The Shadows

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The Shadows
The Shadows performing in Denmark, featuring long-time members from left Bruce Welch (far left), Mark Griffiths and Hank Marvin; Brian Bennett featured in background on drums.
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Rock and roll instrumental rock surf rock country
Years active	1958–1968, 1969–1970, 1973–1990, 2004–2005, 2008–2010, 2015 (one-off reunion: 2020)[1]
Labels	Columbia (EMI), Polydor, Universal
Spinoffs	Marvin, Welch & Farrar
Past members	Ken Pavey Norman Mitham Terry Smart Ian Samwell Hank Marvin Bruce Welch Jet Harris Tony Meehan Brian Bennett Brian Locking John Rostill Alan Hawkshaw John Farrar Alan Tarney Alan Jones Mark Griffiths Warren Bennett

The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters between 1958 and 1959) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the pre-Beatles era from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard from 1958 to 1968, and have joined him for several reunion tours.

The Shadows had 69 UK chart singles from the 1950s to the 2000s, 35 as the Shadows and 34 as Cliff Richard and the Shadows, ranging from pop, rock, surf rock and ballads with a jazz influence.^[2] The group, who were in the forefront of the UK beat-group boom,^[3] were the first backing band to emerge as stars.

As pioneers of the four-member instrumental format, the band consisted of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums. The Shadows built their signature sound on Fender guitars and Vox amplifiers, but around 1964, they replaced their Fenders with BurnsBurns guitars, with Bruce Welch citing tuning issues as the main reason.^[4]

The core members from 1958 to the present are guitarists Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch and drummer Brian Bennett (who has been with the group since 1961) with various bassists and occasionally keyboardists through the years.