The Barron Knights

The Barron Knights are a British humorous pop rock group, originally formed in 1959 in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, as the Knights of the Round Table. The Barron Knights started out as a straight pop group, and spent a couple of years touring and playing in English dance halls before making their way to Hamburg, Germany. Bill Wyman, later of the Rolling Stones, has written that the Barron Knights were the first group he saw with an electric bass, at a performance in Aylesbury in July 1961, inspiring him to take up the instrument. In 1963, at the invitation of Brian Epstein, they were one of the support acts at the Beatles' Christmas shows at the Finsbury Park Astoria in London, and later became one of the few acts to tour with both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Their debut single was "Let's Face It" / "Never Miss Chris" released in 1962 by Fontana Records (H.368). They also made their debut on BBC Television in that year, performing on the children's programme Let's Go!. They first came to fame in 1964 with the number "Call Up the Groups" (Parts 1 and 2). It overcame copyright restrictions and parodied a number of the leading pop groups of the time including the Searchers, Freddie and the Dreamers, the Dave Clark Five, the Bachelors, the Rolling Stones, and the Beatles. The song imagined the various artists singing about being conscripted, or "called up" into the British Army, although actual conscription had ended in 1960. The single climbed to number three on the UK singles chart. As an example, the song "Bits and Pieces" by the Dave Clark Five was parodied as "Boots and Blisters". They then followed this parody theme with two more hit singles, "Pop Go the Workers" (1965) and "Merry Gentle Pops" (1966), while continuing to work the cabaret circuit, as they do internationally to this day. In 1967, the group released the single "Lazy Fat People", a satirical song written by Pete Townshend of the Who. In 1974 they toured South Africa with Petula Clark. By 1977 CBS Records had signed the group, bringing a resurgence in popularity, with "Live in Trouble" reaching number seven on the UK singles chart.[citation needed] It was their first hit for over nine years. "Angelo" was just one song parodied on "Live in Trouble", the others being "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing", and "Float On". Their 1978 release "A Taste of Aggro", which parodied "Rivers of Babylon", "Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs" and "The Smurf Song", became the group's biggest hit with sales of over one million, reaching number three on the UK chart.[citation needed] They achieved four other UK hit singles in the 1960s and 1970s, but only one of their singles charted on the US Billboard Hot 100. This was "The Topical Song", another comedic parody, written by the American poet Robert Spring White, and based upon Supertramp's "The Logical Song". White, who also took the 1980 American Song Festival award in the folk category for "Where Does The River Go", confined his humorous lyric compositions to the Barron Knights. The group also produced Christmas specials on Channel 4 Television in 1983 and 1984 (which continued to be repeated throughout the decade), a mix of sketches and songs with a comedy backbone for which the group brought in comedy writer Barry Faulkner (the Grumbleweeds, Tom O'Connor, Week Ending, Russ Abbot's Madhouse) to write sketches and links. In 1986, they sang a parody of the Jimmy Dean song "Big Bad John", called "Big Bad Bond". It was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Australian entrepreneur Alan Bond and his involvement in Australia's victory in the 1983 America's Cup. The single was released by WEA, and had "The Loan Arranger" on the B-side; both were taken from their album California Girls. As of 2013[update], the group continued to perform for a worldwide audience, with a line-up featuring only Pete Langford from the original band members. Founding member Barron Antony retired on 5 October 1985, and fellow founding member Butch Baker retired in January 2007, being replaced by Len Crawley. The Barron Knights' original lead singer, Duke D'Mond, died on 9 April 2009.[citation needed] Barron Antony (born Anthony Michael John Osmond, 15 June 1934, RAF Abingdon, Abingdon, Berkshire, England) – bassist, vocalist Peter 'Peanut' Langford (born 10 April 1943, Durham, England) – guitar, keyboards, vocalist Duke D'Mond (born Richard Edward Palmer, 25 February 1943, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England, died 9 April 2009, Oxford)[citation needed] – vocalist Butch Baker (born Leslie John Baker, 16 July 1941, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England) – lead guitarist, vocalist Dave Ballinger (born David Alan Ballinger, 17 January 1941, Slough, Berkshire, England) – drummer List of Epic Records artists List of performances on Top of the Pops List of songs about London Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music (First ed.). Virgin Books. p. 32. ISBN 0-7535-0149-X. "The Barron Knights". 45-rpm.org.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2010. Wyman, Bill; Havers, Richard (2001). Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey. Dorling Kindersley. p. 320. ISBN 0-7513-3442-1. "Barron Knights TV debut". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 6 September 1962. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 43. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. "Barron Knights parody". Listology.com. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2010. "The Barron Knights – Live in Trouble". Official Charts Company. 29 October 1977. Retrieved 22 May 2010. Ruhlmann, William. "Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 July 2022. "The Barron Knights". oocities.org. Retrieved 7 January 2025. "BARRON KNIGHTS | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 1 September 2020. "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 1 September 2020. "charts.org.nz - New Zealand charts portal". charts.nz. Retrieved 1 September 2020. "The Barron Knights Songs ••• Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts". www.musicvf.com. Retrieved 1 September 2020. Grant. "Every AMR Top 100 Single in 1964". Retrieved 1 September 2020. Grant. "Every AMR Top 100 Single in 1965". Retrieved 1 September 2020. Grant. "Every AMR Top 100 Single in 1966". Retrieved 1 September 2020. Grant. "Every AMR Top 100 Single in 1968". Retrieved 1 September 2020. Canada, Library and Archives (17 July 2013). "Image : RPM Weekly". www.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 1 September 2020. Grant. "Every AMR Top 100 Single in 1978". Retrieved 1 September 2020. Grant. "Every AMR Top 100 Single in 1979". Retrieved 1 September 2020. Grant. "Every AMR Top 100 Single in 1980". Retrieved 1 September 2020. The British Beat Boom website biography