Rolling back to when the city rocked

Swept up in the flourishing music scene in his native Bradford, he did what every other 19-year-old male at the time was doing – he picked up a guitar and tried to play it.

“I quickly realised I wasn’t very good, so I became a vocalist instead,” says Derek, who went on to be a key figure on Bradford’s music scene – initially as the singer with Dal Stevens and the Blue Jays and Dal Stevens and the Four Dukes, then as resident DJ at the Gaumont and Majestic ballrooms.

“I took my initials, Dal, and just liked the name Stevens. I think I saw it in the T&A,” he says.

Now, following a year of tireless research, Derek has produced a comprehensive guide to the groups which populated Bradford’s lively music scene between 1954 and 1966.

When Bradford Rocked contains nearly 500 biographies and more than 300 photographs of acts, from Geoff and The Prosecutors to the district’s own Michael Jackson, a former Hanson Grammar School pupil who was Bradford’s first artist to get to Number 1.

When Bradford Rocked will be launched tomorrow at the Bradford and Bingley Sports Club, at a reception attended by Bradford singer Kiki Dee, who has written the book’s foreword.

Derek had already highlighted the city’s movers and shakers in his first book Bradford’s Rock ‘n’ Roll – The Golden Years, but felt there was a gap to be filled.

“There were groups that I couldn’t fit in the first book, but I wanted to do them justice. They all had a part to play in this memorable chapter in Bradford’s music history,” says Derek, 74. “I decided to compile a who’s-who of Bradford bands from 1954 to 1966.

“It was a crucial period in music history. By the mid-60s dance halls were becoming bingo halls and there weren’t the venues for bookings. Lads were growing up and getting jobs, earning money to get married. Some carried on playing in the evenings, but most moved on.

“Back in the mid-1950s everything had changed; before the rock ’n’ roll years hit Britain, we’d lived in austere times and everything was in black and white. You’d go to a football match and everyone wore the same hats and overcoats, regardless of age.

“Suddenly there was this burst of creativity – fashion, haircuts, cars and music changed forever – and, for the first time, there were teenagers. Everything was about ‘now’ and everyone wanted to be in a group. Kids with no formal training were starting to play guitars – some even built their own.

“There had never been a time like it, and there never will be again. It’s a period people my age have a lot of affection for, but we’re all getting on now, in our 60s and 70s. I felt the time was right to chronicle the acts that shaped those years in Bradford.”

As part of his research, Derek appealed in the Telegraph & Argus for information about groups that were around between 1954-1966. He was delighted with the response. “I heard from more than 100 people following those appeals. Everyone was very enthusiastic,” he says. “I came across people I hadn’t seen for 40 years. Some sadly passed away while I was working on the book.”

Adds Derek: “I recognised faces on 99 per cent of the photographs I received – they took me right back to when I’d seen them play. This book is a definitive guide paying tribute to them.”

In the first section, Derek sets out Bradford’s music scene in the 1950s and 60s, with colourful recollections of local dance halls, shops, hair salons and coffee bars such as Silvio’s in Darley Street, Collinson’s Cafe, “famed for its coffee roaster and three-piece orchestra”, and the Farmer Giles Milk Bar, “which many parents advised their children not to visit as it had a reputation – of what, they did not say”.

There are adverts for Woods music shop – “If Your Group Wants Guitars You’ll Do Better Buying Them In Bradford” – and a charming photograph of two assistants, Dawn Moss and Linda Wilkinson, sporting perfectly-sculpted Sixties beehives. Linda, also pictured with her first love, Irvin ‘Smudge’ Smith, drummer with The Dingos, contributes a chapter on her memories of the late-1950s and 60s in Bradford, recalling acts such as The Animals and PJ Proby visiting Woods.

“Whenever there was a show on all the top bands headed for Woods,” she recalls. “The Animals were on a show with the Nashville Teens, supporting The Beatles. I asked Alan Price if he was an Animal or a Nashville Teen and he gave me a wink and said ‘I’m an Animal’.”

Derek writes with affection of venues like the Gaumont Ballroom, where he played the last record, Don Gibson’s Sea of Heartbreak, before it closed in 1961, the Mecca Locarno and The Majestic, where teens would flock after being asked: “Goin t’Maj?”

There’s a chapter on Excel Records, a Shipley recording studio used by “all local budding pop stars”, including Dal Stevens and the Blue Jays. “We made Why Must I Be A Teenager In Love there in late 1959. At home one Saturday morning, I was playing it on the radiogramme, the coalman called to be paid and commented: ‘Don’t they play some rubbish on the radio these days?’” recalls Derek.

There are delightful images of girls doing the twist on the wooden floor of Bradford’s Textile Hall, Teddy boys posing against garden gates, and lads in quiffs – including a 16-year-old Mike Priestley, later to became a T&A writer.

A snap of Clay Martin and the Trespassers – a skiffle group founded by 14-year-olds Paul Hornby and Allan Davies – shows them practising in a back garden in 1959.

The second section focuses on the groups Derek has chronicled, with chapters followed by a biography of members including details such as date and place of birth, schools attended, jobs and families.

Acts featured include The Caravelles, Cliff and Brenda with the Dominators, The Dakotas, Garth Cawood, The Flamingos, Mick Judge and the Jurymen, Mike Sagar and The Cresters, The Sidewinders, and The Wingbeats.

There are chapters on Kiki Dee, which includes a photograph of the young Pauline Matthews singing at Dudley Hill Cricket Club in 1956, Johnnie Casson, a local drummer before he became a comic, and Great Horton-born John Verity.

“Every town and city had its homegrown skiffle, rock ’n’ roll and beat groups, none more so than Bradford,” says Derek. “The scene was vibrant and there was real talent here. Had there been a Brian Epstein we could’ve created a ‘Yorkshire sound’.”

As well as being a comprehensive guide to Bradford’s post-war music scene, Derek’s book offers a fascinating slice of social history. He hopes it will become part of Bradford’s heritage.

“It’s something that those who were in these groups, and their families, can pass on to their grandchildren,” he says.

Derek will be signing copies of his book at Waterstones, Bradford, over coming weeks.

When Bradford Rocked: A Who’s Who Of Bradford’s Rock ’n’ Roll Years by Derek AJ Lister is published by Bank House Books, priced £30.