Bruce Cripps (born 2 November 1941), known professionally as Bruce Welch, is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer, singer and businessman best known as a founding member of the Shadows.[1]
Early life
Bruce Welch was born in Bognor Regis in 1941. His parents (Stan Cripps and Grace Welch) moved him to 15 Broadwood View, Chester-le-Street, County Durham shortly after. Welch's mother died when he was aged six, and he grew up with his Aunt Sadie.
After learning to play the guitar, he formed a Tynesideskiffle band called the Railroaders when he was fourteen.[2] His Rutherford Grammar School friend Brian Rankin (later to be known as Hank Marvin) joined the group, and they travelled to London in 1958 for the final of a talent competition. Although they did not win, they joined with members of other entrant bands and formed the Five Chesternuts with Pete Chester (born 1942), son of comedian Charlie Chester, on drums.[1]
Upon moving to London, Bruce Welch and Hank Marvin briefly operated as the Geordie Boys before enlisting in an outfit called the Drifters.[2] In September 1958, Welch and Marvin joined the Drifters, later to become the Shadows,[2] as Cliff Richard's backing band. As well as success with the Shadows, Welch acted as producer for (among others) Richard[2] and songwriter for his ex-fiancée, Olivia Newton-John.[1] He also released a solo single, "Please Mr. Please", which was not commercially successful,[1] though the song has been recorded by several other recording artists (most notably Newton-John, who would take it into the top 10 of the US pop and country charts in 1975).
After the Shadows disbanded in 1990, with Marvin deciding to tour with his own band, Welch's plans for his own tours did not fully materialise until 1998, when he formed Bruce Welch's Shadows (originally called 'Bruce Welch's Moonlight Shadows' – a name that was dropped after 1998). The group featured former Shadows bassist Alan Jones and keyboardist Cliff Hall, with Bob Watkins on drums. Phil Kelly and Barry Gibson (owner of Burns Guitars) shared lead guitar duties until Gibson's departure in 2000. Daniel Martin and Justin Daish replaced Kelly for the 2012 Shadowmania.
Shadowmania
In 1998, he produced Shadowmania, a one-day show comprising various Shadows tribute bands, with his own band topping the bill. Owing to the event's success, he presented it annually until 2012, missing only 2004 and 2009 due to tours with the reformed Shadows.
At Shadowmania 2011 he included a 'Tribute to Jet Harris', his former band member who had died from cancer in March of that year. At Shadowmania 2012, Phil Kelly could not appear because of illness and was replaced by session guitarist-songwriter Daniel Martin, and Justin Daish, leader of The Shadowers (Jet Harris' final backing band).[5]
Honours
He was appointed OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2004 Birthday Honours list for services to music.
Bruce L. Welch; Howard Elson (1989). Rock and Roll: I Gave You the Best Years of My Life. Viking. ISBN978-0-670-82705-3.
"That Sound" (From Move It On: The Story of the Magic Sound of the Shadows), by R. Pistolesi, M. Addey & M. Mazzini. Publ: Vanni Lisanti. June 2000. No ISBN
A Pocket Guide to Shadow Music, by M. Campbell, R. Bradford, L. Woosey. Idmon. ISBN0-9535567-4-3
Les Woosey Malcolm Campbell (2005). Guide to the Shadows and Hank Marvin on CD. ISBN978-0-9535567-3-1.
17 Watts: First 20 Years of British Rock Guitar, the Musicians and Their Stories, by Mo Foster, Sanctuary Music Library, ISBN9781860742675
The Shadows Discography, by John Friesen. No ISBN
The Shadows Discography, by George Geddes. No ISBN
David Roberts (June 2006). British Hit Singles & Albums. Guinness World Records. ISBN978-1-904994-10-7.
Neil Warwick; Jon Kutner; Tony Brown (30 November 2004). The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles and Albums. Omnibus Press. ISBN978-1-84449-058-5.
John Farrar—Music Makes my Day, (A Shadsfax-Tribute-40pp-booklet), by T. Hoffman, A. Hardwick, S. Duffy, G. Jermy, A. Lewis, J. Auman. No ISBN
John Rostill—Funny Old World, (Tribute-60pp-booklet), by B. Bradford. No ISBN
^ abcd"The Religious Affiliation of Guitarist Hank Marvin". 24 July 2005. Archived from the original on 18 January 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2008. When his Crescent City Skiffle Group won a South Shields Jazz Club talent contest, he was asked to join Bruce Welch's Railroaders. On moving to London, Marvin and Welch operated briefly as the Geordie Boys before enlisting in an outfit called the Drifters, which evolved into the Shadows. While backing and, later, composing songs (such as The Day I Met Marie) for Cliff Richard, the quartet recorded independently and became generally acknowledged as Britain's top instrumental act.
