From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Tue Jun 4, 2002 1:14 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Cliff Bennett CLIFF BENNETT Born 4 June 1940, Slough, Berkshire, England Singer / bandleader. Cliff Bennett got bitten by the music bug during the skiffle era, especially by Lonnie Donegan. He put together the first version of his backup band, the Rebel Rousers, in 1959. The group (named after Duane Eddy's big hit, "Rebel Rouser") was originally a sextet including piano and saxophone, which was unusual for a British group at that time. In 1961, Cliff and the band signed with producer Joe Meek and their first single release was "You've Got What I Like"/"I'm In Love With You", two exuberant rockers with a piano that sounded like a cross between Jerry Lee Lewis and Russ Conway. Contemporaries of the Beatles, they too played clubs in Hamburg, recorded for EMI's Parlophone label, and were managed by Brian Epstein. After four Meek-produced singles, John Burgess became their new producer. He gave the group a new sound, with more of an R&B feel and a prominent position for the horn section. They scored their first U.K. hit in 1964 with a cover of the Drifters' "One Way Love", and reached the Top Ten for a second and last time when Paul McCartney produced them in a recording of his "Got to Get You Into My Life" in 1966. Bennett split from the group in 1968 and formed the Cliff Bennett Band. In 1969, they were reorganized under the name Toe Fat and recorded two LP's which were also released in the USA on Motown's Rare Earth subsidiary. Bennett performed under his own name in the early '70s, then formed another group, Shanghai, which split up at the end of 1976. In the 1990s he reformed the Rebel Rousers, purely as a hobby. CD : The Best Of The EMI Years (EMI CDEMS 1450). 31 tracks