By Ron Tennant
A look back at the career of Wayne Fontana…
Wayne Fontana in 1966
That unusual English male pop singer who started to become famous in the 1960s was called Wayne Fontana: but he was born on October 28, 1945, christened Glyn Geoffrey Ellis, in the Manchester area, Levenshulme, Lancashire.
His mum and dad were Mildred and Richard Ellis. After his school days, when Glyn was 15, he started to work in his local record shop and in 1961, aged 16, he began training as a telephone engineer apprentice before beginning his true career in musical employment.
He had started his music career, while still at school, with a skiffle group called The Velfins and at that time, Glyn often jumped onto the school stage to sing, which he really enjoyed, and he never did care if his school-mates wanted to hear him or not.
In about 1962, Glyn formed a pop-rock ‘n’ roll group called The Jets, a sort of semi-professional outfit, who played in pubs and clubs in the Greater Manchester area. In May 1963, the group got their first real break after being seen per- forming at The Oasis Club in Manchester by a guy called Jack Baverstock, who was a producer at the Fontana Records company.
So right at that time, Glyn changed his first name to Wayne and then changed his second name to Fontana. In mid-1963, he was known in show-biz as Wayne Fontana. Some tales say he used the word Fontana after seeing that name on the Fontana Records label, but other people said he became called Fontana because he copied the name used by the drummer of Elvis Presley called D J Fontana. Anyway, Wayne’s group, after being seen and heard at the Oasis Club were asked to undertake an audition the very next evening back at that same Oasis Club for the Philips/Fontana Records Company.
But that night, only Wayne and his bass player Bob Lang actually turned up to perform, so in desperation, Wayne chose two local musician friends from out of the audience who had originally turned up to give moral support to Wayne and Co.
So Wayne and Bob, with the two extra added guys, Eric Stewart (on guitar) and Rik Rothwell (on drums), managed to weave together as a group very well, with enough material to pass that audition, impress the record company and land the lucrative contract given to them by Mr. Baverstock. Straight away Wayne christened his new group as ‘The Mindbenders’, after recently watching a horror movie at his local cinema “The Mindbenders” starring Dirk Bogarde.
In June 1963, the group called Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, debuted with their new single,a cover version of Bo Diddley’s Road Runner, which gained them a small piece of success but not much. A year later, two more singles on the Fontana label were released: Hello Josephine, which reached No.46 in the UK and Stop Look & Listen, which reached No.37.
But Wayne and his group finally went high into the top five of the UK hit-parade with a cover version of Major Lance’s American hit Um Um Um Um Um Um. This was in October 1964, also on Fontana Records, and it was Wayne and his group’s first major British chart success winning them a great silver disc award. In February 1965, Wayne and Co really hit. Their new single Game Of Love went to the top of the charts in Great Britain in the month of February and later, in April 1965, it topped the charts in America, Canada, and Australia. Also in early 1965, their LP made the Top 20 Album Hit Parade in the UK.
Soon after, Wayne and The Mindbenders had two more GB hits in 1965 ….. in June with Just A Little Bit Too Late which reached No.20, followed in September with She Needs Love, which got to No.32. That September 1965 single was the final they made together. Wayne was becoming quite frustrated because their last couple of singles were not such big hits as he has wanted. Wayne was starting to sing onstage more slow songs with his group backing him, but The Mindbenders really preferred doing rocking songs!
So Wayne and his group split up by mutual consent, to pursue separate show-business careers, a move prompted actively, with the thumbs-up by Fontana Records. Their manager at that time, Rick Dixon, told newspapers and TV that Wayne and his backing group were ceasing to exist and that they would soon go separate ways to record and perform their own favourite material.
Right at that time, Wayne laughingly said he was soon going to become the new Frank Sinatra and he would be backed regularly by a big 60-piece orchestra. Both parties, after splitting, continued to record for the same label Fontana. Wayne, in December 1965, was concentrating on his real and new solo singing career, and The Mindbenders (Eric, Rick and Bob) were now an instrumental and singing group.
In December 1965, Wayne’s first solo hit: It Was Easier To Hurt Her made No.36 in the UK. He also, in 1966, had three more hits: Come On Home, Goodbye Bluebird, and then his biggest solo hit of all Pamela Pamela, which reached No.10. That was his final hit in Great Britain. His former group The Mindbenders also had four of their own hits, in January 1966 with their biggest being A Groovy Kind Of Love, at No.2 in Britain and also No.2 in the US.
