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The Many Roads of One Musician
Denny Laine (real name Brian Hynes) has had more than one bite of the rock cherry. An important player in the Sixties
Birmingham beat scene Laine joined his first group Johnny and the Dominators after acquiring an electric guitar. While holding
down a job as an electrical goods trainee he formed his first group Denny Laine and The Diplomats in 1962 featuring Phil Ackrill
(guitar), Steve Horton (bass), Bev Bevan (drums), vocalist Nicky James and Robert Davis (now know as comedian Jasper Carrott).
The group were notorious around the Birmingham scene for having matching suits, peroxided hair, while trying to pass
themselves off as two sets of brothers. Laine became part of the Birmingham beat amalgamation that was The Moody Blues.
He was an excellent guitar player and vocalist, as deminstrated by the group's huge international hit 'Go Now' which topped
the charts in 1965. Unfortunately none of the group's subsequent output was anywhere near as successful and Laine abandoned
the Moodies in September 1966.
After spending time in Spain Laine formed Denny Laine's Electric String Band, a short-lived experimental affair notable
for the pioneering us of a Royal Academy quartet using amplified classical string instruments - an idea later filched by his
Brummie brethren, Roy Wood and Jeff Lyne. Joining him in the venture was the unreliable ex-Pretty Things drummer, Viv Prince,
and Spooky Tooth bassist Andy Leigh. As a soloist Laine was signed to Deram and became a frequent feature on John Peel's Top
Gear radio show. He seemed about to achieve single success with his wonderfully baroque 'Say You Don't Mind' (with an
arrangement scored by John Paul Jones) but incredibly it did nothing, when the follow up 'Too Much In Love' fell on equally
deaf ears the band prematurely split in August 1967.
Laine drifted through the rest of the Sixties. His next Tony Secunda -guided venture Balls with fellow Brummies Trevor
Burton and Steve Gibbons folded after only one single - the Burton-penned 'Fight For My Country'. An equally unsatisfactory
stint with Ginger Baker's Airforce followed ( Laine's version of Bob Dylan's 'Man of Constant Sorrow' becoming a single in
1970) before Laine got the call to join Paul MCartney's new group Wings in August 1971. 'Say You Don't Mind' finally became
the hit it so rightly deserved to be when revived in 1972 by Colin Blunstone. Laine stayed with Wings until his official departure
in April 1981. Always a restless spirit, he filed for bankruptcy in the mid-Eighties (he had sold his lucrative co-publishing
rights to the million-selling hit 'Mull of Kintyre' to co-author Paul McCartney) and sporadically continues to record and
perform. D L has his own official website and will be entering the studio to record a brand new album in early 2006
a note: the above biography comes
from an incredible book,
Then, Now and Rare: British Beat 1960
- 1969.
written by Terry Rawlings and
edited by Andy Neill and
Chris Charlesworth.
Published in 2002 by
Denny Laine & The Diplomats
![Denny Laine and The Diplomats [click for larger]](sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/dennylaineandthediplomats.jpg.w180h181.jpg)
Denny Laine: lead vocals, guitar(left in 1964)
Phil Ackrill: guitar and vocal
Bev Bevan: drums
Dave Wheeland: bass guitar( left 1962)
Steve Horton: bass guitar(joined 1962)
Nicky James: lead vocal joined in 1962, left in
1963)
Mike Hopkins: guitar (joined, 1964)
Jim Onslow: vocals (joined 1964)
The Moody Blues
Graeme Edge: drums
Denny Laine: vocals, guitar (left 1966)
Mike Pinder: vocals, piano, mellotron
Ray Thomas: vocals, flute
Clint Warwick: vocals, bass guitar(left 1966)
Justin Hayward: vocals, guitar(joined 1966)
John Lodge: vocals, bass guitar(joined 1966)
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| Denny Laine |
Denny's myspace space
tunes, biography, up coming gigs
and a whole lot more
the Wikipedia entry.
some of the work on this
entry is being done by the
folks who are bringing
you this website
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![Denny Laine and The Diplomats [click for larger]](/imagelib/sitebuilder/misc/show_image.html?linkedwidth=actual&linkpath=https://brumbeat.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/dennylaineandthediplomats.jpg&target=tlx_new)
