The Flying Pickets

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Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox musical artist The Flying Pickets are a British a cappella vocal group which had a Christmas number one hit in 1983 on the UK Singles Chart with their cover version of Yazoo's track "Only You".

History

The band of six was founded by Brian Hibbard in 1982 from a group of actors who had been active with him in John McGrath's 7:84 theatre group, a fringe theatre organisation who had sung a cappella in their production of the 1981 play One Big Blow. The group chose the name the Flying Pickets as band members had played a part in the UK miners' strikes of 1972 and 1974.<ref name="walesonline.co.uk">"The Flying Pickets’ taste of fame", WalesOnline, 12 April 2009 (updated 29 March 2013). Accessed 12 July 2009.</ref>

Performing in clubs and pubs in London, the Flying Pickets came up with a concept of transferring the art of a cappella to the pop music scene.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="allmusic">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Joining Hibbard in the group were Rick Lloyd (who also wrote the music to One Big Blow), Gareth Williams, David Brett, Ken Gregson (real name Kenneth Gregory) and Red Stripe (real name David Gittins).<ref name="Larkin">Template:Cite book</ref> The members of the group were internationally renowned for their flamboyant appearance: Hibbard's huge sideburns, Stripe's thick eye-liner, and the others showing off gaudy suits and large hats. Two of the other original members, Ron Donachie and Christopher Ryan left the band before "Only You".

"Only You", their first single, was the UK Christmas number one in 1983 spending a total of five weeks at the top,<ref name="Larkin"/> and also doing well around Europe and in Canada, where it reached number 17 in spring 1984. It emulated the success of the original Yazoo version. The video was shot in the Red Duster public house in South Shields Tyne and Wear.

The name "Flying Pickets" refers to mobile strikers who travel in order to join a picket, reflecting the group's radical socialist political views. The height of the group's fame coincided with the 1984 miners strike, when the National Union of Mineworkers called strike action following the National Coal Board's decision to close 20 pits – a move which would claim some 20,000 jobs.<ref name="walesonline.co.uk"/> The Flying Pickets were vocal in their support of the miners during the dispute and came to blows with the record label Virgin after they picketed Drax Power Station in Yorkshire.<ref name="walesonline.co.uk" /> They also performed benefit gigs for the miners.<ref name="Larkin"/> Hibbard himself claimed that their political beliefs probably had a detrimental effect on the group's mainstream image but it was a sacrifice they were willing to make; according to the group, one well-known record store refused to sell the group's albums due to their support of strike action.<ref name="walesonline.co.uk" />

Despite the group's socialist views, the Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher proclaimed, to much amusement and scepticism, that "Only You" was her favourite record.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> A second single, a cover version of Van McCoy's "(When You're) Young and in Love" (originally written for Ruby and the Romantics) reached number 7 in the UK, but their third, a cover of the Eurythmics' "Who's That Girl" barely charted.<ref name="Larkin"/>

In 1986, Hibbard and Stripe left the band and were replaced by Gary Howard and Hereward Kaye.<ref>Kaye, H., (1986) "Ba Ba Da Da The Flying Pickets - 1986". Accessed 30 March 2007.</ref> Hibbard and Stripe tried to stay in the music industry, forming their own act called Brian and Stripe, but their first and only single, a cover version of Yazoo's "Mr. Blue", failed to chart, and they returned to their separate acting careers.

In 1987, the Flying Pickets sang the title song (in Latin, Dives in Omnia) and endtitles reprise to Porterhouse Blue, in the style of a medieval university drinking-song.

The group sang two songs on the Eric Woolfson/Alan Parsons 1990 album Freudiana.

The Flying Pickets' line-up has changed throughout the years, but the band never died; since the Pickets began, there have been around 27 members. The last member of the original line-up, David Brett, left the band in 1990.<ref name="Original_website">"The Original Flying Pickets". Accessed 30 March 2007.</ref> However, in 1994, the original line-up (minus Lloyd) reformed to record one more album.<ref name="Original_website" />

File:THE FLYING PICKETS 1984 DRAX POWER STATION.jpg
The Flying Pickets supporting the miner's strike, Drax Power Station, 1984

Although none of the founding members have been part of the group since 1990, the Flying Pickets continue to record albums and tour all over Europe and abroad.

Post-Picket activities

Hibbard, the group's founder and lead singer, pursued a career as a television actor, making a guest appearance in the 1987 Doctor Who story Delta and the Bannermen. His first regular TV role came in 1989, playing petty criminal "Chunky" in three series of Manchester-based comedy drama Making Out (1989-1991), followed by a two-year stint in Coronation Street as garage mechanic Doug Murray. Other appearances include Minder, The Armando Iannucci Shows, Satellite City, Welsh language soap Pobol y Cwm as well as the youth drama Pam Fi, Duw? and in the 1997 film Twin Town as the self-styled "Karaoke King" Dai Rees.

In 2006, Hibbard won the BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actor for his role as Tony in the film Little White Lies. He died on 17 June 2012.<ref name=theguardian>Template:Cite news</ref>

Brett toured with the English Shakespeare Company and appeared as Mad Mike the Mechanic in the BBC children's TV programme Marlene Marlowe Investigates.<ref>The Original Flying Pickets. (1994) The Original Flying Pickets: Volume 1 (from CD information booklet).</ref> In 2000, Brett played the part of Dedalus Diggle in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.<ref>David Brett at CastNet UK. Accessed 17 April 2007.</ref>

Williams toured in a production of South Pacific and also with The English Shakespeare Company; he played Nathan Detroit in a production of Guys & Dolls. He also worked with Jonathan Miller on a TV adaptation of Henry Mayhew's London Labour, London Poor. In 2009, he understudied and went on for Patrick Stewart in the Theatre Royal Haymarket production of Waiting for Godot.<ref name="Original_CD">The Original Flying Pickets. (1994) (from CD information booklet).</ref>

Gittins worked in bread delivery after leaving the band, then decided to move to Australia where he took a job as a stage mechanist at The Victorian State Theatre. He also co-developed the techno act Poets of the Machine.<ref name="Original_CD" />

Gregson also emigrated to Australia and has made an appearance in the soap Neighbours.<ref name="Original_CD" />

Lloyd was a joint winner of a BAFTA TV Award for his work on the 1987 TV series Porterhouse Blue, and was musical director for the 1999 film Julie and the Cadillacs.

Members

Original

Present

  • Andy Laycock
  • Simon John Foster
  • Henrik Wager
  • Christopher Brooker
  • Martin George

Other past members

Discography

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References

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