Liverpool Express

Emerging from the remnants of Rockin' Horse, the short-lived early-'70s oldies-oriented band formed by '60s Liverpool music veterans Jimmy Campbell and Billy Kinsley, Liverpool Express took shape as a successful pop/rock quartet. Billy Kinsley reassembled Rockin' Horse in 1975, enlisting Tony Coates on guitar and vocals, Roger Scott Craig on keyboards, and Derek Cashin on drums, while handling bass himself. Under contract to British Warner Bros., the group stumbled with the abortive debut single "Smile" before achieving success via their second release, "You Are My Love," which peaked at number 11. They held steady in the mid-tier of the U.K. charts for more than five years, punctuated by occasional ascents into the Top Ten, until later lineup changes brought Pete Kircher in for Cashin and Kenny Parry in for Coates. The band's story concluded in the early '90s when Kinsley returned to his '60s outfit the Merseybeats.