Library Rock's Backpages

Four-Eyes, One Vision: The Shadows

Jon Savage, MOJO, February 1995

BRIAN RANKIN GREW UP IN NEWCASTLE: WHEN he was 16, in 1957, he travelled to London with his school friend Bruce Welch "in an attempt to get into the music business". Hitting the 2i's, the pair quickly became part of the cafe's loose pool of musicians: after a spell in The Vipers (who were just coming off their skiffle hit, 'Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O') the pair worked on a single by The Five Chesternuts ('Teenage Love') before forming The Drifters in 1958 – by which time Brian Rankin had become Hank B. Marvin.

Total word count of piece: 2467

Subscribe

Becoming a member is easy. Membership gives you access to all the thousands of articles in the library.

Click here to go to Subscribe page.

Click here for academic and other group subscriptions.