Nottingham, England native Lee Shane (Brian Hickton) reportedly began his musical career in England with a ‘50s group called the Trenniers. He later entered a singing contest sponsored by Decca Records. A band called Rory Storm & the Hurricanes provided the backup for the vocal contestants. Eventually in May of 1961 Shane would replace Rory as vocalist in the Hurricanes which featured future Beatle drummer Ringo Starr.
After the breakup of the Hurricanes, Shane moved to Germany where he sang at venues including the Star Klub around the same time that the Beatles began making waves there. Throughout the ‘60s Lee and his groups toured Europe playing at clubs and military bases. He came to the U.S. in 1970 settling in Baltimore where he formed the Top-40 band Spring Fever.
Spring Fever played Top-40 and performed a ‘50s style floor show. The group featured lead vocalist Lee Shane backed by Mike Shipley (guitar), Al Vickers (bass), Herschel Himmelstein (keyboards), Mark Filling (drums) was later replaced with Jere Stermer (ex-Tempests, Jeremiah, Shane), and later with Jerry Nitzberg (drums ex-Fragile, Nightingale, and others). They could be heard at the Frigate, the Act III, Club 175, Nashville Scene, Club Brandy, Antonio’s, Hitching Post (Chambersburg)… Also seen at school dances and proms…
Ads below: Club 175 April 1974, The Frigate December 1973, Club Brandy May 1974
Stermer went on to join Dryed Ice. Shipley later with Wintersunn. Nitzberg (see bio) was involved in an accident while returning home from a Spring Fever gig and subsequently stopped playing out. Lee Shane (Brian ‘The Mate’ Hickton) continued to entertain as a karaoke DJ for weddings, parties, and clubs.
The following liner notes are borrowed from Lee’s 2009 CD “Almost Famous.”
“Born in Derby, England in 19?? (would rather not say)… Never having sung a note other than with teen idols, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, and Elvis to records in the living room… on my 18th birthday, I went with two mates (Mel & Norman) for a legal pint at a local pub. As a joke, they signed me up for a singing competition. The joke was on them while I WON… Offers started rolling in… I began singing with various local groups… The Cyclones (as Lee Shane), The Renegades, Rufus’s Rebels… In 1961 I went to Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Skegness with my mate Mel and entered another contest and won… The band that backed the singers was Rory Storm and The Hurricanes (with Ringo Starr on drums). The following Saturday there was a knock on my motel door and there stood Ringo and his band mates… Their singer, Rory Storm, had taken ill and if they didn’t get another singer “like right now” they would lose their summer gig. So I became Rory Storm and sang with Ringo and The Hurricanes for the rest of the season… Went down to London for a record deal with Decca Records… They gave me a new name – Lee Shane – and a new band – The Trenniers… I recorded a record called ‘Angel Face’, but it didn’t do very good. I think my mum and dad and family purchased all the copies… My dad has the only copy I know of and he won’t give it up…
“Lee Shane and the band soon got shipped over to Hamburg, Germany… Who do we end up crossing paths with… none other than the original Silver Beatles, at that time Pete Best was the drummer… They were performing at the Star Club and we were 2 streets away at the Top Ten Club… We would hang out when we weren’t playing… Sometimes we joined in with each other on the stage and jammed… We were 18-19 years old, free spirits, playing good rock-n-roll and having fun. The German teens loved the English bands… I toured briefly in the U.K. in ’63… sang in various venues in Germany and the U.K. throughout the next five years, including many U.S. military EM clubs. In 1967 I left Germany and went back home to England for 2 years…
“Came to the United States in 1969 and settled in Ft. Meade, Maryland area… I kept Lee Shane as my stage name and started up another band called Lee Shane and Springfever in 1970… signed on with Starleigh Enterprises and sang at clubs throughout the Baltimore – Ocean City – Washington area with a six-piece band, doing mostly top ten covers and 50’s and 60’s rock-n-roll… built this band from scratch as a singer, leader, and business manager and actually sold it and its contracts when I decided to hang up my microphone in 1982.
“Several years later, my wife surprised me with Karaoke equipment for my Christmas present… I began my current gig as DJ and Karaoke host two nights per week at Schooner’s in Carney, Maryland in 1997. I’ve continued DJ-ing on the side doing four or five weddings or parties a month… The rest, as they say, is tomorrow’s history.”
2009(CD) (indie) Almost Famous
