Grannie

Wow!!!!!!!!!  Rob, many many thanks for your posting about 'Grannie'.  I never thought I would see the day when any band member or album details would ever surface.  Would love to know the full history about the band and album now!!!

It has been brought to my attention I wrote I had 2 copies....this was a typo and I do only have 1.  The one that was given to my Dad after the recording of it.  Apologies.

Hi Rob

Like yourself I too have sat on the fence for a while every bit of about 4 weeks when I stumbled on a web site talking about Grannie so I did a little more searching and found your comments which inspired me to throw my hat over the fence. I have been in and out of the music business for best part of my life and played with a number of talented bands which includes Grannie in fact I am the lead singer on the album so I too knew the creative and talented Phil Newton very well along with Dave the bass player Janet on flute & John on drums.

Its unfortunate but I had no contact with the band members after the split back then. Yes I too still have a copy of the album although I'm interested in the new re-release CD's supposedly in circulation. I read your input into your friendship with Phil and pictured his face when you mentioned a band called Grannie, your depiction of his reaction was probably the same as mine when I found out after all these years we had not been forgotten. I am truly saddened to hear that Phil is no longer with us and of the tragic way in which he passed. Phil was dedicated to his music and a professional and talented person with a lot to give. The studio session back in 71 was something to remember and working with a team of talented musicians was a bonus, the vocals were an overdub and if I remember correctly we stood and watched the first master copy being cut the same day. We were all so much younger and the era was electric, it’s a shame I'm too late to be able to share my thoughts with Phil. I have no memorabilia of the band but have often wondered what happened to all the photos that were taken in a famouse recording studio in Denmark Street late the same year, I do beleive we were on our way and am sure I still have the original recording contract with Grannie.

Regards to all those who remember me and best regards to you Rob for coming forward, sometimes we need a push to stand up, thank you.

Fred, lead singer, Grannie      

Phil Newton and Grannie.

 

I don’t really do the past, but a friend of mine saw that the Grannie album was being released by Wooden Hill and he asked me if I was singing on it. (I’m not. That’s Fred). He directed me to this site and I thought oh well…

 

I finished school in 1971 determined to leave Cornwall, where I had grown up, and come to London to join a band. There was an ad in Melody Maker that said, ‘Signed band seeks singer’, so I rang the number and it was Jan from Grannie saying there was an audition the following Saturday in Ilford.

 

I turned up at the audition in a small rehearsal room at the back of Sainsbury’s  and was met by Jan, Dave Holland (‘H’), John the drummer and Phil.

 

For the next eight months I worked at Kentons furniture store in Stoke Newington, (thanks to Phil who had a job as assistant window dresser for the Kentons chain), slept on Phil’s sofa and was the lead singer with Grannie,

 

The album was already pressed at this point but Fred had left.

 

Jan and Phil and ‘H’ were all really warm towards me and introduced me to the delights of cockney speech (Me trousers ‘ave broke) and the general ‘living in East London’ experience.

 

Not long after I joined we went to a studio in Denmark Street which I remember being a couple of doors down from where Rose Morris is now and I recorded some tracks. This may be the same studio that Fred talks about.

It was my first recording session.

 

John the drummer had left the band so we found someone named Graham who was from Zimbabwe which was still Rhodesia at that time (Interestingly, he knew Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin, also from Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, who were working with the Beach Boys touring the ‘Holland’ and ‘Carl and the Passions’ albums).

 

We played various places and eventually landed some gigs at the Speakeasy.

 

At one of them Bowie/Ziggy and Pete Townshend were in the club as well as Ed Goodgold, who was the manager of Sha Na Na. He came up to Phil and said how great we were and gave him Tony Stratton Smith’s number (Charisma records) and said he would tell him to come and see us.

 

Following that, I think the same night, the manager of the Speakeasy, introduced himself and said he would manage the band and we could rehearse at the Speakeasy on Sundays when it was closed.

 

Around this time Graham left the band for some reason and on the second rehearsal I arrived at the Speak and met Ginger Johnson who was an Australian drummer Phil was very excited about.

 

We rehearsed with him that day and as we were packing the gear we were talking about needing a van.  The Speak manager said to us ‘Oh do you need a van? I’ve got one.’

Then he suggested we pack all the group gear in the van and he would look after it until the following week at a place he had in the Mile End Road. We did that for a couple of weeks.

 

Then on the next Sunday I was walking up north Regent Street toward Margaret Street where the Speak was situated when I saw the manager coming towards me. As I got within earshot he stretched his arms out wide in a helpless gesture and said ‘All the gear’s been nicked’

 

As the singer I didn’t have any gear but Jan and Phil lost everything including the Mellotron and Phil’s Les Paul. H had taken his bass home but he lost his rig. Everything was on hire purchase and uninsured.

 

(To this day, whenever I hear people romanticising the 1960’s East End criminal fraternity, I always remember that it was East End working people who had their gear stolen somewhere on the Mile End Road.)

 

We talked about carrying on but I confess it seemed to me like a huge mountain to climb and by that time I wanted to start a band of my own.

So I left and went back to Cornwall.

 

I came back to London a year later with my band and one night I met ‘H’ at the Fulham Palace Greyhound where we were playing. I forget what we talked about except that he was very impressed with our PA.

 

Nothing much happened for that band and we split. I drifted for a while,

trying to re invent myself ,as you do, then Punk and New  Wave happened and I got signed. After that I worked pretty consistently through the 80s and 90s on my own stuff and doing session and production work.

