Description
The Toggery Five were formed at the height of the Manchester beat scene. Their first rehearsal was at The Thatched House pub in Stockport and lead guitarist Frank Renshaw invited The Hollies’ manager Mike Cohen along, who was also the owner of ‘The Toggery’ a famous boutique on Prince’s Street, Stockport where The Beatles had their suits made to measure.
Mike wanted to hear them play Beatles’ songs and as the lead singer Bob Smith didn’t know any, Frank obliged and won him over. Mike agreed to manage the band and kit them out with new equipment. His girlfriend at the time, actress Jennifer Moss (Lucille Hewitt from Coronation Street) came up with their name inspired by the shop.
The Toggery was the ‘go to’ fashion outlet for musicians and became an essential stopping off point for touring bands. Pete Maclaine, singer with The Dakotas worked there with his mate Graham Nash, rhythm guitarist and vocalist with The Hollies.
The Toggery Five established a reputation for their powerful R’n’B live set, sounding and looking the part due to their stylish stage clothes. As singer Bob Smith struggled with this style of music, Frank Renshaw took on the majority of lead vocals. Having been relegated to tambourine, Bob eventually left the band and his cuban heels were quickly filled by a 16-year-old Paul Young from Wythenshawe.
In September 1964, The Toggery Five made it to the final of Rediffusion TV’s ‘Ready, Steady, Win’ talent competition which had Brian Epstein and Bill Haley as judges. Having won all the heats, the band were technically the winners of the competition but were announced as runners up. The problem was that the first prize was a record deal with Decca and The Toggery Five already had a record deal in place so they won a van instead!
The Toggery Five’s first single ‘I’m Gonna Jump’ written and sung by Frank Renshaw, was released on EMI/Parlophone just after the final of the competition was televised but unfortunately it was banned by the BBC who deemed the lyrical content “too controversial”.
With a new member Alan Doyle replacing Keith Meredith on rhythm guitar, the band returned to Abbey Road Studios to record ‘I’d Much Rather Be With The Boys’, a song written by Keith Richard and The Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog-Oldham but considered “too poppy” for the Stones. Released in February 1965, this fared better in sales but failed to deliver that much needed chart placing.
Looking for that all-important crossover record, The Toggery Five recorded ‘I’m Alive’ with The Hollies’ producer Ron Richards. The song had originally been written for Gene Pitney who rejected it, as did Wayne Fontana but the band really liked it and Richards produced a great version. Frank Renshaw remembers being in the next studio to The Beatles who were recording ‘Anytime At All’, one of his favourite Beatles’ songs.
‘I’m Alive’ by The Toggery Five never got to see the light of day because as soon as The Hollies heard their version, they insisted on recording it immediately and got a release date two weeks before The Toggery Five effectively pipping them to the post. It was a pivotal ‘sliding doors’ moment as the song gave The Hollies their first No.1 in the UK.
To pacify the band, The Hollies gave them the song ‘Going Away’ written by Graham Gouldman but these last Toggery Five recordings were shelved by Parlophone and most likely still remain in the vaults at EMI.
Frank Renshaw left The Toggery Five in October 1965 to join Wayne Fontana’s new band. He recorded a solo version of ‘Walk Away Renee’ produced by Graham Nash with backing by The Hollies but was pipped again by The Four Tops who went to No.1 with the song.
Until they split in 1967, there were many incarnations of The Toggery Five including guitarist Mick Abrahams and drummer Clive Bunker, who became founding members of Jethro Tull. Paul Young and Frank Renshaw came together again in 1970 to write songs as Young and Renshaw and Paul Young eventually went on to commercial success with Sad Cafe and Mike and the Mechanics.
The Toggery Five story shows how close and yet so far you can be from commercial success and no matter how talented a band is, the odds can be stacked against you.
