Wayne Fontana

Fontana was born in Levenshulme, Manchester, Lancashire, and took his stage name from Elvis Presley’s drummer, D. J. Fontana.[2] In June 1963 he formed his backing group, the Mindbenders, and secured a recording contract with, coincidentally, Fontana Records.[2] With the band, Fontana released his biggest single “The Game of Love” and after several less successful singles, including “It’s Just a Little Bit Too Late” and “She Needs Love” he left the band in October 1965.[2] He reportedly quit during a concert performance.[3]

Fontana remained under contract to the label after parting with the Mindbenders and continued alone, using musicians working under the name of the Opposition, notably Frank Renshaw (lead guitar) (born 22 June 1943, Wythenshawe, Manchester), Bernie Burns (drums), Stuart Sirret (bass), and Phil Keen (drums), among others. Sometimes the band was billed as the Mindbenders, sometimes just as the Wayne Fontana Band. Struggling to achieve chart success, Fontana recorded a number of songs by outside writers with B-sides being mostly his own compositions. Fontana’s biggest solo single, “Pamela, Pamela”, written by Graham Gouldman, reached No. 5 in Australia’s Kent Music Report and No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart in early 1967.[4] It was his last single to chart in the UK.[5] The later singles included another Gouldman composition, “The Impossible Years”. In 1970 he was one of the first performers at the Glastonbury Festival.[3] After a streak of flopped releases, Fontana took a break in 1970