THE CLYDE VALLEY STOMPERS became, in the 1950s, Scotland’s premier jazz band and first ever super group, creators of a phenomenon dubbed ‘Stompermania’ decades before most of the country’s current rock idols were even born. Yet, in1963, at the height of its commercial success, the band disappeared mysteriously from the scene.
Here, for the first time, is the story as told by clarinettist Peter ‘Pete’ Kerr, now
the award-winning author of the Snowball Oranges series of bestselling Mallorcan travel books. In 1961, at just twenty years of age, Pete inherited leadership of the ‘Clydes’ after they’d moved their base from Glasgow to
London. The band stormed the charts the following year with its recording of Prokofiev’s 'Peter and the Wolf', produced by George Martin, soon to sign the
Beatles. At a stroke, the Clyde Valley Stompers were launched into the glitzy world of mainstream popular music, appearing on all the top TV shows of the time, as well as featuring in movies starring Tommy Steele and Norman Wisdom. Then, to the dismay and bewilderment of the Stompers’ legions of fans, the curtain came down – literally.
But this is more than just a chronicle of the highlights and hardships, bonhomie, backstabbing, generosity and greed that marked the rise and fall of one of the most iconic British bands of its era. It’s also an affectionate recollection of family life during the austerity-gripped years following the Second World War, and of how a young lad went all out to realise his dream of one day playing jazz for a living. This is a story that will entertain, surprise and amuse in equal measure – and will occasionally shock too!
Here, for the first time, is the story as told by clarinettist Peter ‘Pete’ Kerr, now
the award-winning author of the Snowball Oranges series of bestselling Mallorcan travel books. In 1961, at just twenty years of age, Pete inherited leadership of the ‘Clydes’ after they’d moved their base from Glasgow to
London. The band stormed the charts the following year with its recording of Prokofiev’s 'Peter and the Wolf', produced by George Martin, soon to sign the
Beatles. At a stroke, the Clyde Valley Stompers were launched into the glitzy world of mainstream popular music, appearing on all the top TV shows of the time, as well as featuring in movies starring Tommy Steele and Norman Wisdom. Then, to the dismay and bewilderment of the Stompers’ legions of fans, the curtain came down – literally.
But this is more than just a chronicle of the highlights and hardships, bonhomie, backstabbing, generosity and greed that marked the rise and fall of one of the most iconic British bands of its era. It’s also an affectionate recollection of family life during the austerity-gripped years following the Second World War, and of how a young lad went all out to realise his dream of one day playing jazz for a living. This is a story that will entertain, surprise and amuse in equal measure – and will occasionally shock too!
