The Spencer Davis Group was a mid- 1960s British rock band founded by Spencer Davis (born 1942 in Swansea, Wales). They started off with cover versions ("Dimples"), but came to own success at the end of 1965 with "Somebody Help Me" (first #1). In 1966 followed "When I Come Home" and "Keep On Running. For the German market the group released "Det war in Schöneberg,im Monat Mai/Mädel ruck ruck ruck an meiner grünen Seite" (traditional songs from early Berlin) as a tribute-single to that audience, due to the fact that Spencer Davis had been studying in Western Berlin in the early 60s. By the end of 1966/beginning of 1967 the group released two more massive smashes named "Gimme Some Lovin'" (which was re-released as a new 12-minute-long version by Traffic in 1972) and "I'm a Man" (1967 January, two of their best known hits, especially in their biggest market, the U.S.
Behind the scenes the record firm tried to put up another "super-group" using the talents of the very young Steve Winwood. So Steve (vocals) and brother Muff Winwood (bass guitar) left to form Traffic. In a so-called joint-venture "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" (movie-theme song) was credited to both bands. Traffic took off in May 1967 with "Paper Sun". But Spencer Davis continued and released some remarkable singles which were only minor hits: "Time Seller" in July 1967 was one of the bigger to follow. Also that flip-side called "Don't Want You No More" was given airplay.
This was followed by "Mr. Second Class" in late 1967 (which was heavily heard on Radio Caroline International-that time one of the only remaining (two) radioships off the British coast) and—as last minor hit—"After Tea" in 1968. That single was released at the same time also by the German band "The Rattles" and gave a lot of trouble, which led finally to a temporary stop of all activities of the band. However, Spencer Davis never gave up. He produced during the late 70s and early 80s some good jazz-oriented albums. Unfortunately all fell through and were no commercial success.
