History of the Bands
Tony Savva started his career in London as a bass player &
vocalist in various bands -
The first group was "The Rivals" - Andy Mitchell (lead guitar),
Colin Cookson (rhythm guitar), Bobbie Scott (drums) and
Tony Savva
(bass & vocals)
"Thee of London" - was the next band. They were managed by Reg King
and released a single called "Each & Every Day" (written by
Mick Jagger & Keith Richards).
Next came "The New Breed" - They were managed by Don Arden and he
wanted them to record one of two songs written by Wes Farrell & Bert
Russell. They wanted to record Hang On Sloopy but unfortunately the
McCoys (who recorded it on Bert Russell's own Bang Records label)
got there first so they recorded the other one, Friends & Lovers
Forever.
They then became the "Wild Angels" - and they performed at the
Marquee Club in London.
In the Wild Angels the vocalist was Dave Arden, Don Arden's son. His
sister was Sharon Arden who married Ozzy Osbourne (Trivia.. Sharon
Osbourne is Don Arden's daughter)
The most successful of these early bands was "A Wild Uncertainty".
They released a single "A Man With Money" (an old Everly Brothers
hit) in 1966 (the B side was "Broken Truth" written by Tony).
When Keith Moon was going through a bad time with the Who (he & Pete Townshend were not getting on too well) he wanted to join the band
so he rehearsed for a full day with them at the Kingston Cellar
Club. When he agreed to join them as long as he got a £50 per week
retainer Don Arden turned him down flat.
At around this time Tony Savva was auditioned for the Jimi Hendrix
Experience but unfortunately it was decided that the band should
remain
as a three piece. Mitch Mitchell still kept in contact with Tony and
he did the percussion on the Wild Uncertainty single.
The other guys in A Wild Uncertainty were ..
Gordon Barton on drums (he went on to join Andwella's Dream and then
John Entwistle's OX)
Peter Tidmarsh on guitar (he carried on with Tony and wrote one of
the Samuel Prody Tracks) - if anyone knows what happened to Pete
than send us am email via the Contact page.
Eddie Hardin on keyboards - He went on to join the Spencer Davis
Group and after a great period with Hardin & York he is still
playing with them along with the fantastic Miller Anderson &
Colin Hodgkinson.
They were then managed by the infamous Andrew Loog Oldham who
managed the Rolling Stones and founded the Immediate label.
In 1968 Tony worked with Lionel Bart on writing a very strange album
called "Isn't This Where We Came In?" (Deram - DML 1028).
There were many well known performers on the recording - Madeline
Bell, Danny Thompson, John Cameron, Willie Rushton, Rosetta
Hightower, Kenny Lynch (hmmmm...) and the sleeve notes were by
Jonathan King.
Tony went on to a couple of other bands - Smiffy's Gang and then
Giant. It was Giant that eventually moved south to Brighton in the
early 70s and became Samuel Prody.
Originally Giant was formed by Pete Sears (who went on to Jefferson Starship, now with the FOB - the
Flying Other Brothers).
In Giant the guitarist was Davey O'List (ex- the Nice) after
Pete
Sears left. When the band moved down to Brighton he left after a few
months to be replaced again by Pete Tidmarsh. Pete left and he was
replaced by Keith Hurley from Brighton.
The band wanted to change their name to Samuel Purdy but as this
might have caused a problem with the world famous shotgun maker they
were advised to change it to Samuel Prody.
After the still popular Samuel Prody album was released the band
broke up and Tony joined a great band called Rusty Butler. A young
Dave Greenfield was the keyboard player who went on to join
The
Stranglers (and he is of course still with them!)
Rusty Butler spawned two bands Sticky Wickit and Krakatoa.
Sticky Wickit are..
Eddie Renouf - Guitars & Vocals
Tony Savva - Lead Vocals
Andy Haselip - Bass & Vocals
Chris Dawson - Keyboards
Martin O'Hara - Drums
Click here to see and hear the 12 minute epic SAM by Sticky Wickit
In the 1980s Tony teamed up with Ada Stevens a hyperactive and
slightly unhinged guitarist and they decided to do a load of pub and
club gigs as a duo. Not like the other ones doing bland pop covers
but much heavier and a lot funnier! They were The Savaloy Boys.
After 2 or 3 years of playing and a whole lot of drinking etc. Tony
decided he wanted to go and live in Cyprus, where he is today, still
playing and singing for a living. Ada retired from gigs in 2002 but
has been known to join Tony in Cyprus for the "odd" Savaloy reunion
as well as being responsible for this web site.
A Wild Uncertainty
A Wild Uncertainty
Lionel Bart
Samuel Prody
Samuel Prody
Rusty Butler
The Savaloy Boys