Sydney singer Bix Bryant (real name was Brian Bickford) was born in 1938. He started singing at dances in his late teens and worked up to running his own dance at Brookvale. In 1960 Bryant was looking for a band to back him and he managed to get The Raiders. The band was performing at Dee Why beach when they were first talent spotted and offered a five-year recording contract with the Festival subsidiary Rex label. The lineup was Tony Stapleton on sax, Billy Green on lead guitar, Brian Godden on rythmn guitar, Howard Leslie on bass and John McIntosh on drums. His first two releases ''Move Two Mountains / Let's Have A Party'' (which was also released in NZ) and ''Little Miss Muffet / Everlovin'' Honey Bee' were raw, raucous rock and roll. His third single ''Wishing Bell / I Don't See Me In Your Eyes Anymore'' moved away from rock 'n' roll and more into pop. Bix went out on his own soon after and became a solo artist.
When the folk boom began a couple of years later, he formed the Liberty Singers. The Liberty Singers, consisting of guitarists Bix, Brian Godden, Larry King and a singing ballet-dancer Irene Whitehead, attempted to tap into the Sean & Sonja market. Resolutely opposed to scruffy folksingers who “hide behind a ‘front’ of beards and general unconformity”, they released a single, ''Derrie, Derrie, Dream / Lay Me Down Dead'', and performed on the soundtrack of a documentary film Road to the West before disbanding in mid 1965. After the demise of the group that's where the trail of Bix Bryant goes cold. It is unknown whether he continued in the music business or not. Bix died in 2014.
SINGLES
''Move Two Mountains / Let's Have A Party'' 1960 Rex''Little Miss Muffet (#87) / Ever-Lovin' Honey Bee'' 1960 Rex
''Wishing Bell / I Don't See Me In Your Eyes Anymore'' 1961 Rex
References
http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/
I remember Bix very well. I was the drummer in the Raiders band. We were very active in the early 60's & 70"s. The band was made up of Tony Stapleton...Alto & Tenor Sax... Billy Green...Lead Guitar...Brian Godden...Rythume Guitar...Howard Leslie...Bass Guitar & myself John McIntosh on drums..As well as recording for Rex we had a number of full time gigs over the years in various hotels & clubs including The Bondi Royal Hotel...The Clifton Hotel...The Enfield Boulevard Hotel. The records that we cut for Festival-Rex were...Wishing Bell...Lets Have a Party...Little Miss Muffet...Nightmare...Nature Boy...Move Two Mountains...I don't see you...as well as some backings for other artists. I still have copies of all the recordings as well as lots of photos.
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful info. Thankyou for sharing
DeleteHoward Leslie is still very much alive and living in Terrigal
DeleteI conversed with Billy Green about 2 years ago on facebook. He is in the US. Plays Tenor Sax on the observation deck on the Empire State Building. John McIntosh now aged 88 lives on the mid north coast of NSW. Still kicks the drum kit and is playing piano for the love of music.
DeleteThanks for the reply Kimbo
ReplyDeleteI understand that both Bix Bryant our vocalist and Brian Godden our guitarist have gone to the big gig in the sky. Tony Stapleton was a tragic loss in his early twenties. Royce Smeale managed our band for a while and was the promotor that enabled us to cut records with Festival/Rex. Hal Saunders was A&R at that time and Robbie Iredale was the recording engineer. D'ont know how Billy Green is going but I have been told that he had a lot to do with the music written for the movie "Stone". The group started off as The Blue Moon Quartet with Pianist Lindsay Arnold and occasional trumpet player Jimmy Stokes at the Cammeray Rex Hotel leaning towards a bit of jazz but later morphing into "The Raiders", Royce Smeale being the person to chose the name.
Check this out mate
Deletehttp://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rarecollections/wil-greenstreet3a-in-focus/5833642
Bix moved to North Qld in 1968 and settled near Port Douglas. We met in 1972
ReplyDeleteand remained together until he passed in 2014. Im keen to hear any stories or memories from the Sydney music days.
Did he continue singing when he moved to Port Douglas?
DeleteHe did
ReplyDelete