Blues By Five photos supplied by David Ozholl
please note the advert is wrong and the band were Blues By Five not Strangers Five
Blues By Five biog… By 1963, Ron and Len were then joined by Dick Bryce on drums, Mick Wright on Bass, Bill Blisset on Keyboards and Noel Chartres McManus on Sax (2). This was the Birth of Blues by Five. From spring to summer ’64, they Toured Britain backing American singer Big Dee Irwin (“Swinging on a Star”), starred with The Hollies – Little & Large – Shane Fenton and Screaming Lord Sutch. David Ozholl (aka Dave Jones) joined the band in summer 1964 on lead and rhythm guitar after Ron dropped out through illness during their tour with Big Dee Irwin. Early gigs with the new line up included a season at the famous Blackpool north pier, working with Johnny and the Pirates, The Tornados, Heinz, Marty Wilde… In November 1964, they took part of the Brenda Lee/Manfred Mann UK tour. They had one single release on Decca in December 1964: the ‘A’ side was a powerful rendition of John Lee Hooker’s R&B classic “Boom Boom”, the B side was an original “I Cried” written by Rolling Stones Manager Andrew Loog Oldham and arranger Mike Leander. This is now a sought-after 45. David Ozholl played lead guitar on the band’s recording of “Boom Boom” [see the press cutting above] (3)
During 1965, they kept touring UK, supporting PJ Proby in April. By June 1965 they underwent a working tour of Cyprus, Malta and North Africa entertaining the troops, playing in their own right and backing several others including Michael Cox,Twinkle and Little and Large. The Band broke up after supporting The Spencer Davis Group in September 1965.