The Rokes

The Rokes were four musicians already active in the UK musical scene, since the beginning of the sixties, when they arrived in Italy for a tour as a support band of the singer Colin Hicks. The name of the band was then The Cabin Boys, with the same line-up (Shapiro, the band leader, Charlton, Posner, Shepstone). During this tour they were noticed by a well known Italian talent-scout, Teddy Reno, previosly a singer and actor and at that time the husband of the most famous female singer of the first sixties, Rita Pavone.

Teddy Reno invited them to an event and other concerts and created a contact with an Italian label (Arc) in order to publish their first single in Italy in 1964, a cover of a rock'n roll classic (Shake Rattle and Roll) and an Italian song on the other side, followed very soon by another disc with a melodic Italian song on the A-Side (Un'anima pura: a pure soul). They changed also their name to Rokes, a term not so common in English, but in Italian it sounds very well ...

Their first success has been a cover from Jackie DeShannon's "When You Walk In The Room", in Italian C'è una strana espressione nei tuoi occhi (there is a strange glance in your eyes), in 1965, and the smash-hit, the year after, has been another cover, from Bob Lind's "Cheryl's Going Home", in Italian Che colpa abbiamo noi (what is our blame?), with totally unrelated lyrics, speaking of the new beat movement. In the meanwhile they have been also one of the more requested bands for live sets, thanks to their high professionality, and they have been also the performer of the starting concert at the Piper Club, on February 1965.

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