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© Stan Laundon
CORANTOS
The Corantos
Brian Pounder on drums, Ken Nicholson on bass, Alan Plant on lead guitar and vocals, Mike Watson on rhythm guitar with Pauline Cairns on vocals. Mike Watson, who sent us the photograph, says he is not sure what year it's from but it must be quite early "judging by the guitars we had!"
The Corantos
The Corantos was formed in 1962 by drummer, Brian Pounder from Peterlee, in County Durham. The original line up consisted of female vocalist Pauline Cairns, who went on to marry Brian, the lead guitarist was Alan Plant, Ken Nicholson was the bass player and Mike Watson, who later formed the Country Gentlemen, was rhythm guitarist. The band's manager at the time was Jack Pounder.
In 1965 Pauline and Brian were crowned King and Queen of Hartlepool Carnival and The Corantos, who had changed their line up by then, were joined by ex-Tony and the Meazzis members Bob Ferry and Terry Southwood. The band played on the back of a carnival float in the parade and later that evening at a dance in the Borough Hall.
This photograph of The Corantos band members was taken at singer Alan Plant's wedding. Guitarist Mike Watson is on the left, Brian Pounder, the band's drummer was best man, the groom Alan Plant is the happy man and Ken Nicholson, the bassist, completes the line up. The photograph, taken in 1964, was sent to us by Brian Pounder.
The cutting above appeared in the girls magazine Mirabelle in 1964 which featured articles on local groups. Readers were invited to write in and vote over a few weeks for their favourite group of the time.
As you can see by the final results The Corantos did well - topping the poll thanks to readers of Mirabelle
Two old programmes that The Corantos used in the 1960's. Pauline's songs are in red, Brian's are in the light colours and the remainder of the band's numbers in blue.
The Corantos were one of several bands on the the Big Beat Show which was held on Hartlepool Promenade (not West Hartlepool) on July 4th, 1964 which had the Liverpool band The Searchers topping the bill. Apparently the weather wasn't too good on the day in question and the anticipated crowds never turned up. The Big Three weren't available for this show and their place was taken by Hartlepool rhythm and blues band The Plainsmen. The poster came from the collection of Mike Watson, ex-Corantos and Country Gentlemen.
This page is dedicated in memory of Ken Nicholson
My thanks to Brian Pounder & Mike Watson for their contributions to this page and sharing their collection of photos
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