Casuals

Group Members:

    * Howard Newcomb
    * John Tebb
    * Alan Taylor
    * Bon O'Brien

The Casuals, although British, spent several years honing their skills in mainland Europe, particularly Italy, where they based themselves for a while before they returned to Britain in 1967. In 1968, they were successful in Opportunity knocks, a TV talent series. Mary Hopkin was another singer that became famous that year via the same series. Following their success on Opportunity knocks, the Casuals had their first and only major hit, Jesamine, which reached number two on the UK charts, second only to Those were the days, a song performed by Mary Hopkin.

After Jesamine, the Casuals had a minor hit with Toy and their album sold well but that was the end of their UK success. Roy Wood (famous with the Move for Flowers on the rain and Blackberry way, and with Wizzard for I wish it could be Christmas everyday) provided them with a song, Caroline, but even that didn't get the Casuals back in the UK charts.

Jesamine, Toy and Caroline are all here, along with several other originals and a few covers – these include Love me tonight (Tom Jones) and Never my love (Association). The musical backing is best described as orchestral rock.

The Casuals are one of those might-have-been groups with just one big hit to their credit. I sense that they ought to have had more, but they never found or wrote another song as good as Jesamine. If you just want Jesamine, you can find it on any number of various artist compilations, as you will find if you do a song search. The unusual name means all the hits you get are for this song and I am not aware of any cover versions. If, like me, you want to explore further, this is for you.

Discography: