(Ritchie Adams - Irwin Levine)
New
Zealand
#2 NZ
Single on His Master’s Voice by Wellington NZ band
The Avengers had five Top 10 singles in New Zealand 1967-68, of which Love – Hate – Revenge was the highest charting (July 1968 #2 NZ). It was followed by Days Of Pearly Spencer (November 1968, #4 NZ) a cover of the legendary but commercially unsuccessful David McWilliams release (UK, 1967).
Their first single Everyone’s Gonna Wonder (September 1967 #7 NZ) had been an original, written by New Zealand-American songwriter Chris Malcolm, one of the most affecting psychedelic pop singles of the 60s (Grant Gillanders at AudioCulture). ♫ Listen at YouTube.
Chris Malcolm also wrote the second Avengers single Only Once In My Life (February 1968 #10 NZ) and its B-side Water Pipe. Their third single was a version of 1941 (April 1968 #6 NZ), a song from Nilsson’s 1967 album Pandemonium Shadow Show.
The band was formed through auditions conducted by manager and club owner Ken Cooper with Avengers rhythm guitarist Dave Brown. The rest of the line-up was lead guitarist-organist Clive Cockburn, bassist Eddie McDonald and drummer Hank Davis.
Not to be confused with Auckland band Ray Woolf And The Avengers, nor with numerous other bands worldwide called The Avengers. See, for example, Brisbane’s Avengers.
Further reading:
1. Avengers
history by Bruce Sergent.
2. AudioCulture has a detailed illustrated Avengers feature over three pages. A profile page has links to Parts 1 amd 2 of the band’s story.
(Ritchie Adams - Irwin Levine)
UK
Single on Pye February 1967.
Late 1960s British band Episode Six emerged from bands formed by students at Harrow County Grammar School. They were joined by Ian Gillan who would later be in Deep Purple with Episode Six foundation member Roger Glover.
Further reading: Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights (1996 edition), pp. 163-3.
(Ritchie Adams - Irwin Levine)
USA
Original version
Single on Diamond January 1967 by Manhattan doo-wop group formed 1958, best known for backing the post-Belmonts solo Dion on a run of notable records beginning with Runaround Sue and including The Wanderer and Ruby Baby.
Source: Jay Warner, American Singing Groups (2006 edition), pp. 355-8
The writers
• Dawn’s Knock Three Times (1971, #1 USA) is another Adams–Levine composition.
• Ritchie Adams (Richard Ziegler, 1945-2017) sang lead on The Fireflies‘ You Were Mine (1959 #21 USA) and released solo singles but is better known as a songwriter, for example on Bobby Lewis’s Tossin’ and Turnin’ (with Malou René, 1961 #1 USA) and on songs with Mark Barkan for TV’s Archies and for Toomorrow, a film with Olivia Newton-John in a band of that name.
• Irwin Levine (1939-1997) wrote or co-wrote a number of hit songs including Gary Lewis and the Playboys’ This Diamond Ring (written with Al Kooper and Bob Brass, 1965 #1 USA), Dawn’s Candida (1970 #3 USA), and Dawn’s Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree (with L. Russell Brown, 1973 #1 USA)
(Ritchie Adams - Irwin Levine)
New
Zealand
Later version
On the album Second Nature, a collection of favourite songs previously recorded by New Zealanders.
See also Nature, another song on Second Nature, earlier recorded by New Zealand band The Fourmyula.
Margaret Urlich (1965-2021) was a New Zealand-born singer based in Sydney from the late 80s. Her popular debut album Safety In Numbers (1989), recorded in Sydney, opened with Escaping also her debut solo single (#1 NZ, #14 Sydney, #4 Melbourne, #13 Brisbane, #7 Adelaide, #14 Perth.
Back in Auckland Margaret Urlich had been in Peking Man (Room That Echoes 1985 #1 NZ) along with her brother Pat Urlich who was co-lead singer with her. New Zealand musician Peter Urlich (Th’Dudes) is a cousin.
Further reading: Profile at AudioCulture.
Pop Archives
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Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2024. Chart positions courtesy of Gavin Ryan’s Australian Chart Books and Dean Scapolo’s Complete NZ Music Charts. Special thanks to Terry Stacey for information, corrections and suggestions. Thanks also to Tony Watson, Philippe Edouard, Dave Overett.., More…