The Rokes were a

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

band formed in 1963 in Italy by English

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

s. Their most successful songs included "Piangi con me", the original version of " Let's Live for Today", a US hit when covered by The Grass Roots; and "Che colpa abbiamo noi", an Italian-language version of "Cheryl's Going Home" by

Bob Lind Robert Neale Lind (born November 25, 1942) is an American playwright, novelist, and singer-songwriter who helped define the 1960s folk rock movement in the U.S. and UK. Lind is well known for his transatlantic hit record, " Elusive Butterfly", w ...

History

Norman David "Shel" Shapiro (born 16 August 1943,

Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in Greater London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the List of highest points in London, highest point ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

) began performing in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, as a

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

ist and singer with

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

band Rob Storm & the Whispers. After a spell playing in

Gene Vincent Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935 – October 12, 1971), known as Gene Vincent, was an American rock and roll musician who pioneered the style of rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-a-Lula", is ...

's backing band during a tour of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

in 1959, Shapiro decided to form his own band, The Shel Carson Combo, with guitarist

Vic Briggs Victor Harvey Briggs III (14 February 1945 – 30 June 2021) was a British blues and rock musician, best known as the lead guitarist with Eric Burdon and The Animals from 1966 to 1968. Briggs, a convert to Sikhism, later played classical ...

(14 February 1945,

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

, Middlesex – 25 June 2021),

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

Mike Shepstone (born 29 March 1943, Weymouth,

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

), and

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Bobby Posner (born 6 May 1945,

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northwest London. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex east of the ancient Watling Street in what is now the London Borough of Barnet but it is now informally considered to cover a wider area, inc ...

, Middlesex). The band performed

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

in clubs around London and had regular shows at American base camps around the south of England plus a couple of tours in the north including

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, before deciding to try their luck in the club scene in

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

. In January 1963, they travelled to then

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, where they had a residency at the

Top Ten Club The Top Ten Club was a music club in Hamburg's St. Pauli district at Reeperbahn 136, which opened on 31 October 1960 and kept its name until 1994. In 1961, the Beatles performed 92 times at the Top Ten Club. History At the beginning of the 2 ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

with a short stay at the ''Top Ten Club'' in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

. The group was then invited to tour

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

as the backing band for Colin Hicks, the brother of

Tommy Steele Sir Thomas Hicks (born 17 December 1936), known professionally as Tommy Steele, is an English entertainer, regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star. After being discovered at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho, London, Steele recor ...

. Briggs left the combo, preferring to stay in England, and was replaced by Johnny Charlton (born 3 April 1945,

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. The town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At ...

, London). The band toured around Italy with Hicks, increasingly performing more of their own material. In June 1963, they broke their ties with Hicks and were signed up by Teddy Reno, the manager and husband of Italian pop singer

Rita Pavone Rita Ori Filomena Merk-Pavone (, ; born August 23, 1945) is an Italian-Swiss pop singer, actress and showgirl, who enjoyed success through the 1960s. Known as "the Mosquito of Turin" (), she was also nicknamed "Carrot Hair" () because of the r ...

. They toured with Pavone, appearing as ''The Shel Carson Combo'', warming up the fans before she did her show. Then the band gained a recording contract with the ARC record label and renamed themselves The Rokes for their first single, a cover version of

Big Joe Turner Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him". Turner's greatest fa ...

's "

Shake, Rattle and Roll "Shake, Rattle and Roll" is a song written in 1954 by Jesse Stone (usually credited as "''Charles Calhoun''", his songwriting name) and first recorded that year by Big Joe Turner, whose version ranked No. 127 on the ''Rolling Stone'' magazine li ...

": it was unsuccessful, but the group established themselves in a club residency at The Piper Club, in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. The Rokes also made a series of short commercials for the ice cream brand Algida, on Italian television. On later recordings, they sang mainly in English-accented Italian versions of American and British chart hits. In 1965, their version of

Jackie DeShannon Jackie DeShannon (born Sharon Lee Myers; August 21, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and radio broadcaster who has had many hit song credits beginning in the 1960s, as both a singer and composer. She was one of the first female singer-son ...

's "

When You Walk in the Room "When You Walk in the Room" is a song written and recorded by Jackie DeShannon. It was initially released as a single on November 23, 1963, as the B-side to "Till You Say You'll Be Mine". It was re-released as an A-side in September 1964, and lat ...

