The Rokes

The Rokes were one of the more unusual British Invasion-era groups to come out of England, if only for the pattern and locale of their success. They never sold many records in England, or any in America, but they were a major act in Italy and also managed to make an extraordinary, albeit indirect, impact on the 1960s with a song that they originally premiered in Italian. London-born Shel Shapiro (b. 1943) had broken into music as a guitarist and singer with Rob Storm & the Whispers (later the Rob Storme Group) and subsequently backed Gene Vincent during a tour of England. He played in Hamburg as a member of the Shel Carson Combo and then became a member of the band backing Colin Hicks, the brother of Tommy Steele, on an extended tour of Italy in 1963. This group, who later recorded with Hicks, took the name of the Cabin Boys -- their lineup consisted of Shel Shapiro on guitar and vocals, Johnny Charlton on guitar and vocals, Bobby Posner on bass and vocals, and Roger Shepstone on drums and vocals. The Cabin Boys came to the attention of a manager in Italy who got them to sever their ties to Hicks and rename themselves the Rokes. They started out playing on stage behind a female singer named Rita Pavone but were signed to Italian RCA on their own. Their debut release under their new name was a single of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" that failed to sell. Another recording effort, this time in Italian, failed, but their future releases would all be in Italian, with English-language versions issued overseas. The group cut a version of Clint Ballard's "I'm Alive" under the title "Grazie a Te" and Jackie DeShannon's "When You Walk in the Room" as "C'e Una Strana Espressione Nei Tuoi Occhi" in 1965 that reached numbers 12 and 11 in Italy, respectively. These two hits were...