George Ford's Birthday

[donna plasky]

Happy new year, everybody. I think the late George Ford was born on January 1, 1950, so I just wanted to remember him on his birthday. I always enjoy this video whenever I watch it.

Best wishes,
Donna

[Derek Mowbray]

George Ford was Emile Ford`s brother, Emile and The Ckeckmates had a hit record with" What Do You Want to Make Thoses Eyes At Me For" in 1960, George was a member of The Checkmates then, so surely he must of been born before 1950. I didn`t know that he had died ,he couldn`t have been very old even so.

[donna plasky]

Hi, Derek. Thanks for mentioning the Checkmates -- I looked them up on YouTube; I hadn't heard of them before. Some of the videos have photos of Emile Ford and I can really see the resemblence between George and Emile. Both are/were very handsome.

I've only been a Shads fan for a few years and so I had a lot of catching up to do in the beginning. When I saw the video of Live At Abbey Road Studios, it was the first time I'd seen George Ford. In fact, I think I picked up his name from the comments people type on YouTube. I googled George's name so that I could find out more about him (and I did learn that he also played in Sir Cliff's band), but eventually I came to the sad realisation that he is said to have died a few years ago.

Donna

[Paulps]

Emile Ford (real name Emile Sweetman) was born 16 October 1937, in Nassau, Bahamas. He formed the Checkmates with his brothers, or possibly step-brothers, George Ford [Sweetman] (bass) Dave Sweetman (saxophone) along with Ken Street and Peter Carter (guitars) John Cuffley (drums) and Alan Hawkshaw (piano)
I can't seem to find a d.o.b. for George.

[Jay Bass]

Hi heres George Ford From Christmas 1975 top of the pops with cockney Rebel
great bassline.


regards
Jay

[Iain Purdon]

Thanks Jay, I had no idea George was on that. A great band of musicians.

[drakula63]

There are some great Checkmates stories and pics in Alan Hawkshaw's autobiography, which is a fantastic read! I believe George moved to Canada and worked on the technical side of the music business after his stint with the Shadows in the 80s. A great bass player who clearly enjoyed what he was doing. The gig from Rotterdam is the Shadows at their very best!

[donna plasky]

A great bass player who clearly enjoyed what he was doing.

Chris, I couldn't agree more. That is exactly what I thought when I first saw George in some YouTube videos...before I knew who he was, by name. You can just see it in his body language, his facial expression, etc. -- he was enjoying himself. I enjoyed watching him play the bass.

There are some musicians/singers that clearly are not enjoying themselves and it really shows. Certainly, I am NOT referring to anyone else associated with The Shadows. It is just a general comment. Many artists look the way I probably look while I am working at my job, like this .

I will have get myself a copy of Alan Hawkshaw's book. It sounds very interesting and I'd like to know more about him (Alan).

Best wishes,
Donna

[drakula63]

Re. Alan Hawkshaw...

I really cannot recommend his book; "The Champ: The Hawk Talks", highly enough. It has been a while since I found myself unable to put a book down, but this was one of them. He has a very chatty and amiable way of writing, quite self-depreciating in many ways, as he takes us through the many highs and lows of his career. All the Shadows get a good mention, especially Brian Bennett, and there are some great andecdotes. There is also one really great picture in there of the Marvin/Bennett/Rostill/Hawkshaw line-up that I've never seen before.

A very illuminating book which can be purchased directly from Alan's website.