"There's a Whole Lot of Loving" was released on 10th January 1975 and we immediately began doing lots of interviews and photo sessions for promotion. I was working part time at a music shop called "Hammond of Watford" and had to juggle this and the promotion work. The record entered the chart at 73 and gradually climbed week by week (these days if a record doesn't make the top ten in the first week it's a flop). I packed my job in on February 14th as Ammo started paying us a wage of 50 pounds a week (which wasn't bad in those days) and on the following tuesday Dominic phoned to say that we were doing "Top of the Pops" the following day. Panic!. We all met at Ammo's office and rehearsed the song and the routine. We were going to have to sing it live.

The following day we turned up at The Television Centre and found that TONY BLACKBURN was the DJ and SLADE and LYNDSEY DE PAUL were on the show. We had a run through in the morning, Dress Rehearsal; around 4 o'clock and recorded the show at 7.30pm in front of a studio audience. It went well and afterwards Julie's Dad, BRUCE FORSYTH, turned up to see Julie and took us all out for a meal.The following night we all went to Martine's House to watch "Top of the Pops" we were all pleased, but according to Brookie, I didn't smile enough. We did "Top of The Pops" three more times with "there's a Whole Lot of Loving" and the record peaked at No.2 held off the top spot by "The Bay City Rollers" record "Bye Bye Baby"

On wednesday 19th March we thought that Guys n' Dolls were finished before they had hardly got going. Two of the session singers Claire Torrey and Kay Garner had an article in the Daily Mirror saying that they sang on the record with Tony Burrows and Russell Stone and it wasn't us singing. Amazingly that was the beginning and the end of the matter because after about a week it was hardly ever mentioned again. We had sung the song live on Television 4 times and no one ever said that it didn't sound like the record.

Another problem arose when we discovered that there was another group called "Guys n' Dolls" from County Durham. After various threats of legal action there was a meeting between AMMO and John Wray the manager from the other group and it was agreed they would change their name to "KISSIN COUSINS" and AMMO would write a song for them.

Shortly after this we recorded our first album at Chipping Norton Studios in Oxfordshire and we drove down there in our Mercedes Van, which Ammo had just bought, by our new Roadie Ivor (The Driver). The van was kitted out with aircraft seats and had belonged to someone who used to take dogs around in it. It never quite lost it's Doggy smell so we called it "SMELLY". We recorded several songs written by Ammo, a couple of covers ie "River Deep Mountain High" and a "Beach Boys" medly, along with a couple of our songs Thereze's "Give a Little Love" and my song "Thomas J. Cricker".

On Monday 7th April 1975 Guys n' Dolls performed a live show for the first time at Merlins Night Club in Plymouth it was the beginning of four weeks solid work with a show every night. One week in Plymouth then on to Baileys in Leicester and Liverpool and finally The Dolce Vita in Birmingham. During the first week in Plymouth we met Ray Monk who was the keyboard player in the club band. Ray became our musical director and stayed with us for five years. Today he is musical director for Des O'Connor and does all the musical arrangements on "Stars in their Eyes".

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Guys n' Dolls 2.