(c’63-’66) Allen ‘Kerry Rapid’ Hope (vocals), Richard ‘Spud’ Taylor (guitar), Alan Elkins (guitar), Roger Charles (bass), and Brian ‘Brian Allen’ Allender (drums).
The Emeralds formed in ’63, a name they adopted after a season at the Sunshine Holiday Camp, Hayling Island as The Nightriders. Originally a 4-piece with Taylor, Allender, Roger Stanley (bass), and Hope, (vocals); they added Elkins shortly after. The band signed to His Masters Voice (HMV) and released the Vic Keary arranged single “The Kerry Dances” [POP 1157] that same year.
Just shy of a month after The Rolling Stones and The Strangers had rocked The Lido, Winchester, along came Dave Curtiss & The Tremors on 17 January ’64, with The Emeralds in support. The next month, on 2 February, The Emeralds opened at the Agincourt Ballroom, Camberley, for Cliff Bennett and The Rebel Rousers. The Agincourt also hosted The Emeralds and The Paramounts on 29 March ’64.
In ’64 Elkins left, but we are unsure if this was before or after the Open Air Beat Festival at Botwell House, Hayes, where the band, billed as Daniel Boone & The Emeralds, appeared alongside The Searchers, Eden Kane & The Downbeats, The Migil Five, The Animals, Chris Sandford & The Coronets, The Undertakers, The Interns, Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages, The Gamblers, Julie Grant, Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers, The Sorrows, The Hawks, Adam Faith, and Dusty Springfield. That same year the band moved to Decca.
In ’65, through Decca, two more singles were released, but that was after Taylor was replaced by Terry New. “Don’t Listen to Your Friends” [F12096] featured session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan from the Tom Jones band; and was produced by Tony Meehan and written by Jerry Lordan. It did alright in The Netherlands and was played on Radio Veronica and Radio Caroline. “King Lonely the Blue” [F12304] featured session guitarist Jimmy Page was released in The Netherlands with a picture sleeve.
In early ’65, another of Bob Potter’s bands, The Renegades disbanded, and as was Potters’ management style, Renegade frontman Daniel Boone found himself backed by three of The Emeralds: Woking born Allender, Charles, and Taylor, along with Renegade guitarist Dave Luther. They were billed, for a time and as they had been occasionally before the ‘official’ merging, as Daniel Boone and The Emeralds. Eventually the Daniel Boone stage name was dropped, and Farnborough born Roy Spreadborough – whose middle name was Daniel – went by Roy Daniel instead, and we see the band listed as Daniel and The Emeralds and various other combinations.
Back at the Agincourt, Daniel & The Emeralds performed with The Paramounts, once again, on 31 January ’65. According to the book “The Day Before Yesterday: Rock, Rhythm and Jazz in the Bishop’s Stortford Area, 1957 to 1969” by Steve Ingless, The Emeralds supported Tony Rivers & The Castaways at the Rhodes Centre, Bishop Stortford on 13 February ’65. The Civic Hall, Guildford, on 6 March ’65, hosted Daniel & The Emeralds and The Plebs. Two months later they kicked things off at the Agincourt for Rod Stewart and The Soul Agents. The band, as The Emeralds with Daniel Boone, played two consecutive nights at the 400 Ballroom, Torquay on 9 and 10 April ’65. The Emeralds were back in Torquay, at the 400, on 28 April, 26 June, and the 28 June through 2 July, 14 through 20 August, 13 and 14 September, 18 September, 20 through 24 September, and 13 November ’65. The band did take a quick trip from Devon to Essex on 11 July ’65, to appear at the Odeon, Southend with Tom Jones & The Squires, Nashville Teens, Jalacy Hawkins, The Clayton Squares, and Ray Cameron.
Early in ’66, 9 January, the band opened for The Sidewinders at the Agincourt, but not the “original Georgie Fame group featuring Phil Seaman on drums” as billed. A few days later, on 14 January ’66, the band returned to the 400 Club, Torquay; then supported Dave Berry and The Cruisers at the Town Hall, Farnborough on 16 February ’66, before going back to the 400 on 11 April, and then onto The Marquee, London on 5 May ’66, opening for The Mark Leeman Five. The Emeralds stayed at The Marquee the following night, opening this time for The Sands. Eight days later, on 14 May ’66 the band were in Eastbourne, at Club Continental. On 25 June ’66, The Emeralds and The James Royal Set were performing at Starlite Ballroom, Greenford. The next month, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich headlined at Princess Theatre, Torquay on 17 July ’66, while The Emeralds got second billing, followed by Kim Davis and The Del Five, then Paul & Barry Ryan with the Robb Storme Group. A few months later, on 15 October ’66, The Emeralds headlined at the Locarno, Swindon, supported by, their once frontman, Kerry Rapid and the Soul Tones. Eventually, this new lineup would become Wishful Thinking.
In 2023, the rockabilly reissue label TM Records, put The Emeralds’ “King Lonely the Blue” on the B-side of their reissue of Ken Levy and The Phantoms “Missed Out” [45-TM-BI 001].
Allen, who’d been in The Bandits, as had Hope after Allen, had also played with Charles in the band that backed Dusty Springfield and Val Doonican. He would lead The Brian Allen Band in the 90s and early 2000s, but regrettably died on 23 May 2012 following a heart attack at his home in Salignac, France. Spreadborough passed ten years later on 20 February 2022 and New, who’d been in The Lively Set, succumb to cancer on 4 October 2010. From ’71 to ’77, Hope would also sing in Threewheel.
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