The Roulettes

Comprising John Rogan on bass, Russ Ballard on lead guitar, Peter Thorpe on rhythm guitar, and Bob Henrit on drums, the Roulettes included future Argent member Russ Ballard in the lead-guitar slot. The quartet first assembled to support vocalist Adam Faith, whose light rock & roll output had brought him major commercial success across England in the early 1960s. With the 1963 arrival of the Liverpool-centered rock & roll surge, the lineup underwent partial reorganization, after which the material Faith and the band produced together took on a bolder edge; that shift yielded Faith’s final major success, the August 1963 single “The First Time.”

Late in 1963 the Roulettes launched their own recording career on EMI and proved themselves a strong ensemble capable of matching contemporaries such as the Searchers and the Hollies. Although they issued fewer discs than many peers, those sides exhibited the same strengths found in superior Beatles and Searchers tracks—layered harmonies supporting forceful lead vocals, sharp guitar work, and an aptitude for catchy refrains. Ballard and Henrit also contributed to Unit Four Plus Two’s major hit “Concrete and Clay,” yet the Roulettes’ own releases never registered on the charts. By 1965 the group had parted from Adam Faith, but focusing exclusively on their own output failed to improve their commercial results.

The Roulettes persisted until 1967, still without chart entries, and concentrated on live dates across the European continent, where solid British rock acts could reliably find work. Ballard and Henrit eventually moved to Unit Four Plus Two, while Thorpe and Rogan exited the music industry altogether. After Unit Four Plus Two disbanded in 1968, Ballard and Henrit united with Rod Argent and Chris White, formerly of the Zombies, to create Argent; that quartet briefly attained in the early 1970s the chart traction that had consistently bypassed the Roulettes.