Grapefruit

Among the stronger British pop-rock outfits inspired by the Beatles in the late 1960s stood Grapefruit. The year 1968 positioned the group toward potential fame through a pair of modestly charting UK singles and, above all, direct assistance from the Beatles. Fronted by George Alexander, sibling of the Easybeats’ George Young, the band began as buoyant harmony pop-rockers whose style recalled the Easybeats, the Bee Gees, and certain Paul McCartney compositions from the Beatles’ own psychedelic phase. Though less relentlessly upbeat than the Easybeats, less theatrical than the Bee Gees, and far less experimental than the Beatles, they proved adept at fusing melodic pop with refined arrangements that incorporated baroque and psychedelic flourishes of strings, full orchestration, and assorted keyboards. A lackluster follow-up album nevertheless hastened their disappearance, just as the Beatles themselves grew too absorbed in their own impending breakup to offer further support.

George Alexander, born Alexander Young and the principal songwriter for Grapefruit, was the elder brother of George Young and remained in the U.K. after his family relocated to Australia. Terry Doran, long associated with Brian Epstein and the Beatles’ circle, signed him to Apple Music Publishing in 1967 and also managed the band. The lineup was filled out by former members of the light harmony pop-rock act Tony Rivers and the Castaways, itself handled by Brian Epstein’s NEMS Enterprises. Guitarist and lead vocalist John Perry later recalled that Grapefruit were conceived to deliver music in the vein of the Beatles’ earlier pop persona, occupying the space vacated when the Beatles moved into psychedelia and more complex material. The Beatles lent tangible backing as well: John Lennon chose the group’s name, drawn from Yoko Ono’s book of the same title, and attended press events that introduced Grapefruit to journalists. Beatles members contributed suggestions during arrangement and recording sessions, and Paul McCartney even supervised a promotional clip for the single “Elevator.” Despite these ties, Grapefruit never appeared on Apple Records, a logical-seeming destination; the practical explanation lay in the fact that, although the band’s first discs emerged in early 1968, Apple Records itself did not launch until several months afterward.

Their debut single, “Dear Delilah,” with its graceful melody, buoyant harmonies, and inventive deployment of orchestration and electronic phasing, fell just short of the British Top 20. A version of the Four Seasons’ “C’mon Marianne” likewise stopped just outside the Top Thirty. Although additional singles appeared throughout 1968 and into early 1969, none registered on the charts. The first album, Around Grapefruit, drew mainly from material already issued on those initial five singles.

Their 1969 follow-up, Deep Water, presented a stark contrast: an unremarkable collection that might have come from a wholly different ensemble, its conventional late-1960s rock bearing little resemblance to the debut. Grapefruit adopted a heavier approach laced with blues and occasional country elements, largely forsaking the harmonies, pop tunefulness, and inventive multi-layered arrangements that had defined their earlier work. Their connection with Apple Publishing concluded in November 1968, though John Lennon proposed in early 1969 that the group record the then-unreleased Lennon-McCartney composition “Two of Us,” an idea they did not pursue. After several lineup shifts the band dissolved around the close of the 1960s, yet Alexander briefly revived Grapefruit for the 1971 single “Universal Party”/“Sha Sha,” which also featured ex-Easybeats George Young and Harry Vanda.

Alexander later collaborated with Vanda and Young on further production and songwriting ventures, while John Perry resurfaced unexpectedly as a member of the new-wave group the Only Ones in the late 1970s. Repertoire has since reissued both Grapefruit albums on CD, adding various non-album tracks. Three performances from a BBC session, among them two songs never released on disc—“Breakin’ Up a Dream” and “Trying to Make It to Monday”—appear on the various-artists bootleg compilation Hard Up Heroes II, devoted to unreleased late-1960s BBC recordings.