Edison Lighthouse are an English

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

band, formed in London in 1969. The band was best known for their 1970 hit single "

Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" is the debut single by Edison Lighthouse. The song reached the No. 1 spot on the UK Singles Chart on the week ending 31 January 1970, where it remained for a total of five weeks. It also became the first No. ...

" recorded in late 1969.

Career

Before the name Edison Lighthouse, they were known as the

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

band Greenfield Hammer, gigging on the home counties circuit. The original line-up of Edison Lighthouse consisted of

Tony Burrows Anthony Burrows (born 14 April 1942) is an English pop singer and recording artist. As a prolific session musician, Burrows was involved in several transatlantic hit singles throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, most of which were one-hi ...

(lead vocalist), Stuart Edwards (lead guitar), David Taylor (bass guitar), George Weyman (drums), and Ray Dorey (guitar). "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" was No. 1 for five weeks and sold 250,000 copies in the UK. It reached the top of the chart in its second week. The United States release was in February 1970 and reached No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, selling a million copies there by April and earning an

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. In Canada, the song reached No. 3. After recording the second single "She Works In a Woman's Way" which failed to chart in either the UK or the US, Tony Burrows left Edison Lighthouse.

Tony Macaulay Tony Macaulay (born Anthony Gordon Instone; 21 April 1944) is an English author, composer for musical theatre, and songwriter. He has won the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors Award twice as 'Songwriter of the Year' (1970 an ...

(who owned the rights to the name Edison Lighthouse) brought in other musicians. Actor and singer Paul Vigrass replaced Burrows. Other members included David Kerr-Clemenson (bass guitar) of Warehorne, Andy Locke (vocals, guitar), Eddie Richards (drums), Wally Scott (guitar) and Ken Reeves (vocals). The band's song " It's Up to You Petula" reached the UK top 50. Their next single, "What's Happening?" coupled with "Take a Little Time", was written by the band. They then went on to tour Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and Africa. The single released for the Africa tour was "Reconsider My Belinda". The last single released was "Find Mr. Zebedee". The band then ceased activity after returning from a tour of Europe.

Continuation of Edison Lighthouse

In 1973 Brian Huggins and Peter Butt, of the band Crush, were approached by their management to take over touring Scandinavia as Edison Lighthouse. Brian Huggins acquired the rights to the name Edison Lighthouse in 1974. Huggins has been fronting the band ever since. On 17 January 2024, the band released a cover of "

Fun, Fun, Fun "Fun, Fun, Fun" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1964 album '' Shut Down Volume 2''. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, it is one of their early songs that defined the idyllic pop aesthetic later dubbed the " Ca ...

", which debut at No. 32 on the " Heritage Chart" on 21 January. On 20 January 2024, Alan Warner of

the Foundations The Foundations were a British soul band who were primarily active between 1967 and 1970. The group's background was West Indian, White British and Sri Lankan. Their 1967 debut single " Baby Now That I've Found You" reached number one in the ...

joined on guitar.

Origin of the name

Edison Lighthouse was named after the

Eddystone Lighthouse The Eddystone Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the Eddystone Rocks, south of Rame Head in Cornwall, England. The rocks are submerged below the surface of the sea and are composed of Precambrian gneiss. View at 1:50000 scale The current structu ...

off the coast of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. The band later briefly dropped the Lighthouse and became just Edison, although the original name was later reinstated.

Members

;Current * Brian Huggins − lead vocals (1973–present) * Peter Butt − guitar/bass guitar (1973–present) * Mark Forton − drums (2021–present) * Matthew Bason – keyboards/pedal bass (2022–present) * Alan Warner – guitar (2024–present) ;Former *

− lead vocals (1969—1970) * Stuart Edwards − guitar (1969–1970) * Ray Dorey − guitar (1969—1970) * David Taylor − bass guitar (1969–1970) * George Weyman − drums (1969–1970) * Paul Vigrass − lead vocals (1970—1973) * Andy Locke − guitar (1970–1973) * Wally Scott − guitar (1970–1973) * David Kerr-Clemenson − bass guitar (1970–1973) * Eddie Richards − drums (1970–1973) *

Rob Wilson Robert Owen Biggs Wilson (born 4 January 1965) is an English politician and political author. He was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the Reading East parliamentary constituency in the 2005 general election, being re-elected in ...

− bass guitar (1973–?) Stephane Booroff drums 2013–2021 Dave Kerr-Clemenson, after touring with White Plains and Andy Locke, went on to form Fast Buck, recorded an album with

Jet Records Jet Records was a British record label started by Don Arden in 1974, featuring musicians such as Lynsey de Paul, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Roy Wood, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Alan Price, Adrian Gurvitz, Riot (band), Riot, Magnum (band ...

, and toured the world extensively supporting ELO. Eddie Richards was the drummer in The First Class who had a hit with "Beach Baby". Guitarist Stuart Edwards died on 26 October 2016 from cancer at the age of 73. The group's

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

hit "

" (1970) was one of four near-concurrent UK Singles Chart top ten hit

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

that Burrows was involved with different groups. The other songs were " Gimme Dat Ding" (

the Pipkins The Pipkins were a short-lived English novelty duo, best known for their hit single " Gimme Dat Ding" (written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood), which reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Charts, No. 7 in Canada ( ''RPM'' Top Singles), and ...

), " My Baby Loves Lovin" ( White Plains), and " United We Stand" (

Brotherhood of Man Brotherhood of Man were a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s with three number one hits in the UK. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with " Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer ...

). Burrows was also lead vocalist on the single "

Beach Baby "Beach Baby" is a song by the British band The First Class. Written by John Carter and his wife, Gillian (Jill) Shakespeare, the song became the band's only substantial hit. The subject of the lyrics is not holiday love, but a broken love relati ...

" (1974) for another studio-only group,

the First Class The First Class were a British pop music studio-based group, put together by songwriter and record producer John Carter. They are best known for their hit song "Beach Baby," a top 20 hit in both the US and UK, and number one in Canada. Caree ...

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Already'' (1971, Bell Records, Sweden) * ''Love Grows'' (1977, SMA, UK)

Live albums

* ''Then There Where Two'' (2003, self-release, UK)

Compilation albums

* ''Love Grows'' (CD, ACD, Austria) * ''Edison Lighthouse'' (1990 Cassette/CD, Object Enterprises, UK) * ''Love Grows: Complete Collection Featuring Tony Burrows'' (1994 CD, Sunflower, Italy) * ''The Best of Edison Lighthouse - Love Grows'' (1999 CD,

Repertoire Records Repertoire Records is a record label from Hamburg, Germany (with UK subsidiaries in Leatherhead, Surrey and London), specialising in reissues of classic pop and rock albums originally issued in the 1960s and 1970s. It was founded in 1982 by Ki ...

, Germany) * ''Love Grows with Edison Lighthouse'' (2002 CD, The Westminster Recording Co., UK) * ''On the Rocks'' (2002 CD, Park South, US) * ''Edison Lighthouse Selected Favorites'' (2006 Digital Download, Charly Records, US) * ''Their Very Best'' (2009 Digital Download, K-tel, US) * ''Barbara Ann'' (2010 Digital Download, One Media Publishing, US) * ''Showing the Way (The Dave Cash Collection)'' (2011 Digital Download, One Media Publishing, US) * ''The Dave Cash Collection: Light My House'' (2011 Digital Download, One Media Publishing, US)

Singles

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control English pop music groups English soft rock music groups Musical groups established in 1969 Pop music groups from London Bell Records artists Bubblegum pop groups