" ("C'è una strana espressione nei tuoi occhi"), reached no. 11 on the Italian charts, followed by "Grazie a te", a cover of " I'm Alive" by

The Hollies The Hollies are an English rock and pop band formed in Manchester in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Singer Allan Clarke and ...

. In 1966, the band was voted the second most popular

beat music Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music Music genre, genre that developed around Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British rock and roll, British and Music of the United St ...

group in Italy, after having had further hits with versions of

's songs "Cheryl's Going Home" ("Che colpa abbiamo noi") and "Remember The Rain" ("E la pioggia che va"). The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of "Che colpa abbiamo noi" was a song that Shapiro co-wrote with Italian

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

Mogol, "Piangi con me" ("Cry with Me" in English). The group re-recorded the song in English as " Let's Live for Today", with lyrics by Michael Julien of Dick James Music. Worldwide sales of "Piangi con me" exceeded one million copies, qualifying the record for a

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 ...

.} The single was released in England at the same time as a cover version by another English band was done, The Living Daylights. Then the song was heard by American

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

s P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri, and successfully recorded by them with The Grass Roots, an American group. The Rokes released four albums between 1965 and 1968, and continued to record successfully in Italy. The band also toured and appeared regularly on Italian TV shows and in several editions of the annual

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by (RAI). It is the longest-running ...

. The group also ventured into

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

in 1968 with "Il vento" (written by Mogol and

Lucio Battisti Lucio Battisti (5 March 1943 – 9 September 1998) was an Italian singer-songwriter and composer. He is widely recognized for songs that defined the late 1960s and 1970s era of Italian songwriting. Battisti released 18 studio albums from 1969 ...

), also recorded in English as "When the Wind Arises", with lyrics by Mike Shepstone. Then they also recorded a version of

The Equals The Equals are an English rock band. They are best remembered for their million-selling chart-topper " Baby, Come Back", though they had several other chart hits in the UK and Europe. Drummer John Hall founded the group with Eddy Grant, Pat L ...

' UK hit " Baby, Come Back" ("Non c'è pace per me"). However, their records had little success outside Italy due to RCA/ARC's lack of publicity. With changing tastes and declining sales, the group disbanded in 1970, having sold more than five million records.

Later activities

Shapiro continued to compose and perform his own music. He recorded seven albums and embarked on an acting career, working with directors such as

Mario Monicelli Mario Alberto Ettore Monicelli (; 16 May 1915 – 29 November 2010) was an Italian film director and screenwriter, one of the masters of the ''commedia all'italiana'' ("Italian-style comedy"). He was nominated six times for an Academy Awards, Os ...

and

Marco Risi Marco Risi (born 4 June 1951) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, film producer and cinematographer. Born in Milan, he is son of director Dino Risi. After graduating from Liceo Scientifico, Risi joined the faculty of philosophy, but aban ...

. In 1977 he founded his own label in Milan. In 2018 he recorded an album with former rival and

Equipe 84 Equipe 84 () were an Italian beat band formed in 1964 in Modena. The name was originally suggested by a friend of the band, Pier Farri. ''Equipe'' was thought to be a word that would resonate more easily outside of their home country, and thoug ...

lead vocalist Maurizio Vandelli. Johnny Charlton opened his own

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

, Galleria Charlton, in Rome. He now works as a visual artist. Bobby Posner and Mike Shepstone initially returned to England. Posner bought various pubs in London and eventually sold these and moved to Hastings where he acquired other music pubs. He continues to perform in various rock, reggae, and blues bands. Mike Shepstone formed the duo ' Shepstone and Dibbens', toured with AC/DC and continued to write songs for other artists. In 2000, serious discussions about putting the band back together for an Italian tour gained momentum. However, Shapiro and Charlton weren't interested, so Posner and Shepstone decided to form The Rokes M&B (Mike and Bobby). They have been playing regularly in Italy since 2000. In 2013 Posner moved permanently back to Italy and now lives with his fiancée Paola Salvadeo in Novi Ligure (AL).

Discography

Albums

*1965 – ''The Rokes'' (ARC, SA 4) *1966 – ''The Rokes vol. 2'' (ARC, SA 8) *1966 – ''Che mondo strano'' (ARC, SA 15) *1968 – ''The Rokes'' (ARC, ALPS 11006)

History

Later activities

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links