The Symbols
magazine article in 1967
The Symbols began their stage career as Johnny Milton and the Condors - John Milton (vocals), Mick Clarke (bass guitar), Shaun Corrigan (lead guitar) and Clive Graham (drums). Their first single under the new name was "One Fine Girl", produced by Mickie Most, but it didn't sell.
They experienced several line-up shuffles during their existence, with Joe Baccini (bass), Sean Corrigan (guitar) and Chris (Chas) Wade (drums) playing with the group at various times. A cover version of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" failed to produce mainstream success and 1966 saw them without a record contract.
magazine article in 1967
Mick Clark left to play with The Tremeloes for a while and introduced them to a song from The Symbols act, "Silence Is Golden". He then returned to the Symbols. (Oooh gosh I bet he was popular! Webmaster)
Ed Kassner at President needed a harmony band to cover "See You In September" which he owned and which was a hit in the US, so The Symbols were signed. The record didn't sell, partly due to distribution problems, but it set the band up for more singles including "Bye Bye Baby" which was later to produce success for the Bay City Rollers and "Best Part Of Breaking Up", which became their second chart hit at number 25 in January 1968.
By heck that's bright
The band carried on until 1972. Mick Clark joined The Rubettes, Chas Wade and John Milton played with the pub-rock band JJ Foote during the mid-70s.
Discography
There are plenty of singles around and they can be found and even bought by typing 'The Symbols' into the Gemm search box at the top right of this page. There's also a CD which includes all of their President cuts as well as previously un-issued bonus tracks including a Four Seasons Medley plus the band's original demo of Silence Is Golden.
