing a number of singles and two albums on RCA Victor.

Their stage performances were legendary but they broke up in 1968 shortly after Burgess left and was replaced for a short time by Fred Dennis, later of the Sonics. Drummer Jimmy May returned to England, but Laine and the other three remained in the United States and embarked on new careers in various professions.

In recent years , Rockinbeat Records in 1999 released "Liverpool Five- Arrive- Out of Sight"in Europe, a CD containing all trax from the group's two RCA albums .In 2008, Sundazed Records in the US issued a completely remastered CD of their RCA records with the title "The Best of the Liverpool Five".

In 2016, for just the second time in a decade, the four original members of the band put on a reunion concert for the ages in Fairfield, California. In order to celebrate his seventieth birthday, guitarist Ken Cox was joined on stage by the other three "originals". Rounding out the band on drums was James Grayberg from Sacramento, California. The previous reunion had been in 2010 to celebrate Laine's seventieth birthday .

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References
  1. Eder, Bruce. "allmusic ((( Liverpool Five > Biography )))". Allmusic. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
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