My Life My Music My Era: Simon Scott and the Le Roys

Simon Scott and The LeRoys (sometimes spelled Le Roys) were a surprisingly retro signing to Parlophone Records for 1964. Their sound was decidedly 50's, but they had a certain amount of credibility as well, having appeared on the same bill as the Rolling Stones several times in 1963, and were a support act on the kickoff of the Stones' 1964 package tour of England, alongside Mike Berry and the Mojos. Their singles, "Move It Baby" b/w "What Kind of Woman" and "My Baby's Got Soul" b/w "Midnight", never charted, and Scott and the band were history by 1965.

Simon Scott – Move It Baby

Label:

Parlaphone – R 5164

Format:

Vinyl, 7", 33 ⅓ RPM

Country:

Released:

1964

Genre:

Rock

Style:

Beat, Rock & Roll

Tracklist

A Move It Baby

Written-By – Hubert Pattison

B What Kind Of Woman

Written-By – Ray Rivera, Vin Roddick

Yet again, I was e-mailed out of the blue in the shape of Simon Scott, whose name will be familiar to those who are into early Sixties hit recording artistes. I recalled him from one of several pop package tours that visited Southampton and mostly at the Gaumont (now Mayflower Theatre) on Rolling Stones and Chuck Berry shows. Simon was then managed by Robert Stigwood, who later made a fortune by looking after his fellow Antipodeans -the Bee Gees and other interests.

Simon's only hit record managed no 37 in the 1964 UK chart (see below) with a great sounding song 'Move It Baby' and the single has become collectable over the last few years. It can be heard by searching title and artiste on You Tube or just click on the sheet music copy below plus the B-Side can also be played so well worth a listen. Recorded on the Parlophone label, as were the original Beatles hits from 1963 until they launched their own Apple outlet. In fact, Simon was nearly managed by Brian Epstein as part of the well known NEMS set-up but this never quite worked out, so who knows what might have happened? Stigwood spent a lot of money in promoting this good looking lad with a great voice and had loads of 'Simon Scott' busts made and distributed all over the industry as he was hoping that many a record company desk might sport this unusual reminder but it mostly caused some derision in some quarters- especially the music press of the time.

'Move It Baby' still stands the test of time and recorded with the Leroys, with 'Big' Jim Sullivan on lead guitar- he was a very busy session musician in that era and played on a great selection of hits (and misses) The bass guitarist was Chas Hodges (of Chas n Dave fame) and I hope to find out more about the actual session. Chas was also part of the Joe Meek stable of 'house' musicians along with Mike Berry, The Tornados, Heinz, Ritchie Blackmore and many more names

Another session musician in great demand was a certain Jimmy Page, just before he joined the Yardbirds and later formed Led Zeppelin! Simon enjoyed the tours, working with the Beatles, Rolling Stones and many more top names of the Sixties but later moved into TV and film production in Canada, USA and other countries. Groups had now dominated the charts and many a solo artiste would soon disappear from the limelight although many are still touring some 45-50 years on, and to full houses on the revived package tours of late.

I spoke to Simon by calling his home in Florida and we had some really interesting chat about many aspects of the music game and much more. Who knows- perhaps he might be persuaded to hook up with some old pals and get back to the UK as he still keeps in touch with many former pals such as the ever youthful Mike Berry and others. Sadly Simon has very few mementos of his brief glory days but maybe someone, somewhere might read this and dig out some old photos, tour programmes or just memories of this good looking lad as seen below. He has raided his loft and mailed some memorabilia of his glory days when he appeared with many top names plus recalling many offstage parties around Swinging London at that exciting time. Like many solo artistes, he was eclipsed by the new wave of groups at that stage of Beatlemania and other bands who were now writing their own songs as well as getting clued up on the background side of management, publishing and much more. This was also a backlash against unscrupulous impresarios whose fraudulent activities meant that many talented people were ripped off, thus heralding in a new wave of clued-up rock stars

Simon is now based in Florida and is a well established TV/Movie producer with an amazing CV of several top rated productions over many years, but he still retains strong links with his showbiz career that might have taken off with better management and much more. However- he has fantastic memories of mixing with so many big names and has kept in touch with many movers and shakers from one of the best times to be growing up. He now kindly shares some of these very same memories that give a flavour of those optimistic days when the young really did rule the world! Many of us never made the big time, whilst some had a few near misses and I find it fascinating to hear about the kind of stories that rarely get read about- until people like me can have fun with a website like this! Please come back for more news in the near future as I speak to Simon who could probably write his own book.........

Copied From David St John Site Page.