Biography
The Tornados must be one of the most confusing band names in sixties music... There were countless bands called The Tornados in the United Kingdom and Europe - and several bands called The Tornadoes in the United States. Some of the British Tornados released their records in the U.S. as The Tornadoes.
This is the story of the English Tornados known as The Tornados '66.
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'Telstar' had seen The Tornados become the first British group to top the American singles chart, but that line-up of The Tornados fizzled out after producer Joe Meek launched bassist Heinz Burt as a solo performer. Meek, however, was determined to get additional mileage out of the group's name and further Tornados releases followed. By 1966 the moniker had been donned by a band formerly knows as The Saxons. With the addition of keyboard player David Watts they made a couple of singles with Meek before cutting the dramatic, raga-inflected 'No More You And Me' in mid-December 1966. EMI, however, were reluctant to issue a vocal disc by the 'Telstar' hitmakers (although this was a different band altogether) and following Meek's death a few weeks later, the track (which featured overdubbed guitar parts from future Deep Purple legend, Ritchie Blackmore!) would remain unreleased for more than thirty years.
It has now featured on a few collections of sixties beat. This unreleased Tornados spin-off, the band that recorded 'No More You And Me', is usually referred to as The Tornados '66.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.