Biography
Three obscure singles emerged from Carl Wayne & the Vikings during the mid-1960s, granting the group slightly greater visibility than most comparable outfits solely because three of its five members later entered the Move. The lineup had started life as Keith Powell & the Vikings until Wayne supplanted Powell on lead vocals and prompted the name change. Powell himself cut numerous sides for Columbia and Piccadilly across the 1960s in a solid journeyman R&B and soul-pop vein, yet none reached the charts. Operating as an unremarkable British Invasion act, Carl Wayne & the Vikings delivered two Pye singles filled with routine R&B and pop numbers, only one of them—the track “Your Loving Ways”—written by the band itself. An additional single, “My Girl”/“Shimmy Shammy Jangle,” surfaced solely in the United States on ABC because of one of those inexplicable marketing choices common in the era, leaving the group even less known across the Atlantic than at home. Wayne, bassist Ace Kefford, and drummer Bev Bevan all joined the Move in 1966, with Wayne assuming a substantial share of the lead vocals throughout his four-year tenure. Kefford exited the Move in spring 1968, while Bevan went on to play drums in Electric Light Orchestra. All six songs cut by Carl Wayne & the Vikings are gathered on the Sequel compilation Brum Beat: Midlands Beat Groups of the 60's.