This April 2013 video is relevant to those interested in The Gary Edwards Combo, because the drummer is Mac Todd playing the drums that he played on the Oriole recordings with GEC. He bought this Rogers kit, which are grey and black, in Denmark Street London in 1962 … Mac joked they are falling apart like him, but they both looked great to me !

HOWARD WILLIAMS

He writes in one section that he “left school and started working as a tailor’s cutter, but I left to join a pro band, “The Gary Edwards Combo,” and we were booked for a six week tour with Chubby Checker. That was like being whisked into a whirlwind. I was absolutely overawed. All those people on the show were household names and there was little old me. They band had a record deal with Oriel Records, and had a minor hit with a dance craze song called “The Method,” which came with an insert of dance instructions: “Be a bird, be a bee, be a flower and be a tree,” etc. Then there was a star called Jess Conrad who was a bit of a looker in the early sixties. He does the occasional TV appearance now, and still looks great.”

Because Mally Jones was the bass player with the GEC all I can assume is that Mally was replaced for some reason by Vic Arnold ! Does anybody know Vic Arnold or can someone throw some light on this?

One other piece of news is that Gary Edward Cooper celebrated his 75th this month at The Duke of Clarence in Cardiff, with all his friends and family. He was also singing much of the nite !

Thank you Andreas Michalke, who runs this blogg, and Gary says he enjoys reading it !!!