The Very Best of the Casuals

Originally formed in 1960 by John Tebb (piano and vocals and Howard Newcombe (guitar; they added Don Fortune (drums and Zenon Kowalski (bass and became The Casuals in 1961. After turning professional, they moved to Italy and recorded a number of covers of well-known UK material. Fortune and Kowalski left, and were followed by a series of replacements, culminating in Mick Bray (drums) and Ian Good (bass), from other well-known Lincoln groups, The Avengers and The Sultans.
Key members
· Howard Newcombe - guitar trumpet, vocals - (born 25 November 1945,
· Alan Taylor - bass (born 2 February 1947, - died 27 November 2011)
· Johnny Tebb - keyboards - (born John Roy Tebb, 1 October 1945, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England)
· Bob O'Brien - drums - (born Robert O'Brien, 26 September 1944,

Three times winners on Opportunity Knocks, British television’s hugely popular talent show of the late 60s, the Casuals subsequently left the UK for Italy, where they became a leading attraction. Alan Taylor (b. Halifax, Yorkshire, England; guitar, bass), Johnny Tebb (b. 1 October 1945, Lincoln, England; organ), Howard Newcombe (b. Lincoln, England; guitar, trumpet) and Robert O’Brien (b. Bridge Of Allan, Central Scotland; drums) were based in Milan for several years before returning to Britain in 1968, when their single, ‘Jesamine’, entered the charts. The song was originally recorded by the Bystanders as ‘When Jesamine Goes’, but the Casuals’ inherently commercial reading coincided with a prevailing trend for emotional ballads. The single ultimately reached number 2, but later releases were less successful and ‘Toy’ (1968), which peaked at number 30, was their only other hit. The Casuals continued to record superior pop: Move leader Roy Wood wrote and produced the polished ‘Caroline’ (1969), but as the decade closed, so their style of music grew increasingly anachronistic.