The Foundations


The Foundations comprised a late 60's group with a somewhat odd assortment of members who combined to make a very pleasing, very commercial sound.

The group first came together in London in 1967. Early on they were performing in the basement Butterfly Club when Barry Class, a record dealer, caught their act. Class liked what he heard and recommended them to Tony Macauley of the Pye Records label. Macauley was, among other things, a songwriter who was looking for a music group to perform his songs, and he thought that the Foundations would do just fine in that regard. He signed them to a recording contract.

The Foundations were multi-racial, featuring singers from a wide variety of age groups and from different parts of the world -- three of them were London-born but the others hailed from places far and wide such as Trinidad, the West Indies, Jamaica, and Ceylon. Included were Clem Curtis (born in 1940) on vocals, Alan Warner (1947) on guitar and vocals, Peter Macbeth (1943) on bass, Eric Allandale (1936) on trombone, Pat Burke (1937) and Mike Elliot (1929) on sax, Tony Gomez (1948) on organ, and Tim Harris (1948) on drums. Their first single was released on the Uni label and was influenced to a great extent by the then-dominant Motown sound, and Baby, Now That I've Found You was a catchy song that rose to number one on the UK chart and number 11 in the USA in early 1968. The Foundations had arrived. By the end of the decade they would have six hits in the UK, three of them in the top ten. Elliot left the group and Curtis, the lead singer, was replaced by Colin Young (born in 1944), from Barbados.

Next up, the Foundations then recorded a song co-written by Macauley and Mike D'Abo, who had been with Manfred Mann. In early 1969 Build Me Up Buttercup became their second million-selling record as it went to number 2 UK and number 3 USA. Build Me Up Buttercup was the second and last top forty hit for the Foundations in the United States.

The Foundations might have continued for a number of years had they been encouraged to come up with their own material, or maybe they just did not have it in them to write a good song. Later in 1969 they had a top ten UK hit with In The Bad, Bad Old Days before splitting up in 1970. Clem Curtis eventually formed a group and called it the New Foundations, perfomring in various clubs around the UK.

The Foundations are remembered primarily for their two giant hits from the late 60's, Baby, Now That I've Found You and Build Me Up Buttercup.


Most Recent Update: December 1, 2009

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