One of the most formidable talents not to ascend to the top rank of British rock & roll during the mid-'60s; except for a pair of hits some two years apart, he missed a lot of the success that most onlookers would have pegged him for, though he fostered a lot of good careers in the people who passed through his band.
was born near London during 1940, and by his teens seemed destined for life as a skilled foundry worker, except that he loved music more than he loved work in the foundry. He'd reached his mid-teens just as rock & roll was getting exported from America and aspired to sing, and also learned the guitar just well enough to accompany himself.
soon found that if he went with his instincts and threw himself into his performances with the kind of abandon that he felt, he could pull off a convincing American-style performance and even just pass -- vocally only, and only in the absence of the real article -- for black. He was popular enough locally to get invited to perform at neighborhood entertainments and dances, and in 1959 he put together the first version of
, his backing band. They were good enough to attract the attention of engineer and aspiring producer
, with whom they recorded a single that sank without a trace.
Luck began to turn their way -- though not in an obvious fashion -- when the band was booked into the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany.
Bennett crossed paths with
the Beatles, who were then coming out of their formative stages and starting to get some ambitious beyond the next club booking;
John Lennon and
Paul McCartney were suitably impressed with
Bennett and his band and became friends with the singer. Life and work went on throughout the early '60s, and
Bennett and his band seemed to always turn up on lists of acts to watch, yet they were left high and dry as
the Beatles,
Gerry & the Pacemakers,
Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, and
the Searchers all roared up the charts in 1963; the latter group even learning their biggest U.K. hit, "Needles and Pins," from
Bennett. He dutifully recorded singles, for Parlophone, including versions of "You Really Got a Hold on Me" and "Got My Mojo Working," and failed to make any impact. They were signed by
Brian Epstein to a management contract in September of 1964, on the strength of
the Beatles' urgings, and soon after, on their seventh 45 release, "One Way Love" b/w "Slow Down," they finally charted in England with a number-nine single; their next record, "I'll Take You Home" b/w "Do You Love Him," however, only got to number 42 and nothing for the next year sold at all, despite the fact that
Bennett was now considered to be one of the few white Englishmen who had any useful inborn feel for American R&B or soul music. By that time,
the Rebel Rousers had begun picking up some of the better players from acts that were further from success than they were, including saxman
Howie Casey from King Size Taylor & the Dominoes; and the group's ranks included several players who became successful later on: keyboard legend
Nicky Hopkins, pianist/singer
Roy Young,
Searchers bassist
Frank Allen, and bassist Chas Hodges and drummer
Mick Burt, who became
Chas & Dave in 1974 and worked together ever since.
Finally, in early 1966, they were booked as an opening act on
the Beatles' last European tour. During those shows,
Lennon and
McCartney gave
Bennett the first hearing of "Got to Get You Into My Life," a song that was going to be on their
Revolver album later that year, but not on a single.
Bennett and company saw their opportunity and took it, with
Paul McCartney running the session. The result was a number-six single that was a double triumph for
Bennett, his own original song "Baby Each Day" gracing the B-side. The single was followed by the most well-realized album in the group's history. It was in 1968 that
Bennett parted company with
the Rebel Rousers -- who went off to play with
Roy Young -- and cut one solo album,
Branches Out, for Parlophone with what was known as
the Cliff Bennett Band. By 1970, he was working with
Ken Hensley,
Lee Kerslake, and
John Glascock in
Toe Fat, a quartet that was signed to Parlophone (and, later, Regal Zonophone) in England and the Motown-spawned Rare Earth label (also the home of
the Pretty Things) in America.
Toe Fat lasted until 1971, after which
Hensley and
Kerslake joined
Uriah Heep while
Glascock became a member of
Jethro Tull.
Bennett subsequently fronted a group called Rebellion, releasing an album of that title on British CBS, and also joining guitar legend
Mick Green in Shanghai, a '70s band that lasted for two LPs during the mid-'70s. He left music during the second half of the decade; in an odd bit of irony, EMI Records, seeking to enhance and invigorate the sales of
Beatles records, issued the group's version of "Got to Get You Into My Life" in a remixed version, during this period, to considerable success. By the mid-'80s,
Bennett was leading a new version of
the Rebel Rousers, a period in which the old group's 1964 hit "One Way Love" was revived by
Dexy's Midnight Runners.
–
Bruce Eder, Rovi