The Spinners' Cliff Hall dies
JUN 26 2008 CATHERINE JONES
A FOUNDER member of Liverpool folk legends the Spinners has died. Cliff Hall passed away early this morning at the home he shared with his third wife Dottie, in Australia. He was 82.
The Cuban-born singer and musician moved to Adelaide several years ago from Liverpool.
Granddaughter Helen Hall, from Vauxhall, said today: “Grandad was lovely. I remember going to all the concerts as a child and we always had the records on around the house. He was born in Cuba but brought up in Jamaica, and he never lost his Jamaican accent which was nice to hear. He met my grandmother, who was Scottish, here and they had my dad who is also called Cliff, my uncle and my aunt.”
Cliff Hall came to the UK to serve in the Royal Air Force. He met musician Tony Davis when they worked on the same building site, and in the late 1950s the two men joined forces with Hughie Jones and Mick Groves to form the Spinners.
Mr Hall’s Jamaican background brought Caribbean songs into the group’s repertoire, and in concert he would play both the guitar and harmonica - the latter with a unique sound like an English concertina.
Affectionately known as “the other Fab Four’, the Spinners changed the face of the folk music scene. The group - later joined by bass player John Count McCormick - produced almost 40 albums together in a career which spanned three decade, and revived some of the country’s greatest folk music as well as singing new songs. One of their best- known numbers was Peter McGovern’s In My Liverpool Home. The group split up in the late 1980s.
From Spencer Leigh in The Independent:
Cliff Hall: Singer with the pioneering multiracial folk group The Spinners
Friday, 27 June 2008
Among their many achievements, The Spinners was the first multiracial singing group to have a major success in the UK. Cliff Hall, their West Indian singer and guitarist, brought many songs from the Caribbean to their repertoire and although they are known as a Liverpool folk group, only one of The Spinners, Hughie Jones, was born in the city.
Hall was born in Oriente Province, Cuba, of Jamaican parents, in 1925. He studied in Spanish and English schools, but after his mother died, he returned to Jamaica with his father, who worked on the plantations. His father could not afford further education and when Cliff was in his early teens, he began working on the land and then moulding breezeblocks and milking cows.
During the Second World War, RAF personnel visited the West Indies on a recruitment drive, and after claiming he was older than he was, Hall came to Britain for training in November 1942. He was based in Hartlebury, Worcestershire and travelled the UK delivering aircraft parts. He met a Scottish girl, Janet Massie, whom he married in 1947, and they had three children.
In 1953, Hall was working as an electrician in Leeds and he was sent to the atomic site at Capenhurst in Cheshire on a job. There he met Tony Davis, who invited him to hear his jazz group in Liverpool, and Hall was soon joining in on bongos. This led to the formation of The Spinners with Hall, Davis, Jones, Mick Groves and, initially, a girl singer, Jacqui MacDonald. In 1962, they released their first album, Quayside Songs Old and New, but the record company was uncomfortable about promoting a multiracial group and put a cartoon on the cover, in which they all appeared to be white.
Their first album set the pattern, being a mixture of long-forgotten folk songs and new compositions. On it, Hall sang three concert favourites, "Woman Sweeter than Man", "Matty Rag" and, his own take on British cooking, "Liverpool Girls". "My first wife couldn't cook the dishes I liked at first, but I called the song 'Liverpool Girls' so as not to offend her," Hall once told me.
The Spinners released many albums during the 1960s including concert performances from Liverpool, Folk at The Phil (1964), The Family of Man (1966) and even, with a sense of desperation, Another LP by The Spinners (1967). They sang the theme to the 1967 film Funeral in Berlin, starring Michael Caine. They had no hit singles, although "Dirty Old Town", "In My Liverpool Home" "Black and White" and "The Family of Man" (a song for world brotherhood written by Karl Dallas) were all popular over a long period of time. "I always thought that 'The Family Of Man' is a lovely song and a very important one," said Hall. "I wish politicians would think of it before they wage war on each other."
