Grapefruit were a London-based British band of the late 1960s, brought together by Terry Doran of Apple Publishing, a music publishing company started and owned by the Beatles. Their brand of music was a typical late 1960s blend of rock, which they often fused with psychedelic effects such as phasers and vocoders, or classical arrangements.
In summer 1967, Doran, a longtime friend of Brian Epstein's and the new managing director of Apple Publishing, signed Scottish-born singer and bass guitarist George Alexander, born Alexander Young, the older brother of the Easybeats' guitarist/songwriter George Young (and also of Malcolm and Angus Young, both founding members of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC), to a publishing contract. Alexander Young had chosen to remain in Britain when the rest of the Youngs emigrated to Australia, and had previously played with The Bobby Patrick Six, with whom he toured Germany in the mid-1960s. In November 1967, John Perry, a former member of Tony Rivers and the Castaways, pitched some of his songs to Doran at Apple Publishing. Doran rejected the songs but proposed combining Perry and his bandmates Geoff Swettenham and Pete Swettenham with Alexander to form a new group. The band was named Grapefruit by John Lennon after a book written by his future wife Yoko Ono that was also entitled Grapefruit. Doran became their manager, seeing some commercial potential in them.
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Links to Peel[]
Grapefruit did a session for Top Gear in January 1968, backed by Bill Shepherd and his orchestra, which was broadcast on 21 January 1968, where Peel and Tommy Vance were co-hosting the show.
Peel saw the group perform at St Paul's Cathedral for the "Pop Experience" event in October of that year (see Gigography 1968).
Sessions[]
Breaking up a dream by Grapefruit (around the BBC)
Session is available on Around The BBC CD, 2007 (RPM retrodisc – Retro 817)
1. Recorded: 1968-01-15. First Broadcast: 21 January 1968. Repeated 03 March 1968.
- Breaking Up A Dream / Dear Delilah / The Dead Boot / Trying To Make It Monday
Other Shows Played[]
- 07 January 1968: Dear Delilah (7") RCA Victor RCA 1656
- 14 January 1968: Dear Delilah (7") RCA Victor RCA 1656
- 28 January 1968: Dear Delilah (7") RCA Victor RCA 1656
- 31 March 1968: Elevator (7") RCA Victor RCA 1677