Sold Date: February 26, 2018
Start Date: February 16, 2018
Final Price: £15.99 (GBP)
Bid Count: 1
Seller Feedback: 43
Buyer Feedback: 32

Anyone who was attending discos and clubs in the late sixties and early seventies would soon come across mod favourites, Jimmy James and the Vagabonds. They didn't always set the charts alight but no disco was complete without a set of this band's favourites which would invariably fill the dance floor when they came on. This excellent condition pairing of 'Help Yourself' (nothing to do with Tom Jones' hit of the same name,  by the way) and Jimmy's self-penned 'Why' was released in 1970 and is now tricky to find - but here it is. And it comes complete with its own original, iconic Trojan sleeve complete with great album cover photographs on the back. Transport yourself back to those days with the minimum of fuss by snapping up this single. This is from Jimmy's own website: Jimmy James started his musical career, composing and singing, at the early age of 16.

His first successful single ‘Bewildered and Blue’ was followed by another self penned hit ‘Come to Me Softly’ which has become his signature song.

In 1964 he was asked to join as the lead singer with one of Jamaica’s leading bands ‘The Vagabonds’ and together they left Jamaica for what was to be a six month tour of the UK.

The outfit became so popular that they decided to extend the tour and thus ended up being residents of the UK.

Their popularity within the UK provided a platform for them to launch into the rest of Europe.

From 1965 to c.1968 the band headlined at The Marquee in Wardour Street, London. From there they were invited to Hungary to perform a series of concerts, making them the first ever musical unit from the western hemisphere to have entertained behind the Iron Curtain.

Many tours followed - Tunisia, Germany, Greece, France, Belgium, Holland and others.

In 1966 The Vagabonds recorded their now legendary album, ‘The New Religion’, which really established the outfit as the most sought after working band in the UK. Jimmy’s recording of Neil Diamond's ‘Red, Red Wine’ in 1969, taken from the Vagabonds’ second album ‘Open up your Soul’, gave them their first commercial hit record.

Jimmy has shared the stage with world renowned acts such as The Beatles, The Who, Sonny and Cher, Rod Stewart, The Rolling Stones, Bobby Womack, Solomon Burke, Jimi Hendrix and many others.