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60s Clubs – 24/5/2011
Remembering Newcastle’s club life
Newcastle in the mid to late sixties had a vibrant night life which, outside of London, was probably the best in the country for wining, dining, dancing, music and gambling. There were around a dozen night clubs with top acts appearing in the city every day of the week. It’s no wonder that London gangsters such as the Kray twins were keen to get in on the action. Those of us of a certain age will remember clubs like La Dolce Vita, Greys Club, the Cavendish and the Club A’Gogo.
But who were the men and woman who owned and ran the north east’s iconic clubs and kept us entertained throughout the sixties? If you had been in the Pink Lane area of Newcastle on a Sunday afternoon earlier this month you may well have seen some of them congregating in and around the Jazz Café.
The Jazz Cafe in Pink Lane, NewcastleNorth east photographer and author, Ian Wright who now lives in Las Vegas, had the bright idea of organising a get together for the people involved in the sixties club scene. The reunion took place at the Jazz Café, hosted by Keith Crombie who was involved in the day to day running of the Club A’Gogo back in the sixties.
Some of the other people there were Wally Nash (now a business man living in the USA) who managed the Marimba for Mike Jeffery and later the Blue Note in Sunderland for Ray Grehan; Sandford Goudie who owned the La Strada clubs in Sunderland and South Shields; Trixie Sullivan who was Mike Jeffery’s secretary and personal assistant (at the time he managed Jimi Hendrix) and David Macbeth, singer and one time owner of Greys Club. Another of those in attendance was Marcus Levey, who with his three brothers ran La Dolce Vita before selling the club to the Bailey Organisation in 1965. Marcus now lives in Leeds and is a professional artist.
(left to right) Trixie Sullivan, Ian Wright and David Macbeth
(left to right) Wally Nash, Marcus Levey and Keith Crombie
Germaine Stanger (left), yours truly and Sandford Goudie (right)There were one or two musicians there including Dougie Vickers who was the drummer in the Invaders, one of the first non-jazz bands to play regularly at the Club A’Gogo from around 1963. Also present was jazz singer Germaine Stanger wife of the late Nigel Stanger. Nigel, along with Chas Chandler was responsible for planning and building the Newcastle Arena (now the Metro Radio Arena). Nigel was also an excellent saxophonist who along with Germaine performed with the Newcastle Big Band. Yours truly got an invite because the Ready Steady Gone site was the catalyst that helped Ian Wright to get in touch with some of the guests. Having said that, I did play regularly as a resident musician at three of the Bailey clubs (including La Dolce Vita) during 1966.
Invaders drummer Dougie Vickers jamming with the Jazz Cafe’s house bandRumour had it that the ex-Club A’Gogo bouncer Dave Finlay and his brother Tommy were going to put in appearance. In the event they failed to show up, probably much to the relief of the host Keith Crombie. I did overhear a conversation in which one of the guests asked the other if he had been present at the Gogo on the night that Dave Finlay knocked out Keith Crombie’s teeth!
Some of the guests hadn’t seen each other for decades so there was a lot of catching up to do. Amongst those talked about were two men who were heavily involved in the north east club scene in the sixties – Mike Jeffery and Ray Grehan. Mike Jeffery, owner of the Club A’Gogo and manager of the Animals and Jimi Hendrix was killed in a plane crash in 1973. Ray Grehan, who owned various night clubs including the Blue Note in Sunderland and the Crescendo Club at Whitley Bay, passed away about eight years ago. Without the contribution of these two men the club and music scene of the north east would have been considerably different.
The reunion was a great success so full marks to Ian Wright for coming up with the idea and organising the event.Category: Rog's BlogComments (12)