The Little Darlings

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In the early 1960’s, Coventry beat scene was predictably full to the brim with pop bands, thanks to the influence of The Beatles. As the months ticked by, new bands like the Rolling Stones and The Pretty Things would arrive on the national scene and would give pop music an altogether new, Rhythm ‘N’ Blues slant. One of the best would be the Yardbirds, and pretty soon their influence would show locally with Freakbeat supremos The Little Darlings.

Guitarist John Gilroy, was working at Rolls Royce Parkside. He was approached one day in 1963, and asked if he could play bass guitar. With the answer being in the affirmative, it wasn’t long before he was on a Coventry Carnival float playing along side band members Malcolm O’Sullivan (vocals), Allan Waites (guitar), and a drummer who left soon after to pursue his new job of shooting snakes that fell on the deck of the Queen Mary as they sailed up the Amazon! The guys soon recruited new drummer Barry Eaton and when John switched to lead guitar new bassman Terry Twigger was hired from an advert in The Coventry Telegraph. The band began were originally know as The Pines.

“We practiced every night for three months”, said John, “Before unleashing ourselves on the general public. A demo disc was made at Hollocks & Taylors in Birmingham. Which was toted around. Friars Promotions, who held the monopoly at that time on local gigs, signed us up. Our first gig was at the Wine Lodge in Coventry, we supported The Avengers. I asked somebody what the difference was between the two bands? I was told that the Avengers were louder, but apart from that there was no difference really. That was the answer I wanted to hear, and bearing in mind the Avengers were a really tight driving band, it was obvious all our practice sessions were paying off.”

It was at a private party however that things would get interesting for the band, present at the party were two guys from the 60’s band The Ivy League. They liked what they heard and John and the boys were invited down to Southern Music in London. As a publicity stunt, it was arranged for the Little Darlings to plug into a barbers shop in Denmark St (Tin Pan Alley). “When we opened up”, reveals John, ”The traffic stopped, a crowd gathered and even Charing Cross Road fouled up. The Met appeared and said OK you got what you wanted, now cease! We eventually got into the studio and recorded our first 45, ‘Little Bit O’soul’ (and ‘Easy To Cry’ on the B-Side). We visited the influential TV pop-show Ready Steady Go, and got our record played, which went down well. We were all introduced as the song played, we were asked who played the keyboard, as there is some keyboard on the record. We made the mistake of saying that none of us played the keyboard, I think we got turned down because of that”.

“When we played our single live at the Locarno”, continues John, ”I played the keyboard fills on my guitar, someone said that it sounded better live, than on record, boy we were sick! The single (released on the Fontana Record label), was written by Ivey League members John Carter and Ken Lewis. The Disc music paper said of it….”The Little Darlings’ noise sounds just great”. Despite the great buzz that surrounded the single, it failed to make a dent on the charts for the Little Darlings (though the song would later take on a life of it’s own, see Little Darlings Trivia).

The band continued playing places like The Matrix, along side names such as Dave Berry and The Cruisers, The Kinks (John recalls quaffing a few Barcadi and Cokes with Ray and Dave Davies at the Phoenix). They topped the bill themselves at The Matrix on January 8th 1965, with Sam Spade and the Gravediggers in support.

By the mid 60’s some of the band became The Sensations, but John went his separate way, as did vocalist Malc O’Sullivan, “They were happy times” said Malcolm, “but I personally wished that we had concentrated on a more Rock N Roll sound rather than Rhythm N Blues sound”. 

I had the pleasure to attend John Gilroy’s 60th birthday part a little while ago, John got up on stage and along with some other fine musicians played a blinder. It may be some 40 years on, but he’s still a Little Darling!

Little Darlings Trivia

  • Little Bit O’soul may have failed to chart for the Little Darlings, but the song was later recorded by the American band from Ohio The Music Explosion and made number two in the US charts in 1967.  That wasn’t the end of the song by any means. In 1983 punk godfathers The Ramones covered the song on their Subterranean Jungle album. And gave it a new lease of life.
  • Carter and Lewis were part of the hit trio the Ivy League (along with Perry Ford). The band clocked-up three hits in 1965, ‘Funny How Love Can Be’, ‘That’s Why I’m Crying’ and ‘Tossing and Turning’. Later re-emerging as The Flowerpot Men in 67 with ‘Let’s Go To San Francisco’. They also wrote songs for P.J. Proby, Brenda Lee and John Leyton.
  • Coventry kid Ken Waites, was the bands manager, and eventually became part of Southern Music as a recording executive in the company. In the Coventry Standard, December 65, he was calling for local Coventry song writing talent to contact him, wonder if they ever did?

For more Backbeat information go to www.covmusic.net

Contact Pete at backbeat@covmusic.net

You can hear Pete Chambers every Friday at 3,00pm on

The Bob Brolly Show on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire.

Look out for his new Novelty records feature!

The Little Darlings a Cov freakbeat/mod band made up of, John Gilroy (guitar (drums), and (bass). Originally called The Pines. The legendary Joe Meek was their recording manager. Cut the now collectable Good Things Are Worth Waiting For in 1966 on Fontana. Became The Sensations in late 66, their first (and very psychedelic) single Look At My Baby was Radio London Record of the Week in May 1966. Apparently Sonny & Cher were fans. They became The Good Time Losers in 1967.

Posted in Pete Chambers, The Little Darlings.
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