On this day, British pop band The Kursaal Flyers played Cardiff’s Top Rank.
Formed in Southend-on-Sea in 1973. They are most famous for their 1976 single "Little Does She Know" (which was a Top 20 hit) and were the subject of a BBC documentary following them on tour in 1975.
The group formed when Shuttleworth, Douglas, Birch, Collins, Bull and Hatfield, who had all performed locally in various combinations around Southend, got together in October 1973 to form a new band. They made their first appearance together as the Kursaal Flyers – named after the imitation train which was used to advertise Southend's famous amusement hall, the Kursaal, which had recently closed[2] – at the Blue Boar pub in Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, in February 1974, mainly playing covers of country rock songs but over time increasingly writing their own material.
Through contacts in the band with Dr. Feelgood, they played some support slots in London, where they were seen by influential agents and songwriters. All bar Hatfield turned professional at the start of 1975, signed for Jonathan King's UK Records, and released their first album Chocs Away. Although the singles "Speedway" and "Hit Records" received some airplay, the band failed to garner any commercial success. Their second album, The Great Artiste, also sold poorly.
Nevertheless the band developed a solid live reputation on the London pub rock scene, with an eclectic mixture of original material and cover versions, fronted by Paul Shuttleworth's "wide boy" persona.
The group toured widely and in 1977 released Five Live Kursaals, but failed to gain any further commercial success and, after numerous personnel changes, the band disintegrated in late 1977.
