Two Time Winners of Opportunity Knocks!
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Line ups –
As seen in the picture below – Tony (trumpet) Pyatt – Colin Scott – Frank Dempsey – Gloria Williams – Arthur Griffiths – Lenny Barrett, John Williams.
( Rex Brough cites Modie (Arthur) Albrighton and Keith James as being in the band at some stage). Pete Chambers mentions Mick Hayes too.
Opportunity Knocks line up was – Arthur Griffiths – Frank Dempsey – Lenny Barrett – Angie – Barry Okeef – Pete Smith.
The New City Sounds was a show band that appeared on opportunity knocks in the 70s run by Frank Dempsy. After this Modie left for Germany.
Photos – Via Hobo Magazine
The name New City Sounds was inspired by a loaf of bread called the New City Loaf.
While I was running Hobo Magazine in Coventry c1973, I was introduced briefly to Frank Demsey – who gave me the above band card – strangely actually on the Broadgate Island where they were photographed!
I received an e mail from Corrie Griffiths
Hi, my dad was a member of New City Sounds from aprox 1969 to 1973. During this time they appeared on Opportunity Knocks four times, two of which they won. The first photo on your web feature (Above) from left to right is Tony (trumpet) Pyatt, Colin Scott, Frank Dempsey, Gloria Williams, Arthur Griffiths (my dad), Lenny Barret and John Williams. This was not the same line up that won opportunity knocks, that line up was Arther Griffiths, Frank Dempsey, Lenny Barret, Angie and Barry Okeef and Pete Smith. My dad Arther Griffiths continued playing the club circuit till 1995 when he hung up his saxophone and retired. Following New City Sounds was Internationals, West Bank Show Band and finally Parade. I hope this information will help you update the page with the correct information and make it more interesting.
The song they won Opportunity Knocks with was Stop the World and Let me Off. It was recorded at Midland Sound Recorders in Balsall Common.
NEW CITY SOUNDS BAND leader Frank Dempsey is the father of local folk / Jazz guitar guru Kevin Dempsey formerly of Dando Shaft.
They played nationwide and supported the likes of Pickerty Witch, The New Vaudeville Band, and even shared fish and chips with the Bay City Rollers.
In Godiva Rocked to a Backbeat – Pete Chambers tells us that the band came together in 1969 at the West End Club (Now the HQ of Mercia Radio) led by Frank Dempsey and the band became a fixture at the Free and Easy weekends. Sadly Mick Hayes, an original member who died from electrocution on stage. Original members – Frank Dempsey and Arthur Griffiths decided that Mick would want the band to continue and they came back bigger and better with Barry and Angie O’Keef and Pete Smith and Len Barrett.
” The band had a new sound and began making their mark not just in Coventry and Warwickshire but also all over the country like Leeds and Manchester. Angie brought some glamour to the band, and with her great voice and good looks became an obvious focal point of the group. ” (Backbeat)
Pete Chambers asked Arthur Griffiths about the Opportunity Knocks experience –
“It was absolutely brilliant! When we got back home we were like stars, everyone wanted to talk to us. I had people talking to me who I had never met. I remember our triumphant return to the Parkstone Club after the show. We packed the place out, it was sensational.”
After that, hey were voted top band in the Irish polls, and their van with their name on the side always received a lot of attention with people waving and saying hello. They played nationwide and supported the likes of Pickerty Witch, The New Vaudeville Band, and even shared fish and chips with the Bay City Rollers.
After Opportunity Knocks, Barry and Angie O’Keefe left the band. Barry formed the highly successful Las Vegas Showband and Angie joined the Miki Most Empire under the name Angie Miller. She released two unsuccessful singles Born to be Loved by You (RAK 209, 1975) and Stardust in Your Eyes (RAK 151, 1973; EMI/Columbia 1C 006-94 545 (Germany). And an album entitled A Woman’s Mind (SRAK515, 1975).
Arthur said: “I remember we did a demo for a song that was passed on to us, it was called Lost in France, a little while after Angie had left I heard the song on the radio, I was convinced it was Angie singing it, of course, it turned out to be Bonnie Tyler.”
