The Move

The Move were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1965. Their original line-up comprised lead guitarist Roy Wood, singer Carl Wayne, rhythm guitarist Trevor Burton, bassist Chris "Ace" Kefford and drummer Bev Bevan. During their time together, the band released four studio albums, two compilation albums, one live extended play and 18 singles. After their first two singles, "Night of Fear" and "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" hit number 2 and number 5 on the UK singles chart, the band released their self-titled debut in 1968, which hit number 15 on the UK Official Albums Chart and garnered two more top 10 singles, "Flowers in the Rain" and "Fire Brigade". After 1968, the band would have three more singles in the top 10, including the number 1 hit "Blackberry Way". The band released three more studio albums – Shazam, Looking On and Message from the Country – before their breakup in 1972. The band's later years saw Wood, Lynne and Bevan develop a side project called Electric Light Orchestra, which would go on to achieve major international success after The Move disbanded. Wood would later leave that group and form Wizzard.

In 1981, the band briefly reunited for a one-off charity concert, consisting of Bevan, Wood and Kefford. Twenty-three years later, in 2004, Bevan would form the "Bev Bevan Band" with former ELO Part II bandmates Phil Bates and Neil Lockwood. Bevan later rebranded this group as "Bev Bevan's Move" and – beginning in 2006 – featured Trevor Burton as an occasional guest in shows, before he became a permanent member of the group. Between 2007 and 2014, Burton and Bevan, alongside Lockwood and new members Phil Tree, Gordon Healer, Tony Kelsey and Abby Brant, performed intermittently as "The Move featuring Bev Bevan and Trevor Burton". The band's most recent reunion would happen in 2016, as "Bev Bevan's Zing Band", with Bevan and former members Tree, Brant and Kelsey, alongside new member Geoff Turton.

History

1965–1968: Formation and early career

Initial singles and debut album

thumb|[[Roy Wood (pictured performing with Wizzard in 1974), who helped form the group in 1965]]

The Move were formed in December 1965 and played their debut show at the Belfry, Wishaw, on 23 January 1966. The original intentions of Trevor Burton, Ace Kefford and Roy Wood were to start a group from among Birmingham's best musicians—along similar lines to the Who. The three played together at jam sessions at Birmingham's Cedar Club and invited Carl Wayne and Bev Bevan to join their new group. After a debut at the Bell Hotel in Stourbridge in January 1966 and further bookings around the Birmingham area, Moody Blues manager Tony Secunda offered to manage them. At the time, The Move mainly played covers of American west coast groups such as the Byrds together with Motown and rock 'n' roll songs. Many of the band's selections for their songs came from the extensive record collection of Danny King, a former bandmate of Burton.

Secunda got them a weekly residency at London's Marquee Club in 1966, where they appeared dressed as gangsters. Eventually, Secunda also managed to persuade Wood to begin writing songs for the band during his time off. which began The Move's practice of musical quotation (in this case, the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky). Their second single, "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", was another major hit, reaching No. 5 in the UK. The tapes were found in a skip (dumpster) shortly afterward, but the damage caused to them meant that new mixes and masters would have to be made, resulting in the delayed album only being released in March 1968 instead of the original plan of autumn 1967. Their third single "Flowers in the Rain" was the first chart single played on BBC Radio 1 when it began broadcasting at 7am on 30 September 1967, introduced by Tony Blackburn. The single, which reached No. 2 in the UK,

For their fourth single the group had planned to release "Cherry Blossom Clinic", a lighthearted song about the fantasies of a patient in a mental institution, backed by the satirical "Vote for Me". However, The Move had been unnerved by their court experiences; they and the record label felt it unwise to pursue such a potentially controversial idea, so the single was shelved. "Vote for Me" remained unreleased until it appeared on retrospective collections from 1997 onwards, while "Cherry Blossom Clinic" became one of the tracks on their first LP, called Move.

