WHO SANG WIMOWEH FULL

WHO SANG WIMOWEH FULL

The Karl Denver Trio version displayed Denver's vocal gymnastics to full effect and its success propelled the group into the upper reaches of British show business. Denver claimed to have discovered the song in South Africa during his days as a seaman but it had already been a hit in the hands of American folk group The Weavers, and The Tokens had re-recorded it with new lyrics as The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Denver himself was hailed in the New Musical Express as 'an artist with a totally different and distinctive approach'.ĭenver's hits included a pre-1914 Victor Schertzinger song Marcheta, an equally antique French song, A Little Love A Little Kiss, the hillbilly tune Mexicali Rose and Wimoweh.

He appealed to the curious British penchant for yodelling cowboys exemplified in the1950s by Slim Whitman, whose signature tune Indian Love Call was part of the Denver stage act. This was an interregnum in British pop after rock 'n' roll and before the Beatles. Good also negotiated a record deal with Decca and acted as producer on the series of hit singles enjoyed by the group over the next three years. In 1961 the trio was 'discovered' by impresario Jack Good, who presented them on his television series Wham! and got them on to a national tour headed by Jess Conrad and Billy Fury. They toured the Northern clubs and appeared on Granada Television's Band Stand. Taking the stage name Karl Denver, he appeared on radio and television, and the prestigious Grand Ole Opry show, before the immigration department caught up with him and he was deported in 1959.īack in Britain he settled in Manchester, where he teamed up with Gerry Cottrell and Kevin Neill to form the Karl Denver Trio. By this time he had set his sights on a career as a singer, and he jumped ship in the United States and made for Nashville, the centre of country and western music.

Who sang wimoweh