Chris Farlowe

Chris Farlowe seemed marked from the outset for a notable path as a vocalist, and the musicians alongside whom he performed along with the collaborators he attracted during the mid-'60s confirmed that promise in tangible ways. John Henry Deighton, born in Islington, North London, in 1940, came of age amid the skiffle surge sweeping Britain and drew direct impetus from Lonnie Donegan to pursue a musical route. His initial ensemble, the John Henry Skiffle Group, featured him on guitar as well as vocals, yet he soon abandoned the instrument to focus solely on singing once he pivoted toward rock & roll. Adopting the stage name Chris Farlowe—sourced from jazz guitarist Tal Farlow—he took the helm of the Thunderbirds, billed as Chris Farlowe & the Thunderbirds. The outfit established its standing through engagements across England and Germany while gradually moving from rock & roll into R&B in the early years of the decade. Their first single, “Air Travel,” issued in 1962, made no chart impression, but the next year Chris Farlowe & the Thunderbirds, whose lineup already included guitarist Albert Lee, secured a contract with EMI’s Columbia label and delivered five singles through 1966 that earned strong notices yet little commercial traction.

Once his EMI deal concluded in 1966, Andrew Oldham—already familiar with British interpreters of R&B through his earlier signing of the Rolling Stones—placed Farlowe on the roster of the newly formed Immediate Records. Whereas the label typically groomed lesser-known acts for later breakthroughs, Farlowe achieved prominence directly through Immediate. His profile rose quickly with a Top 40 entry on the Jagger/Richards composition “Think,” later included by the Rolling Stones on Aftermath. That same summer he scored his career-defining success with a brooding, dramatically orchestrated reading of the Stones’ “Out of Time,” arranged by Arthur Greenslade, which climbed to number one on the British charts. By then Farlowe possessed sufficient standing as a soul performer to join the September 16, 1966, Ready, Steady, Go special that hosted visiting American soul figure Otis Redding; having already recorded Redding’s “Mr. Pitiful” for an Immediate EP, Farlowe shared the stage with Redding and Eric Burdon and performed on two selections.

That season marked the summit of his chart fortunes. Later Immediate singles, among them his treatment of the Stones’ “Ride on Baby,” failed to replicate the earlier impact, and his final Immediate hit arrived with “Handbags and Gladrags,” penned for him by Manfred Mann’s Mike d’Abo. Chronic financial pressures at the label prompted repeated repackagings of his material on LP, yet after 1967 his recording activity largely stalled until Immediate folded in 1970. Subsequent years found Farlowe in uneasy alignments with several ensembles, among them the original Colosseum across three albums and Atomic Rooster following Carl Palmer’s departure. A car accident sidelined him for two years; in the mid-'70s he attempted to revive the Thunderbirds, while periodic reissues kept “Out of Time” in circulation, though fresh commercial headway remained elusive. Rescue arrived via fellow Immediate alumnus Jimmy Page, who featured Farlowe on the Outrider album during the ’80s, an association that led to a BBC appearance restoring him to wider public attention after two decades. Farlowe capitalized with fresh recordings and performances alongside various reconstituted groups from the ’60s and ’70s; although no further hit singles materialized, his stature as a live performer sustained ongoing work. The eventual video and laser-disc release of his Ready, Steady, Go segment with Otis Redding further enhanced his profile, allowing many American listeners their first glimpse of the depth of esteem he had once commanded in Britain. Later releases such as The Voice garnered favorable notices, and Immediate’s catalog finally received proper archival attention in the twenty-first century. Alongside Manfred Mann’s Mike d’Abo and Paul Jones, Farlowe endures as one of the enduring vocal presences from 1960s England whose influence has not waned.