Clipping 16
AS YEARS GO BY
Crispian St Peters
Inspired by Country gentlemen Hanks Snow and Williams - and girls with long dark hair - Crispian St Peters' salad days came in 1966 after covering Californian pop quintet the We Five's American No 3 of the previous summer, You Were On My Mind (UK No2), eighteen months down the road belatedly selling it to our cousins again (No36), The Pied Piper (UK No5; US No4) and Changes (No47; No57) wrapped up his intrusions on published 'hot' vinyl tabulations.
Born Robin Peter Smith in Swanley, Kent in 1944, his youth club leader introduced the amateur boxer to guitar playing which led to the formation of his own group, called, unusually Beat Formula Three. Noticing an advertisement requesting would-be singers contact a newly formed record company for auditions paid immediate dividends: It introduced the aspirant to David Nicolson, who became Crispian's manager/producer and sold Decca on their collaborations.
Ten singles, an EP and album found their way into shops between February 1965's At This Moment and December 1968's Carolina, much of this output being self-penned.
1969