October 30, 2020 —– Chart #63
Hello Musical Friends,
Happy Friday. I have chosen a rare one for this week’s Chart of the Day. Hey, it’s Halloween so why not choose a band and song that had a number 1 hit and never came close again. In fact this band basically was never heard from after their one hit tune even though some version of this band continued to try for years and years. Today’s choice is Edison Lighthouse and the song is Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes).
Edison Lighthouse were an English pop band, formed in London in 1969. The band was best known for their 1970 hit single, “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” recorded in late 1969. The original line-up of Edison Lighthouse consisted of Tony Burrows (lead vocalist), Stuart Edwards (lead guitar), David Taylor (bass guitar), George Weyman (drums), and Ray Dorey (guitar). The group’s Top 40 hit “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” (1970) was one of four near-concurrent UK Singles Chart Top Ten hit singles that Burrows released under different names. The other songs were “Gimme Dat Ding” (The Pipkins), “My Baby Loves Lovin'” (White Plains), and “United We Stand” (Brotherhood of Man). Burrows was also lead vocalist on the single “Beach Baby” (1974) for another studio-only group, The First Class.
“Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” was No. 1 for five weeks and sold 250,000 copies in the UK. It reached the top of the chart in its second week. The United States release was in February 1970 and reached No. 5 in the Billboard Hot 100, selling a million copies there by April and earning an RIAA gold disc. In Canada the song reached No. 3.
Burrows left after “Love Grows”, and Macaulay (who owned the rights to the name Edison Lighthouse) brought in other musicians. Actor and singer Paul Vigrass replaced Burrows. Other members included David Kerr-Clemenson (bass guitar) of Warehorne, Andy Locke (vocals, guitar), Eddie Richards (drums), Wally Scott (guitar) and Ken Reeves (vocals).
The band’s song “It’s Up to You Petula” reached the UK Top 50. Its next single was “What’s Happening?” coupled with “Take a Little Time”, which was written by the band. They then went on to tour Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Africa. The single released for the Africa tour was “Reconsider My Belinda”. The last single released was “Find Mr Zebedee”. The band then called it a day after returning from a tour of Europe. Dave Kerr-Clemenson, after touring with White Plains and Andy Locke, went on to form Fast Buck, recorded an album with Jet Records, and toured the world extensively supporting ELO. Eddie Richards was the drummer in The First Class who had a hit with “Beach Baby”. Guitarist Stuart Edwards died on 26 October 2016 from cancer at the age of 73.
In 2001, Les Fradkin, obtaining the trademark to the name Edison Lighthouse, formed a new group for touring and recording. Les Fradkin only has the right to use the name in the USA. In the UK that right belongs to Brian Huggins and, since 1973, Huggins has been fronting the band. The current Edison Lighthouse line-up is as follows:
Brian Huggins − lead vocals (1973)
Peter Butt − bass guitar (1973)
Stephane Booroff − drums
Simon Aldridge − lead guitar
Edison Lighthouse was named after the Eddystone Lighthouse off the coast of Devon. The band later dropped the Lighthouse and became just Edison.
From a live TV show, check out the gang of dancing girls (guess they couldn’t find any guys): https://youtu.be/OqcDG_xLWPY
Love the dancing troll: https://youtu.be/y1EpaboCERg
Keep rockin’,
Stan