The Fairies (British band)

History

The group began in Colchester, Essex in 1963 as Dane Stephens and the Deep Beats. After a year, the band evolved into the Fairies. The band consisted of Dane Stephens (born Douglas Robert Ord) on vocals and blues harp, John 'Akky' Acutt (formerly of the Strangers) on lead guitar, Mick 'Wimps' Weaver on rhythm guitar and fiddle, John Frederick 'Freddy' Gandy on bass and John 'Twink' Alder on drums (also formerly of the Strangers). In late 1964, the Fairies recorded the single 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright' for the Decca label.

Around the same time, the band made newspaper headlines when members were arrested for climbing up a statue. Twink later recalled that with Dane Stephens, their shows included blues, soul numbers, and touches of jazz, and that Stephens was an amazing singer with a great voice who played amazing blues harp, and that the Fairies were just about to break big. Stephens was involved in a fatal accident while driving the group van without any license or insurance; he served time in jail, so the band lost him for a year and got Nik Wymer from Nix Nomads instead.

Twink noted that they had been about to break at that point, with Mickie Most producing them in the studio, a single out and another on the way, and an agent getting them booked back again everywhere. In 1965, after Wymer replaced Stephens as singer, they recorded two more singles, 'Get Yourself Home' and 'Don't Mind', for His Master's Voice. 'Get Yourself Home' was written by Johnnie Dee, road manager for the Fairies, but rejected by the Pretty Things and recorded by the Fairies instead; previously, Dee's song 'Don't Bring Me Down' had been rejected by the Fairies but became a hit for the Pretty Things in 1964.

Twink said that they became like the Pretty Things when Nik Wymer came along, mostly because Nik looked and sounded so much like Phil May, and that after Stephens came out of jail Nik left and they got Dane back but were trying to recreate something already lost. Nik Wymer briefly joined an embryonic group formed by ex-members of Them in late 1965. Brian 'Smudger' Smith from Watford R&B band 'Cops 'n' Robbers' may have sung with the band at some point, as Dane Stephens reportedly swapped to become Cops 'n' Robbers singer around late 1965 and possibly sang on their final single 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue'.