The Rolling Stones 1964 Kingston, England Fifth-Billed Concert Handbill. ...

Description

The Rolling Stones 1964 Kingston, England Fifth-Billed Concert Handbill. An original British concert flyer, complete with booking form, for the Rolling Stones playing in an "All Stars '64" traveling caravan through England, this stop coming with two evening shows at the Granada Theatre in Kingston on Thursday, February 13. Often referred to as "the John Leyton tour," this gig found the Stones halfway down the bill because they had yet to achieve a Top 10 hit even in their home country. (That would change within weeks with "Not Fade Away.") Not only are the Stones presented in "floating heads" fashion on the handbill, but they're all tilted in different directions, adding to the fun. Measures 5 3/4" x 10" and grades to Very Good Minus condition. COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: John Leyton is an English actor-singer who had struck paydirt on the British pop charts with the #1 "Johnny Remember Me" and the #2 "Wild Wind." But shades of the Beatles with headliners like Helen Shapiro, Chris Montez and Roy Orbison a year earlier, one music journalist observed, "Very quickly, it became apparent that the Stones were more popular than the headline act. Leyton, with great dignity, abandoned his pop career on the spot to concentrate on acting."

Co-headliner Mike Sarne was also a British singer-actor who made a brief music splash in the early 60's, including the lightweight but chart-topping "Come Outside." But he, too, soon moved on exclusively to films and TV. He directed the 1970 high-profile flop Myra Breckinridge, featuring Raquel Welch, Rex Reed, Mae West, Farrah Fawcett and Tom Selleck.

The Swinging Blue Jeans need no introduction, at least not in their home country. Nor to Beatles fans. They were a Merseyside outfit who had started out playing skiffle around Liverpool, and even shows at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany. They had joined the trend and turned their focus exclusively to rock 'n' roll by late '63, and broke through big with their national #2 rendition of "Hippy Hippy Shake." And yes, they even gigged at the Cavern Club.

Moving down the handbill... Don Spencer had achieved mild success in 1963 with "Fireball," the theme song for a British science-fiction television series. He also toured with the Four Seasons, the Hollies and Marianne Faithfull. Billy Boyle was yet another actor-singer who had put out a few singles on Decca and Columbia, including the novelty tune "My Baby's Crazy 'Bout Elvis." He then segued full-time into film, television and stage.

Mike Berry is a... you guessed it, English singer-actor who was captured by the 1950's skiffle craze. He was on this tour on the strength of his Top 10 hit "Don't You Think It's Time" the year before. Berry attempted a hit called "Tribute to Buddy Holly," but the BBC banned it for being too morbid. Berry remains active and was actually touring in an oldies revue right up until the start of the pandemic.

Billie Davis had a Top 10 hit version of "Tell Him" in 1963, which had been a hit in America for the Exciters. Irresistible trivia tidbit: Billie Davis is just her stage name, suggested by Cream and Bee Gees impresario Robert Stigwood and derived from the names of Billie Holiday and Sammy Davis, Jr.

And finally, Billie Davis' boyfriend, Jet Harris, had been the bassist for Cliff Richard's Shadows up through 1962. The following year he had topped the British charts with "Diamonds," recorded with fellow Shadows drummer Tony Meehan. This is also said to have been Jimmy Page's debut as a rhythm-guitar session musician. Two more Top 5 hits followed in '63, so Jet was flying high, but fighting the demons of alcoholism. He did, however, eventually receive his MBE in 2010.

Condition details: There's an inch-long edge tear which goes into the "E" of "Mike" and then branches out into heavy creasing in the top half of the handbill. Other than the white tear after "Mike," no color is broken and all the creasing is actually much more visible on the verso. Item was once folded in half, so there's a horizontal crease going right above "The Rolling Stones" and through Keith and Brian's hair, but no biggie. The top two corners have long-ish diagonal corner creases, the left one just missing "Granada" and the right one intersecting the phone number (again, no color broken). There's also a visible vertical crease that runs from "Boyle" down to the bottom, running through the "O" in "Stones" but breaking no color along the way. Bottom left corner is also bumped and creased, but minor in the scheme of things.


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