Faron's Flamingos

Faron - The panda-footed prince of prance

Everyone is biased when it comes to an opinion on the high points of popular music and kids today will argue that their bands are just as good , if not better than Dad's bands. What do I think? In most cases they are wrong. The music might be good, the skills of the players may be better than the old rockers, the kit is certainly better, but deep down I think a lot of today's rock fans come away from concerts disappointed.

Why do I say that?. One word....Stage Presence. Talking to Horst Fascher in January 2010 I asked him why the Beatles were so special...his answer was simply they "Mak Show". They performed, they infused personality and visual excitement into the act.

In Liverpool in the sixties there was one guy who could "Mak Show" better than any act and that guy was Billy Ruffley or to give him his stage name Faron, the lead singer with Faron's Flamingos. No stage was big enough for Faron and his gyrating antics led to Famous Cavern DJ Bob Wooler introducing Faron as “the panda-footed prince of prance”,. The video shown below of Faron performing in 1989 at the Liverpool Philharmonic illustrates why his nickname was so apt.

Faron with Nicky Crouch and Brian Griffiths from the Big Three - 1989

Liverpool's most Stage aware band of the era began life as  the Hi Hats a Skiffle group which morphed into the Ravens and then Robin and the Ravens. Billy Ruffley then joined the band and at the suggestion of DJ Bob Wooler they became Faron’s Flamingos with Billy as Faron.

It was a great line up with probably the best technical drummer to come out of the MerseyBeat boom - Trevor Morais who could "out Krupa" Gene Krupa with his single hand drum rolls. Trevor went on to become a session drummer and for some years played with that great Jazz/Rock trio The Peddlers.

On lead guitar was Nicky Crouch who went on to play with The Mojos. A number of other players spent time with band but most notable was Paddy Chalmers who later joined Faron in the second incarnation of the Big Three.

Faron was the most animated of performers, a style which led to Bob Wooler the famous Cavern DJ calling Faron “the panda-footed prince of prance”, a description which carried through his entire career.

The band became hugely popular in 1963 and was signed to Oriole Records. They also featured strongly on the “This Is MerseyBeat Vol: 1 and Vol: 2 Compilation with four tracks “Lets Stomp”, “Shake Sherry (Later released as their first single)”, “Talkin ‘bout You” and “So Fine”.

In common with a lot of other “Tin Pan Ally” thefts Faron’s second single an energetic version of the Contours track “Do You Love Me” was copied almost note for note by Brian Poole and the Tremeloes went on to top the charts with their Faron Clone version.

The band disbanded in 1964 when Faron and Paddy Chambers joined Johnny Hutchinson as the second line up of the Big Three.

Later on Faron emigrated to France and became a top entertainer on the French circuit spending some time with Blue Suede.

Paddy Chambers later played with Paddy, Klaus (Voormann) and Gibson in Germany and for a short time with The Escorts.

Nicky Crouch went on to find fame with The Mojos and Stu James and the Mojos. He then went back to into ordinary life only to reappear with the Ace of Clubs. Nicky still plays from time to time in and around Liverpool with the re-formed Mojos and appeared at the recent concert for Star Club founder Horst Fascher.

Trevor Morais went on to form his own band The Trevor Morais Combo. He also played with Ian Crawford & The Boomerangs a Manchester band for a time before joining The Peddlers playing the emerging Cabaret Club scene in the late sixties and early seventies. He was also part of Elkie Brooks’ backing band and joined Stealers Wheel in the seventies.

Faron reformed the Flamingos in the seventies which for a time included Brian Jones (Ex Undertakers) on Sax.

In the eighties Faron once again toured Germany until the band finally split in 1989. In 1992.  Faron suffered a heart attack and then a second one in 1996. Despite the seriousness of his illness, he continued to appear at several events around Liverpool and recently suffered yet another bout of ill health. The good news is that despite the setbacks and probably against Doctors orders  Faron is still planning to appear in public soon.

 Faron's Flamingos - The Final Performance 2005

These two videos (by kind permission of Arty Davies) features the last performance of one of Liverpool's Greatest bands.

Part 1
 

Part 2

Singles:

1963
Do You Love Me/See If She Cares
Oriole CB 1834

Rare Copy of the Official Press Release

1963
Shake Sherry/Give Me Time
Oriole CB 1867

Many thanks go to Faron's friend Arty Davies for much of the material in this article.