Singer
and double bass player Bob Cotton has led The Jets for more than 40 years. With his younger brothers Ray on guitar and Tony on drums, the trio waxed their first single, Rockabilly Baby, for Soho Records in 1978. The label’s only previous release was King Of The Bop by Shane MacGowan’s band The Nipple Erectors, punk and rockabilly being close cousins at the time. However, by 1981 the Jets were signed to EMI and on Top Of The Pops with their rocked-up cover of Johnnie Ray’s Yes Tonight Josephine and, soon afterwards, Love Makes The World Go Round – two of their eight singles to hit the charts. Since then they’ve made more than 60 TV appearances in the UK alone, and remain one of the top draws on the rockin’ scene.
How did you and your brothers first get into rockabilly?