In 1967, Wayne released three more great new singles: 24 Sycamore, Impossible Years, and Gina, but none reached the charts anywhere. Later in the late 1960s, he moved for a short while to live in Spain and it was also said he moved to America afterward in the early 1970s for a short time. Wayne really loved Spain and it was a country where he was very popular, so he stayed in San Miguel, from about 2011 until 2014.
From about 1968 until 1970, Wayne released six more singles but all were unsuccessful, so his recording career ended and he started working for the Chappell Music Publishers as a residential songwriter. Just before he got that job, he actually was one of the very first performers ever to sing at the Glastonbury Festival. But after his disappointment at seeing his latest six singles get- ting nowhere, in 1970, he decided to have a sort of break with a change of career.
Afterward, in 1973, he decided to re-launch his singing career, so he recorded a song written by Gouldman to be the A-side of his new single called Together, backed by the B-side One Man Woman, both songs on the Warner Bros label. But sadly the single also failed to chart for Wayne. The B side was co-produced by him with Eric Stewart, the former bandmate from the time The Mindbenders backed him in the 1960s.
In 1973 “The English Invasion Revival” tour of the USA booked Wayne to be on the series of shows and so bought him back to the live arena. In 1976, he released yet another single, which was said to be his final The Last Bus Home on the Polydor label. But not being a hit almost made Wayne once more leave the music business.
At that time he said he was going into a sort of semi-retirement. Also in that period, he began to drink a little too much alcohol and half of the time, he often said he did not know where he was. But soon after he gave up boozing in 1977, he started to tour regularly with “The Solid Silver 60s Show”. He also joined, in early 1979, a new rock ‘n’ roll revival tour and so he then put together a new Mindbenders backing group. They could regularly perform Wayne’s old 1960s hits at shows.
In the Summer of 1979, he undertook an extensive “Sounds Of The Sixties” tour of Great Britain alongside Gerry and the Pacemakers and The Swinging Blue Jeans.
In the 1980s, Wayne continued to do many “live” performances, singing his 1960s chart hits, and he saw his fame return when his 1965 No.1 hit Game Of Love was featured in the popular 1988 movie called “Good Morning Vietnam” starring Robin Williams. That lovely song, written by American Clint Ballard Jnr, had another great burst of attention, 28 years after Wayne’s hit. In that film Wayne’s great 1965 singing performance was played from start to finish by a disc-jockey, portrayed by film star Robin Williams.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, Wayne had lots of regular show-biz performances, including many “Sounds of the 60s” and “Solid Silver 60s” shows, plus many other oldies tours in different parts of Europe. Also reported at one period was that he sadly deteriorated when Heather, his latest girlfriend, died suddenly at the age of only 26.
Years later, in 2005, Wayne fought off bankruptcy but was arrested after the police were called in by bailiffs who had gone to Wayne’s home in Glos- sop, Derbyshire. When Wayne saw the bailiffs arrive, he was angry, so he poured petrol onto the bonnet of their car and set it alight with two bailiffs still dangerously seated in their car. Wayne was remained in custody on May 25, 2007, by the police. He appeared at Derby Crown Court weirdly dressed as the Lady of Justice, complete with a sword, scales, a crown and cape and wearing dark glasses and he often shouted in court the words: “Justice is Blind!”.
For some reason, in court, he dismissed his own lawyer and on November 10, 2007, he was sentenced to 11 months in prison because of his previous setting fire to the car. But he was released right then straight away from court because he had already served that term, having been held under the Mental Health Act.
From then on freeman Wayne continued to perform regularly and he delivered his old hits at many shows to many capacity crowds at different “1960” festivals, both at home and abroad. Also on lengthy tours, he became a big part of the Sixties revival circuit. By the way, Wayne’s first marriage happened in Manchester in August 1966, to Suzanne Davis, but ended quite a few years later in divorce; but in the meantime, they did have some children together. I have never seen anywhere the actual year it was when Wayne and Suzanne split up.
The many pop shows in Great Britain that Wayne did with P J Proby, The Merseybeats, Gerry and The Pacemakers, Chris Montez, and many, many other oldies 60s stars, have been successful in the past 30 and more years. Throughout, Wayne’s amusing onstage act prompted many laughs for his comedy talks. He got as many great responses for his joking as he got for his well-liked music.