Hall explained the group's sound: "My voice is a little soft, and it is also the lowest of the lot. I've got to get right up to the microphone to sing whereas Tony could stand two foot back and still be too loud." In 1965, when they were recording an album, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders asked if they could borrow Cliff for a few minutes and he added the deep-voiced "love" on their Top 10 single, "Game of Love".
By the 1970s, The Spinners were appearing regularly on television, but they were easy to mock as they were the group that fashion forgot. I have seen the BBC's files on their TV series, and whereas Cilla Black for her show had dresses from top designers, costing up to £200, The Spinners had to make do with a budget of £25 for yellow jumpers for a six-week series. When they wore the same jumpers on a concert tour, the BBC sent them a bill for their usage.
More seriously, many purists felt that their cheerful and very entertaining performances of folk songs lacked the bite of the originals. For an easy laugh, the folk-rock band Fairport Convention released an album in which on the back cover photograph they were pictured reading The Spinners' songbook. However, The Spinners did much to popularise songs which had been forgotten and their work for shanty festivals is to be particularly applauded.
The group were totally at ease with both their audience and themselves on stage which made them a delight to watch. All four of them knew how to introduce a song and how to react to asides from the rest of the group, which also included "Count" John McCormick on double-bass. Above all, the story of The Spinners is the story of friendship. They never lost contact with their audiences either and they would dutifully return to Liverpool each week for a folk evening at the Triton pub or Gregson's Well. "We were entertaining them, but they were entertaining us" is how Hall put it, and through maintaining their roots, they were able to add significant songs to their repertoire like Jack Owen's "Mist Over the Mersey".
In 1988, The Spinners disbanded with their album Final Fling, although there was the occasional reunion. When recovering from a knee operation, Hall, who had been widowed twice, decided to recuperate in Australia. When he was on tour with The Spinners, he was always delighted to meet people from Liverpool and he would note their addresses and send Christmas cards. When he got to Adelaide, he found that one of their fans, Dorothy, was a nurse from Birkenhead. She helped him recover and they subsequently married.
Spencer Leigh
Clifford Samuel Hall, singer and guitarist: born Oriente Province, Cuba 11 September 1925; three times married (two sons, one daughter); died Adelaide, South Australia 26 June 2008.
The Stage From 'The Stage'
The Spinners’ Cliff Hall dies Published Friday 27 June 2008 at 11:45 by Patrick Newley
Cliff Hall, a founder member of the legendary Liverpool folk group the Spinners has died at the age of 82.
The Cuban-born singer came to Britain to serve in the RAF in 1942. Later, he met musician Tony Davis and in the late fifties, the two men joined forces with Hughie Jones and Mick Groves to form the Spinners.
Affectionately known as ‘the other Fab Four’, the Spinners changed the face of the folk music scene.
They had their own hit BBC TV series and among their most famous singles were Dirty Old Town, In My Liverpool Home and The Family of Man.
They released more than 40 albums during the sixties and seventies, including concert performances from Liverpool such as Folk at the Phil (1964). In 1967 they sang the theme tune to the film Funeral in Berlin, starring Michael Caine.
In 1988, the Spinners disbanded with their album Final Fling, although there was the occasional reunion.
Hall died on June 26.
From The Liverpool Echo:
Spinners star Cliff Hall was a true son of Liverpool Jun 27 2008 by Paddy Shennan, Liverpool Echo
Cliff was a true son of his adopted city
Paddy Shennan speaks to the surviving members of The Spinners, as they pay tribute to friend and former bandmate Cliff Hall, who died yesterday
CLIFF Hall didn’t just make sweet music, he was the sweetest of individuals – a true gent and man of the people.
And while he may have been born in Cuba and raised in Jamaica, he was proud to be known as an adopted Scouser.
As one of the founder members of The Spinners, Cliff – who died yesterday, aged 82, at the home he shared with his third wife, Dottie, in Adelaide, Australia – helped popularise both folk music and Liverpool.
He loved the city, and its people, with a passion, as demonstrated by a charming anecdote recalled by BBC Radio Merseyside presenter and author Spencer Leigh.
