Jimmy McManus - vocals (1960/2)

Dave "Mushy" Cooper - bass guitar (1960/2) (died 1998)

Jackie Lomax - bass guitar/vocals (1962/4)

Chris Huston - lead guitar

Geoff Nugent - guitar/vocals

Brian Jones - saxophone

Bugs Pemberton - drums

In the early sixties, a group named Bob's Vegas Five were booked to play at Litherland Town Hall. After checking the booking in the local paper they found that their name had be replaced with the word "Undertakers", transposed from the adjacent column on Funeral Directors. Brian Kelley, the promoter of the gig, suggested that the band should buy black tee-shirts, learn the "Death March", and appear as "The Undertakers" for this one show. The curtain opened and the group played the opening phrase of the "Death March", the kids went crazy and Bob's Vegas Five had a new name.

The Undertakers were very popular around the Liverpool clubs, well-known for their driving beat, zany antics and their choice of obscure material, mostly American rhythm & blues delivered in Jackie Lomax's unique style.

The group turned professional in August 1962 when they received an offer to play at Hamburg's famous Star Club. The tough schedule in Germany, three sets a night with a three hour break inbetween, supporting and learning from visiting American stars, coupled with constantly finding and practising new material, improved the group considerably. On their return to Liverpool they knocked the crowds dead, and turned down an offer to manage them from Brian Epstein. One of the first shows was at the Cavern and the queue of fans went all the way to the bottom of the street and around the corner. They could even count The Beatles among their fans!

On the heels of the Beatles' national breakthrough, A&R men from all the London recording companies descended on Liverpool. The Undertakers were signed to Pye, with Tony Hatch as their producer. This proved to be an unfortunate liaison with Hatch proving unsympathetic to the groups' choice of material for the "A" sides of their singles and having an overall lack of vision for the group. This lack of support on the part of their producer coupled with Pye's failure to adequately publicise or promote their releases was ultimately responsible for The Undertakers records not achieving the volume of sales that their popularity undoubtedly warranted.

In live performance they were a visual group with a strong stage presence and a terrific sound that didn't transfer to their records. In spite of the problems with their record company, the Undertakers remained one of the top touring groups in England and Germany, constantly on the road playing to sell-out crowds. During one of their German trips, in September 1964, in a publicity stunt to boost their final 45 "If You Don't Come Back", Huston and Jones got themselves arrested at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin in a currency smuggling jape. The pair were held for 23 hours and made the front pages of the British press, but the record still failed to make the charts.

The end of the road for the Undertakers came in America. Minus Geoff Nugent, who was married and decided to remain in England, they responded to an advertisement promising a British group work in the USA and were selected along with the Pete Best Combo. In New York, they recorded some tracks that were a better representation of their live act than their Pye singles before being shipped off to Canada while their visa situation was sorted out. After two months of hardship in Ontario they surreptitiously returned to New York where the group broke up.

Following the disbanding, Brian Jones returned to England, Jackie Lomax and Bugs Pemberton joined two American musicians in The Gypsy Wizards, and Chris Huston went on the road with US band Joey Dee & The Starliters before beginning a new career as a producer/engineer.

 Special thanks to Chris Huston for his contribution to this page