Had he not have been a pop star, he could have been a popular stage comedian. In 2019, he said: “Every day is like a bonus!” Wayne and his final lady partner Rita lived together for quite a few years, and they both loved having pets, two donkeys, some dogs and cats, parrots, budgies, etc. At that time, Wayne laughingly said s: ”It’s almost like me and Rita own a zoo, ha-ha!”
Now comes the sad news of all about Wayne: after being ill now and again in 2020 he passed away on August 6. He was only 74. The cause of him “leaving the building” was cancer and this was announced at that time by his social media administrator Pam Dixon.
When he died, his latest long-term lady partner was by his bedside and I believe the name of that lady is Rita, and as the final partner of Wayne, she was with him from about 2011 until early August 2020.
Also by Wayne’s side as he passed away were his daughter and his two sons, his three grown-up children. His other upset surviving family members were eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Wayne (aka Glen) passed away at the Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
His funeral was at Manchester Crematorium on Monday afternoon, August 24, 2020 and the service was conducted by celebrant Susan Blackshaw. Many of Wayne’s friends were also stars and they were really shocked by the “Scorpio Man” leaving the planet Earth. D J Tony Blackburn wrote on August 7, 2020, the day after Wayne’s death: “I’m so sorry to hear about the passing yesterday of that great 60s icon Wayne Fontana. He was a lovely guy who gave us all some wonderful songs!”.
At about the same time, Peter Noone, lead singer of fellow 1960s Manchester pop group Herman’s Hermits, said: “Please, Wayne, do not go away after our 59 years of friendship, laughter, and tears, etc. We have now handed over the lovely lead singer Wayne Fontana to the big band up in Rock and Roll Heaven!”
Peter also later said: “Professionally, he could be called a genius: Wayne was easily one of the greatest singers in the North-West of England.”
Another one of Wayne’s best show-biz pals was singer PJ Proby. Wayne and PJ, go all the way back to when they first met in 1964 in England. Since then, they had always been close pals and did many pop shows together. In 1964 and 1965, Wayne often visited P J’s houses, and once in Manchester, in the 1970s, they even shared a house and lived together for a while.
The day after Wayne (Glyn Ellis) passed away, P J said: “I could not have asked for a better friend, through thick and thin. I’ll see you Wayne when it’s my call. Goodbye for now from your very old friend P J Proby”.
On August 24, the day of the funeral at 3pm in Manchester, P J sent a beautiful big flower wreath with a tribute note saying: “Glen Ellis = Wayne Fontana. Thanks for the memories. Thank you for the friendship in Heaven as on Earth. My love…. from Jim Proby/P JProby.” Many thousands of Wayne’s fans were, of course, also very upset at his passing. A lady I know named Sue Cooksey, who lives in Cheshunt, Herts, is a big Wayne Fontana and P J Proby fan said last year: “Wayne was such a character, so funny when you watched him on stage, and his singing voice was always so good. I saw him many times on the 60s circuit tours and he was such a popular and talented guy. After the shows or during the intervals, you could always have a lovely chat with Wayne: but now, once again, another great 60s icon legend has left us and he will be so, so greatly missed!”
I have seen Wayne performing onstage quite a few times in England in the past 25 years. I regard him as a very special singer, so I am a big Wayne Fontana fan!
After some of the shows, I could also meet Wayne in his dressing–room for a great chat plus a few photos and an autograph. He was always so friendly, so nice and so jokey. The final time I saw him perform was in the Autumn, in Chatham, North Kent, at the “Sixties Gold” show described as The Ultimate Five Stars LineUp. On that great show were The Searchers, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, Gary Puckett and The Union Gap, P J Proby and Wayne Fontana.
On YouTube are many great singing clips of Wayne and P J. My favourite Wayne clip is a four-minute piece of him singing on stage at The Grand Theatre Blackpool in 2009. It’s been watched now about 5,000 times on and this is why it’s so popular ….. it’s Wayne singing Hold Me, his great pal P J Proby’s first big hit in Britain in 1964. Wayne also sings it specially, 45 years after P J did it.
Quite a long time, ago Glyn Geoffrey Ellis, (aka pop-star Wayne Fontana) was also described as: “A Super-ScorpioGuy”, a real, great singing star with an amazing character, and he’ll always stay popular, very well-loved and remembered.