“Cliff was a delightful guy,” says Spencer. “Wherever The Spinners performed, he would make a note of any Liverpool people in the audience who came up to speak to him afterwards – and later send them a Christmas card.”
“Of his gentle style, he says: “The Spinners were known for their quite boisterous singing but Cliff brought them down a little with his quieter numbers.”
Fellow former Spinner Tony Davis, 78, who lives in Wallasey, says: “Cliff was the gentlest, kindest man – one of the kindest men I have ever known. He was a great fella and one of my oldest friends.”
Cliff, he says, will be remembered by everyone who knew him with great affection – which is exactly how music fans remember The Spinners, themselves.
The group, affectionately known as “the other Fab Four”, consisted of Cliff, Tony, Hughie Jones and Mick Groves, while it became the Fab Five when John McCormick joined in the early 1970s. They released around 40 albums during their career, which ran from 1958 to 1988, and famously sang the Pete McGovern-penned classic In My Liverpool Home.
And it is a tribute to The Spinners that they were claimed as sons of the city, despite Hughie being the only Liverpool-born member.
Tony was born in Blackburn and moved here, aged 14, while Salford-born Mick says: “I think our strong Liverpool identity is actually a great tribute to the city. They call it a melting pot and we all melted together greatly.”
Not least Cuban-born Cliff, who Mick, 71, describes as “a proper English gent – and my best friend. He always looked on the bright side and was always joking.
“I last went over to see him in November and spoke to him last week. He’d just come out of hospital, but when I asked him about it he just laughed it off, saying ‘Who’s been putting these rumours about?’”
He adds: “The last time I was in Australia he gave me his guitar, saying he couldn’t play it any more. It was a tremendous gesture which summed up the man. It’s the group’s 50th anniversary in October and it’s a terrible pity that Cliff didn’t make it.”
Hughie Jones, 71, who still lives in Liverpool, says: “Cliff was my best man when my wife, Chris, and I got married in 1963. He was a great friend and we last saw him in Australia last July. We were due to go back in April, but he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and had his left lung removed in March. We last spoke to him last week – he will be greatly missed.
“Today, it seems like the real end of The Spinners. While all the members were alive, there was always the chance we could get together again, as we did at the Everyman in 2005.”
There can, sadly, be no more reunions. Instead, there are now plans for a memorial service for Cliff in Liverpool – which may, says Mick, take place in the anniversary month.
Whenever it takes place, it will be a chance for people to sing a song and raise a glass for a true gentleman – in his Liverpool home.
‘One of the nicest stars I have ever met’
ECHO writer Peter Grant pays tribute to “one of the nicest stars” he has met
”Every time we sing The Leaving Of Liverpool it moves me ...”
Cliff Hall, a founder member of The Spinners, told me that no matter where he was in the world he thought fondly about the city.
Born in Cuba, he was raised in Jamaica before becoming a member of the legendary group. He made them a truly international band.
But he especially loved Liverpool.
I know because he often told me in the Christmas cards I received from him every year – as did so many others.
Cliff spent the last years of his life in Australia and would sign his festive messages from a “Scouser down under”.
He was one of the nicest, most modest, stars I have met in a music industry packed with egos.
He had a sparkling, self-effacing sense of humour.
He was a brilliant harmonica player and his vocal harmonies added extra flavour to the group’s sea shanties and traditional folk songs.
They split up in 1988 but their legacy lived on.
In 2005 he came back for a visit and was overwhelmed by a surprise 80th birthday party for him in a China Town restaurant.
It was followed with a Spinners reunion concert at a private party in the Everyman’s third room.
It was filmed for posterity and I am lucky to have a copy of this feel-good occasion.
I wrote a nostalgia feature on the Spinners and received many letters.
But one was extra special. It came from Cliff and it read: ”Dear friend, thank you so much for reminding us all how much we meant to people. May love and luck guide the people of Liverpool.”
Well, Cliff. You certainly made your mark on me – that young lad in the stalls in the Philharmonic Hall.
And now, as a grown man, I smile as I recall the mark you made on the world from your adopted home town.