Who were lee diamond and the Cherokees?

Answer 1

The Cherokees were a large chunk of a splinter group, that had backed & recorded with Ricky Wayne, who was recorded by the Legendary Joe Meek. After they split with with Ricky they formed the Cherokees with singer Lee Diamond. Ron Bowdery the rythym guitarist's father worked @ Phillips records & took in a tape of the band. Johnny Franz the A & R man passed the tape on to Jack Baverstock of sister Company, Fontana records. Baverstock had the band in for a record test & as a result gave Lee & the Cherokees a record contract. 'I'll step down/Josphinw was their first single - released in June 1961. Garry Mills had recorded the same song, so this hurt each others sales. The Garry Miils version reached the latter prt of the top 20, but Lee & the Cherokees version just missed out on charting. Musical differences caused a split with Lee & the Cherokees carried qwith a new singer, Vic Mardell. The band was very busy & was managed for a time by Max Diamond who wrote many of comedian Charlie Drake's hits. They split up in 1965