9 November 1968
Factoid fans and ’90s kids love The Tremeloes. They’re the band that auditioned for Decca Records on the same day as The Beatles; guess which one Decca signed. This late-’60s line-up of The Tremeloes features co-lead-vocalist Chip Hawkes, father of the one and only Chesney. Chip replaced Brian Poole, father of Karen and Shelly from Alisha’s Attic. Karen Poole’s post-Alisha’s Attic pop songwriting credits include one of the great ’00s bangers: ‘Song 4 Mutya’. Chesney Hawkes’s ‘The One And Only’ was written by ’80s pop idol Nik Kershaw. And the girl who starred in the video for ‘The One And Only’ is Saffron Sprackling, who went on to be the lead singer of Britpop-era ‘Ready To Go’ hitmakers Republica.
Who else loves The Tremeloes? On the evidence of ‘My Little Lady’, ’60s music fans for whom The Beatles and even Herman’s Hermits were just for hipsters. The Euro-cabaret soundscape of bouncing, parping schlager—not dissimilar to ‘Those Were The Days’ which immediately preceded it at number one—is because this song was originally a Euro-wide hit from Italy, ‘Non Illuderti Mai’ by Orietta Berti. Those of you fluent in the language of Dante and Måneskin will note how that title translates as “never be deceived”, so the twee, patronising English title is all The Tremeloes’ own work. The rest of the English lyrics don’t pick up greatly from there. Clearly the talented one in that family was Chesney.
