Black Jake

[royclough]

One of Tony Jackson's last performances at Matthew Street festival in 1997.

It is somewhat ironic that Searchers biggest success in USA was with a number that Tony sang lead vocal on but he had left them by time of it's release in US. Love Potion No Nine was never released as a single in UK.

TJ was clearly the lead vocalist based on first two albums and first two singles.

Chris Curtis and TJ did not get on and TJ was basically forced out.

He made some fine singles in his own right but only one ever dented the charts his first single By Bye Baby.

He was invited by John McNally to the Searchers fan convention in 2002 but he was not a well man, but was pleasant to talk to and seemed a bit shy.

When Mike Pender left The Searchers he did contact Tony with a view to him joining his new line-up, think he felt by having two originals in the line up he would have the edge on John McNally and Frank Allen.

Finance dispute was apparently reason Jackson did not join Pender but promotional photos were taken.

[admin]

Roy: This video is priceless. Thanks for reminding me of him.

A while back I wrote a brief article on Black Jake. I had great fun in putting it together and it gave me a new appreciation of his talents. Too bad the come back didn't work out.

[royclough]

A while back I wrote a brief article on Black Jake. I had great fun in putting it together and it gave me a new appreciation of his talents. Too bad the come back didn't work out.

A fine article it was too.