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As a folk act, based on Merseyside, they became a quartet, with Hughie Jones (guitar, harmonica, banjo) who was born in Liverpool. Cliff Hall (guitar, harmonica), was born in Orient Province, Cuba, of Jamaican parents. When his mother died he returned to Jamaica with his father who worked in the plantations. There wasn’t enough money to provide Cliff with further education and as a teenager he worked moulding breezeblocks and milking cows.When RAF personnel came to Jamaica on a recruiting drive, Cliff claimed he was older than he was, signed up and came to Britain in November 1942 and was stationed in Worcestershire. He married a Scottish girl Janet Massie in 1947 and the couple had three children. By 1953 he was working as an electrician in Leeds and when he was sent to work in Capenhurst in Cheshire he met Tony Davis and was invited to join The Spinners. Mick Groves (guitar), born in Salford was to say “I think our strong Liverpool identity is actually a great tribute to the city. They call it a melting pot and we all melted together greatly.” |
The
group signed with Philips Records in 1963 and recorded eight albums
on the label before signing with EMI Records in the early Seventies.
Apart from performing vintage folk numbers, they also included original
folk songs penned by Hughie in their repertoire, including ‘The Ellen
Vanin Tragedy’ and ‘The Marco Polo.’ One highlight of their act was a tribute to their native Liverpool with a song originally written by Peter McGovern in 1962, ‘In My Liverpool Home,’ while Cliff introduced some traditional Jamaican songs into their repertoire. |
One of the original songs on the debut album, ‘Quayside Songs Old And New’ included the song ‘Liverpool Girls,’ which was penned by Cliff and was his comment on British cooking. He said “My first wife couldn't cook the dishes I liked at first, but I called the song 'Liverpool Girls' so as not to offend her." Oddly, the record company were uncomfortable about promoting a multi-racial group and placed a cartoon on the cover in which all the members appeared to be white! The group recorded over forty albums prior to their retirement in 1988, thirty years after their original formation, having achieved considerable fame in Britain via their many concert and television appearances. They even had their own television show on BBC 1 in 1970 which ran for seven years and another of their own series was aired on BBC Radio 2. They officially retired following a concert at the Philharmonic Hall after a 120 date farewell tour. A year after their retirement they gathered together to lead the community singing at the 1989 FA Cup final and also performed some Christmas shows in1992, 1993 and 1994. There was also a reunion performance at the Everyman Theatre in 2024. During the last 17 years of their career, John McCormick acted as their double bassist and musical director. |
When
the Spinners decided to retire, he said that The Spinners had become
an institution and “who wants to end their days in an institution.”
Following their retirement, Cliff moved to Australia with his third
wife Dottie (he had been widowed twice) but passed
away on 26th June 2024 at the age of 82. Tony continued performing and Mick became Chair of Education at Wirral Borough Council and later moved to Devon. Hughie Jones has also continued to perform and has had three albums released, including ‘Liverpool Connexions’ issued on the Fellside label on 14th November 2024. It contained the tracks: Mist Over The Mersey; Moles Of Edge Hill; Down By The Dockyard Wall; Blue And Red; Betsy Of New York; Rent Collecting In Speke; Here’s To Cheshire; Unmooring; Cape Horner; Liverpool Lullaby; Derbyshire; Seth Davey; Shanghai Brown; Dirty Old Town; Safe In Snug Harbour; King Of Edge Hill; Alexander Selkirk Is My Name; Daughter Of Water Street. Their 1994 CD compilation ‘The Spinners’ contains the tracks: |
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