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Les
Fleur De Lys
long and complicated story starts off in Southampton, England.
It was there were Fleur De Lys started out as a beat combo
with the original line up of Frank Smith (guitar/vocals),
Alex Chamberlain (Organ), Gary Churchill (Bass)
and Keith Guster (Drums). Already an established local
act, the band were signed to Immediate in 1965 after catching
one of their live shows in a London gig. This line up then recording
the only single they would, a beat version of Buddy Holly's
Moondreams backed with Wait For Me with a young
Jimmy Page in the producer's chair. The single, however,
did not do too much on the charts and this lineup disbanded leaving
only drummer Keith Guster to continue on. He would, incidentally,
be the only member to survive all the personnel changes. Teaming
up with some musicians he met in London, Les Fleur De Lys
went back into the studio to record what is probably their best
track, Circles. With Jimmy Page producing again,
this second single knocks the socks off the original version recorded
by The Who. New members Gordon Haskell (bass), Pete
Sears (keyboards) and Phil Sawyer (guitar) rock out
on this single but as it achieved recognition only with the pirate
stations, the single flopped. The band then decided they needed
a front man/lead vocalist and found Chris Andrews, who
had been a child actor and worked in the 1964 production of Oliver
in London. With the lineup augmented, Polydor took interest
in the group and signed them in the summer of 1966. Unfortunately,
the unreliable Pete Sears was fired and guitarist Phil
Sawyer left right after and Fleur De Lys was down to
a three-piece. They did the Mud In Your Eye single with
new guitarist Bryan Haworth. It was around this time when
the band met producer/manager Frank Fenter and this association
led to working with a young girl singer Sharon Tandy. With
Tandy, the band went off to tour Holland (with Aretha
Franklin), the band also backed Issac Hayes and recorded
an album with Barney Kessel. By Spring 1967, Fleur De
Lys joined the ever growing psychedelic bandwagon and did
a single with friend and guitarist Rod Lynton under the
name Rupert's People. Chris Andrews went on with
the band, releasing the Procol Harum influenced Reflections
Of Charles Brown on Columbia, which was a hit all over Europe
but soon after, Rupert's People disbanded. The intrepid
Fleur De Lys became a three-piece once again when losing
singer Andrews. The went into to studio to back Sharon
Tandy with a remake of Rupert's Peoples' Hold On
and a new composition, Daughter Of The Sun. It wasn't until
September 1967 that a new Fleur De Lys single appeared.
With Bryn Haworth on vocals, I Can See The Light/Prodigal
Son was released and around the same time, a single under
the name Shyster appeared called Tick Tock. In October
1967, the band did a Top Gear show with Sharon Tandy
and teamed up with the Vanilla Fudge, recording material
that has yet to surface. Another single immediately followed this
time, Gordon Haskell's take on a nonsense poem by Edward
Lear, Gong With A Luminous Nose in 1968. The band also
started recording an album for Polydor, but those tapes
(containing several cover versions from Ray Charles to
The Young Rascals) have seem to disappeared into the bottomless
filing cabinets at Polygram. The three-piece continued
to provide backing for several artists, most notably backing Donnie
Elbert and John Bromley for their albums. Also a single
under the name Waygood Ellis appeared which also featured
the Lys. Gordon Haskell left at this time and two
new members joined, singer Tony Head and bassist Tago
Byers. A new single with the new lineup appeared in June 1968
and was a complete commercial/STAX groove track called Stop
Crossing The Bridge backed by a mediocre pop song, Brick
By Brick. Fortunately, the saved something better for their
next single. Liar shows what the band was really all about
with it's psychedelic guitar and layered chorus. The B side was
another superb slice of rock, One City Girl has a pounding
bass line and some tight drums and nice wah guitar. Previous to
this last single, the band released a single under the guise of
Chocolate Frog! However the band didn't get to the seventies,
and disbanded after yet another personnel shift- Bryan Haworth
who left to the US West Coast, replaced by Graham Maitland.
This lineup didn't get as far as recording any more singles and
called it a day...or a decade!
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