1967–1970: Pop success and dissolution

Live performances and line-up changes

During November and December 1967 the group took part in another package tour around the UK, playing two shows a night over sixteen days, as part of an all-star bill that included the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, the Nice, Eire Apparent, the Outer Limits, Amen Corner, along with then-BBC Radio 1 DJ Pete Drummond. In March 1968, The Move returned to the charts with "Fire Brigade", another UK Top 3 hit, Wood stated that from the day the band was founded, Kefford had not got along well with any of the other band members. Burton was ultimately replaced in 1969 by Rick Price, another veteran of several Birmingham rock groups, who joined on a temporary, non-contractual basis. He subsequently worked in a variety of musical ventures and appeared on television and radio. In 2000, he replaced Allan Clarke as lead singer of the Hollies and performed with them as lead singer until his death from cancer in 2004.

1970–1971: Jeff Lynne and Looking On

Upon Wayne's departure, the Move jettisoned Walsh as manager and returned to Arden. Lynne agreed to join the band as a second guitarist and pianist, enthused by Wood's ELO idea. Wood also wanted a second songwriter in the band to relieve the pressure on himself. The band's first recording with Lynne was a single, "Brontosaurus". Feeling nervous as the band were about to go on stage for a television spot for the song, Wood spontaneously combed his hair out to make it look wild and applied black-and-white makeup with a star in the middle of his forehead, thus birthing the "Wizzard" image he would use extensively in his post-Move career and helping define The Move's image for the rest of their run. in 2005 Bevan referred to that album as his least favourite from The Move. The album was followed by two more Wood-penned hit singles, "Tonight" and "Chinatown". (However, the Electric Light Orchestra's remake of "Do Ya", recorded after Wood's departure, was a significant US hit in 1977.) Several other Birmingham bands of the era also reunited for the event, which was a charity fundraiser. The band would not reunite again until 2004, 23 years later.

After Wayne's death in 2004, Bevan formed the Bev Bevan Band—shortly to be renamed 'Bev Bevan's Move' (with no other past members), in order to capitalise on the Move's continuing reputation and belated success. Bevan recruited former ELO Part II colleagues guitarist Phil Bates and keyboard player Neil Lockwood, plus bassist Phil Tree, to play a set on tour composed mostly of classics by the Move. Wood expressed extreme displeasure at that development.

Former Move guitarist Burton joined the band on occasion during 2006 and joined permanently in 2007 (Wayne had tried to broker a reunion between Bevan and Burton before his death and was to be involved with the new band). Bates departed in July 2007 to re-join ELO Part II (now renamed the Orchestra) and was replaced with Gordon Healer. The Autumn 2007 tour was billed as "the Move featuring Trevor Burton and Bev Bevan".

In 2014, the band toured as the Move with a lineup consisting of Bevan, Burton, Tree, keyboardist/vocalist Abby Brant and guitarist/vocalist Tony Kelsey. On 2 May 2014, Bev Bevan announced through a Facebook post that The Move had broken up and that he and Burton would tour separately with groups called "the Bev Bevan Band" and "the Trevor Burton Band". In December 2014 the Bev Bevan Band completed their "Stand Up And Rock" tour, which lasted for almost 50 dates, in conjunction with Bevan's childhood friend Jasper Carrott. Guests on the tour included Trevor Burton, Geoff Turton and Joy Strachan-Brain, alongside Bevan, Kelsey, Tree and Brant.

In 2016 the band announced that they had re-formed and were due to perform at The Core Theatre in Solihull, West Midlands, with a line-up consisting of Bevan, Burton, Tree and Kelsey; however, it was later revealed that the band performing would no longer be billed as 'the Move', but as 'Bev Bevan's Zing Band', and would not feature Burton; with the line-up consisting of Bevan, Tree and Kelsey, along with a returning Abby Brant and Geoff Turton on lead vocals.

Personnel

Members

Final lineup

Bev Bevan – drums, percussion, vocals (1965–1972, 2004–2014)
Trevor Burton – guitar, bass, vocals (1965–1969, 2007–2014) (unofficial member 2004–2007)
Phil Tree – bass, vocals (2004–2014)
Abby Brant – keyboards, vocals (2014)
Tony Kelsey – guitar, vocals (2014)