This of course is not the New City Sounds playing here but it is the winning song on Opportunity Knocks sung here by Patsy Cline.
The Original line up with Frank on the left –
Pic from Godiva Rocked to a Backbeat – Pete Chambers
Later line up with Tony Pyatt (Trumpet) in the line up.
Pic from Pete Chambers.
New City Sounds had the X-Factor;
Nostalgia: From PETE CHAMBERS – BACKBEAT – Coventry Telegraph
a weekly look at the local music scene of the past.
THE area has a proud history of show/club bands, like Smackee, The Pat Gissane Showman and our featured group today the New City Sounds, who came to fame as two-time winners of the hit TV show Opportunity Knocks.
Coming together in 1969 at the old West End Club (now the HQ of Mercia FM), Led by Frank Dempsey the band became a permanent fixture at the free and easy weekends.
The future looked bright, that was until Mick Hayes died from electrocution on stage and the band came close to calling it a day.
During this painful time original members Frank Dempsey and Arthur Griffith got to thinking that Mick wouldn’t have wanted them to stop playing, it was their life. So the guys re-grouped and reinvented the New City Sounds.
They came back bigger and better with new members Barry and Angie O’Keefe, Pete Smith and Lenny Barrett. The band had a new sound and began making their mark not just in Coventry and Warwickshire but also all over the country like Leeds and Manchester. Angie brought some glamour to the band, and with her great voice and good looks became an obvious focal point of the group.
The big TV talent show of the day was Opportunity Knocks, long before Pop Idol and The X-Factor this show was discovering talent in a major way, and any self-respecting artiste would at least audition to be on the show.
New City Sounds not only auditioned for the show but actually got to be on it and won it twice, also returning for the All Winners Show.I asked Arthur Griffith about the Opportunity Knocks experience. “It was just a great experience for us, I remember Frank Dempsey saying to me: ‘I’ve waited years for this to happen’, as we stood by the voting board with our name lit up on it.
“It was absolutely brilliant, when we got back home we were like stars, everyone wanted to talk to us, I had people talking to me who I had never met. I remember our triumphant return to the Parkstone Club after the show. We packed the place out, it was sensational.”
Life had suddenly changed for the band, they were now a “successful, as-seen-on-TV band” and they were packing the Parkstone out every time they played there.
They were voted top band in the Irish polls, and their van with their name on the side always received a lot of attention with people waving and saying hello.
They played nationwide and supported the likes of Pickerty Witch, The New Vaudeville Band, and even shared fish and chips with the Bay City Rollers.
Shortly after the TV success, for whatever reason members Barry and Angie O’Keefe left the band, Barry formed the highly successful Las Vegas Showband and Angie joined the Miki Most Empire under the name Angie Miller. She release two unsuccessful singles Born to be Loved by You and Stardust in Your Eyes. And an album entitled A Woman’s Mind.
Arthur said: “I remember we did a demo for a song that was passed on to us, it was called Lost in France, a little while after Angie had left I heard the song on the radio, I was convinced it was Angie singing it, of course, it turned out to be Bonnie Tyler.”
Meanwhile New City Sounds had taken on new members including Tony Pyatt. I asked Tony how he felt “cold-calling” on a band that had won Opportunity Knocks?
“I came in at the deep end, I was petrified – it was unreal,” he said.
The band continued to tour until Arthur and Tony joined the Internationals, Tony who had just missed out on Opportunity Knocks success was delighted when this new band passed the audition to appear on the show, fate sadly intervened and just as Tony was about to fulfil his ambition the show was permanently cancelled.
Tony and Arthur continued to play and tour and finally joined the band Parade marking a 20-year partnership.
Pop Trivia – NEW CITY SOUNDS BAND leader Frank Dempsey is the father of local folk guru Kevin Dempsey.
THE song they won Opportunity Knocks with was Stop the World and Let me Off. It was recorded at Midland Sound Recorders in Balsall Common.
THE name New City Sounds was inspired by a loaf of bread called the New City Loaf.
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