1 Market Square, Newent: the Gloucestershire birthplace of the future hitmaker
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On Tornados’ the it that 22 would top December year’s of stay the single Christmas for US 1962, three Telstar charts, The number weeks: rose where to one. It was only the fourth British record to achieve such heights and, like Vera Lynn’s Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart, Laurie London’s He’s Got The Whole World in His Hands and Acker Bilk’s Stranger On The Shore, it would prove a one-off. Like their compatriots, The Tornados would never break the Top 40 again.
For a short while, Joe Meek was on top of the world. At the age of 33, he was the top independent producer in the UK and had cracked the holy grail of transatlantic success.