How The Fantoms Became A Band

A Musical Journey

The Fantoms recorded the below film footage of 'D In Love' with Cliff at Londons 'Hard Rock Cafe' on April 30th 1981.

The original setup of The Fantoms (Nick Kennedy, Malcolm Motler, Neil Brentnall & Glenn Brentnall) started life in the late summer of 1980 after a band called 'Rebound' called it a day.

Three of the 'to be' Fantoms had been in Rebound at one time or another. Rebound used to perform a lot of 'Rollin Rock' tunes, by artists such as Ray Campi, Mac Curtis, Eddie Cochran, Cliff Richard, Billy Fury, and not forgetting the man himself, Elvis.

London DJ, 'Wild Wax', was looking for a 'Shadows' style band for a BBC television Cliff Richard documentary. He heard the band's demo of 'Never Mind' and the deed was done .... The Fantoms got the job.

After the show with Cliff at the 'Hard Rock Cafe' in London, the gigs were coming in pretty fast. In June, the band went into the studio to record six songs.... 'Don't Knock Upon My Door', 'Nearly All The Time', 'No Fancy Car', 'Idle Star', 'Fallen Shadow' and 'Satellite'.

In August 1981, they went back to the studio to record their first single, ' Five Foot Two (Eyes of Blue)', which was B-sided with a slower version of The Fantoms' own instrumental composition, 'Idle Star', recorded for the Magnum Force label.

Recentley re-released on all major digital platforms - Five Foot Two (Eyes of Blue) originally released August 1981 on 7" Vinyl

Early 1980s image of The Fantoms