Youngsters once wanted to become engine drivers or films stars, then they wanted to be pop stars, and now they want to be “influencers” or something on YouTube.
There was a time when it seemed there was a pop group in almost every Shropshire street, and youngsters with stars in their eyes created music on whatever instruments they could lay their hands on.
It was a vibrant pop scene, and a great era for live music in pubs, clubs, and halls. Fun times, but also past times, as although there’s still live music about, things are just not quite the same these days.
Let’s roll back the clock with a photographic encore featuring some of Shropshire’s pop bands from yesteryear. Were you in one of these groups, or do you remember seeing them play? Share your memories in the comments or get in touch here, we’d love to hear from you. Yeah, yeah, yeah!
- Did you see the story about the 450-year-old Shropshire pub that vanished in just a few hours? Read it here
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1. The singing Noble sisters
The Noble sisters of Madeley in 1978. “Three Shropshire sisters have entered the recording business. Viv, Della and Stephanie Noble, of Madeley, Telford, provide the backing tracks on the latest album from Lilleshall singer Bobby Ray called Something in the Ayre, which is to be released in October…” was the original caption. | Shropshire Star
2. Phoenix takes flight
Phoenix were a Ludlow group, seen here in 1975. From left, lead guitarist Peter Lewandowski, Neil Condliffe, Malcolm Wragg, manager Gerald Davies, and Phil Hughes. They had formed the previous summer. Lewandowski was taking A levels at Ludlow Grammar School, and 17-year-old Hughes, of Aston Munslow, was studying for his O levels at the same school, as was 16-year-old Wragg, from Little Hereford. Condliffe was an apprentice carpenter and Davies, aged 18, the road manager, was from Bitterley. | Peter Bartlett
3. All together now
The Skylons and the Bird 'n' B's at the Webb Youth Club in Dawley - the spelling was for some reason later changed to Web - around the late 1960s. The photo is from the memorabilia of Mrs Dawn Rice, nee Cullis, who is front centre, with a big smile. The Skylons were a Dawley group. Dawn was a girl drummer in Shropshire groups in the 1960s and into the 1970s. They included The Greasers from Dawley, The Pacifics from Newport, and then mainly Bird 'n' B's, and then Fluff, and ultimately Dollymixcha and then Duplicate. Her husband Derek Rice, whom she married in 1971, was a singer and guitarist in Walsall group The Saddlers. | Dawn Rice
4. They're young fossils
The Fossils practising at Little Minsterley in the mid-1960s. It would be fitting to say The Fossils were playing rock, but they were only about 11 or 12 at the time and were just pretending. Right is Pete Francis, with Christopher and David Perrett, while the lad on the drums is unidentified. They are in the gardens of the Gylands, Little Minsterley, which was the Perrett family home. | Shropshire Star