 

Like a lot of people in the industry I didn’t get super rich or famous, but I did okay through publishing because I wrote songs.

 

And song writing was the main thing I took away from my time working with Phil.

 

I had written songs before I joined Grannie but being a keyboard player as well as a singer everything I wrote felt too chordy.

 

I learned from Phil how melody could dictate the chords in a song not the other way around. He would sing the melody and sit the chords underneath with these nice little guitar licks that drifted in and out of the vocal part and he would also let the vocal change the tempo and mood of the music.

 

Songs like ‘Leaving’ really show this but there were others that aren’t on the album like ‘Wait in Line’. I can still remember the guitar lick and sing it to this day. Catchy as hell.

 

And of course Phil could play the blues. He was a big Clapton fan in 1971 and we would all stay up until 4 in the morning, usually listening to the ‘Layla’ Album and talking while he doodled and wrote on the guitar.

 

I also remember when he played live he would tap his foot sideways instead of up and down. I asked him about it once and he said he copied it off Paul McCartney because he thought it looked cool.

 

These days I teach music and occasionally I drive out east on the A13 and turn south on the A117.  The sign pointing north says Manor Park, where Phil lived at that time, and I always think back.

 

I was so sorry to hear that Phil had passed away. I never saw him again after 1971 but working with him was a really formative experience for me.

 

He introduced me to proper song writing.

 

SB

 

I have been searching for information relating to Philip Newton and I finally came across your web site.

I married Phil Newton in 1967 when we were both 17 years old. We first met when we were both 15 years old and worked at Dun & Bradstreet in London.
We had a son, Stevie Paul who sadly died at 2 weeks of age. We then had another son Morgan in 1971.

During the year of Morgan's birth Phil was writing the songs and music for the Grannie Album. The group was constantly at our flat in Manor Park. I remember Dave Holland (H), the bass guitarist and Janet and Geoff Chandler, organ player and roadie. Most of my family had copies of the Grannie album, as did I.

In May 1972, Phil and I separated and Janet left Geoff and moved in with Phil.
In 1974 Phil and Janet married and at that time they discovered that Phil had been adopted, which caused him a great deal of distress and pain.

He discovered his biological mother actually lived a few streets away from where we had been living in Manor Park. I had known her for several years as she owned the launderettes where I went every week.

Phil saw Morgan regularly for about 7 years, but as he had moved away the contact became less and less.

Two years prior to his death, Morgan contacted Phil's half sister Barbara and asked if she could contact Phil and let him know that he would like to see him.

He then moved to Northampton and again time just went by and he heard nothing.

Then I received a phone call from Kathy, Phil's biological mother, who told me that Phil had been found dead at his home in Surrey.

Morgan and I went to her house the following day, when she informed us that Phil's long term partner had gone away for the weekend that Phil had died. She said that Phil had left a will naming only his long term partner and that he had not mentioned Morgan. She also told us that she had advised Barbara not to get involved with Morgan's earlier request.

Morgan asked her if she would ask Phil's partner if he could have some photo's or a copy of any film she may have of Phil playing the guitar. She said she would arrange this for him.

Morgan was very upset and hurt by her comments.

Two years after Phil's death, I received a visit from a personal friend and previous roadie to Phil (Jimmy Tarling). He told me that he had been in constant contact with Phil and also that Phil constantly spoke of Morgan, wondering how he was getting on. But the most surprising thing was that he said Phil was no longer with the long term partner that Kathy had spoke of.

He also said that Kathy had sold him one of Phil's guitars.

When I read the coments of by Donald Mowat and Rob.I felt the need to write the above, Morgan now has two children of his own, aged 3 and 4 and would love to have something to show them about their grandad when they get older. he has longed to know something about his father. Fortunately he now has the Youtube music but he would like to have pictures or film of his father actually playing.

I do  not understand why Kathy felt the need to lie to him, but obviously she must have her reasons, unfortunately she has moved away and I don't know if she is still alive. Then again maybe it's best that I cannot contact her!

Any pictures you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Sheila Newton

Hi everyone,

Hi Dave ('H')

Original vinyl on ebay for your viewing pleasure!

HI SHEILA LIKE LOTS OF PEOPLE FROM THE GRANNIE DAYS .I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BAND .MY NAME IS LARRY AND YOU MAY REMEMBER I WORKED WITH PHIL IN OXFORD STREET IN THE SIXTIES AND WAS A GREAT FRIEND OF PHILS FROM THE DAY WE MET .YOU MAY REMEMBER WHEN HE STARTED GRANNIE FIRST HE GOT ME TO PLAY SAX WHICH DROVE YOU MAD IN YOUR FLAT IN MANOR PARK .POOR NEIGHBOURS.WE HAD SOME GREAT TIMES AT GIGS .I REMEMBER DAVE THE BASS PLAYER GREAT PLAYER ..THE OTHER NAMES ESCAPE ME AT THE MOMENT ..UNFORTUNETLY I LEFT GRANNIE BEFORE THE ALBUM BUT I STILL REMEMBER ALL THE SONGS ..SO SO SAD TO LEARN OF PHILS DEATH   .IT KNOCKED ME FOR SIX ....IF YOU ARE ABLE TO GET HOLD OF ANY RECORDINGS OF PHIL PLAYING I WOULD LOVE COPIES   JUST TO SHOW MY SON IN LAW WHO IS GUITAR MAD       MAKE CONTACT PLEASE        larry