Hank Marvin's solo career beyond the Shadows

Hank Marvin with the Shadows in the late 1960's

In the late 1960's after the Shadows split, guitarist Hank Marvin embarked on a solo album project.

The Solo album from 1969

Hank Marvin had been perhaps Britain's first guitar hero. Whereas guitarist Bert Weedon had issued chart releases, he never enjoyed the success of either Hank Marvin or the Shadows.  Hank's style and sound influenced countless guitarists to follow, from Eric Clapton to Brian May and many others.

Artwork by the legendary Cream studio adorned many of the Shadows 'reformed' albums

With the demise of the Shadows in 1968, Hank Marvin was then able to take on his solo album project and to explore guitar sounds using the then limited array (by today's standards) available, beyond what was perhaps expected by the fans of that band.

String of hits was the Shadows really back in the groove album 

The solo album spawned some great tracks, Aquarius, Windmills of your mind, Goodnight Dick  were just some of the tracks that stand out on this album.

Music had changed in the 60's beyond measure and by 1969 it was a completely different world from 1960 when the Shadows hit the big time with Apache.

Change of address included new material rather than rehashing old material

By 1973, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch of the Shadows, formed a group with John Farrar called Marvin, Welch and Farrar and performed mainly vocal harmony numbers, taking this out onto the road, they inevitably got 'Play Apache, Hank!' from the audience. Clearly, the people wanted the old Shadows material over the vocal offerings.

Hits right up your street proved that the Shadows were still relevant in the 1980s -

they were much in demand for concerts, touring and television appearances

With renewed interest in the Shadows following their 1975 Eurovision appearance, they issued their 20 golden greats album which surprisingly sold well, to the degree that demand for them to tour again became realised. This tour produced the single 'Don't cry for me Argentina' from the musical 'Evita' which was on stage in 1978. From that, the String of Hits album was brought about.

Guardian Angel was perhaps their best album of the 1980's

This album started a second wind of the Shadows, which lasted until 1990, when Hank went off to do three solo albums at the end of the then current Shadows contracts.

It was some time before these were completed and there was still demand for the Shadows, but Hank Marvin had moved to Australia with his family and the distance from the UK did mean that getting together as a band was more difficult.

Hank's post Shadows solo albums spawned tours throughout the 1990s

The solo albums did give Hank Marvin a blank piece of paper to create new music, often working with people like Warren Bennett, son of Shadows drummer Brian Bennett did give Hank a new musical direction.

Hank Marvin playing a Fender signature model Electric acoustic guitar

Hank's son Ben Marvin joined Hank on stage in the late 1990's as part of the live line up. With a modern approach and input, this helped to shape the music towards a different viewpoint. Hank's playing has grown over the years and the inventiveness he had from the 1960's is still there, evident in the arrangements of his solo work.

Hank Marvin with one of his mid 1990's custom shop Fender Stratocasters

The 1990's albums Hank played on were really good from the point of view of players and listeners, the music was instrumental but the guitar work was interesting to hear and the arrangements excellent.

In the 60's the Shadows tended to produce shortish instrumental pieces, often they could have done with more middle 8's to take them over the 3.30 length, by the 80's they had gone the other way and the pieces tended to top the 4 minutes length on some of the more sedate numbers.

Hank Marvin with his first Fender Stratocaster in 1959

However from this mk2 era, a number of exciting pieces such as 'Hammerhead' were the direction that the Shadows should have been going. These outstanding numbers were high quality, with catchy composition and were certainly professionally performed. 

The fanbase was and still is big, considering how many other bands over the years have come and gone, the Shadows have retained a loyal following from people, even those born well after their original hits.

Hank Marvin came back to the Shadows for their 2004 and 2005 tours

The 2000's saw the unthinkable happen, a 2004 'farewell tour' by the Shadows and this was so popular that a 2005 tour was staged, followed by a tour with Cliff Richard.

Going back to the 1980's albums the Shadows made, they produced some very inventive music and it is a shame that they have not convened to produce more under the Shadows banner.

Hank's solo work is still interesting, because Hank is still interested in the music. We look forward to what he produces in the future.