On this day in 1964, the unlikely combination of rock pioneer Bill Haley and pop sensations Manfred Mann played the Sophia Gardens Pavilion. Manfred Mann had replaced Brenda Lee, who went home citing exhaustion.
Star-struck fans in attendance that night
The package tour also contained
Bill Haley & His Comets
Manfred Mann
Nashville Teens
Rocking Berries
Bobby Patrick Big Six
Untamed Four
Bob Bain (compere)
The Promoter was Don Arden; the renowned, ruthless manager and promoter who was known as 'the Al Capone of pop'... and father to Sharon Osbourne
Arden managed The Nashville Teens, keeping them on a gruelling tour schedule. When band pianist John Hawken chastised him in his Carnaby Street office for the meagre sums he advanced the group, Arden began to strangle the musician before attempting to throw him from the second storey window, shouting: "You're going over, John, you're going over." The distraught Hawken freed himself and fled, but this story is not untypical of those concerning Arden's handling of anyone who challenged him.
