Grant Tracy & The Sunsets
Biography
The London group Grant Tracy & the Sunsets formed at the beginning of the 1960s and lasted through the British Invasion era into the middle of the 1960s without landing any hits. Singer Grant Tracy (born Roy Barker) and guitarist Pete Dello first met during the skiffle era, and the Sunsets coalesced around their playing at this odd institution called the 59 Club, which was actually in St. Mary of Eton, a London church whose vicar, Father John Oates, had opened the church hall as a gathering place for young people -- bands could play there as long as the members attended services, getting upwards of 1000 people at a time in their audiences. Tracy and Dello became the core of what eventually became Grant Tracy & the Sunsets, initially managed by Oates until church officials demanded that he divest himself of his involvement. They held together across several lineup changes, with Ray Cane eventually joining Dello as the guitar contingent and James Hurley and Norman Smith on drums and bass, respectively. Tracy and/or the Sunsets -- signed first to Ember Records and later, briefly, to Decca -- released eight singles and an LP between 1961 and 1965, the billing on those usually reading Grant Tracy & the Sunsets, though Tracy put out some solo tracks and the Sunsets did a 1961 single on their own.
Selected Discography
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