Vanity Fare tickets and 2024 tour dates

Biography

Vanity Fare were a UK pop/rock group formed in 1966, best remembered for their million selling song, "Hitchin' a Ride," which became a worldwide hit in 1970, and the genteel "Early In The Morning".

School friends Trevor Brice (born 12 February 1945, Rochester, Kent, England) (vocals), Tony Goulden (born Anthony Goulden, 21 November 1942, Rochester) (guitar), Dick Allix (born Richard Allix, 3 May 1945, Gravesend, Kent) (drums) and Tony Jarrett (born Anthony Jarrett, 4 September 1943, in Rochester, Kent) (bass) formed the band in Kent in 1966, originally calling themselves The Avengers. They played local clubs and were spotted by entrepreneur Roger Easterby who became their manager and producer. Having changed the name of the band to Vanity Fare after the novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, they signed to Page One Records (a division of Bell Records). Vanity Fare achieved a UK hit single with their first release, a cover of "I Live For The Sun" (originally recorded by The Sunrays in 1965) in the summer of 1968. Following two more singles, "Summer Morning" and "Highway Of Dreams," both of which failed to make the UK Singles Chart, they released their biggest UK hit "Early in the Morning." Written by Mike Leander and Eddie Seago, it reached number 8 in that country in August 1969 and number 12 in the U.S. in early 1970.

For their next release "Hitchin' A Ride" they added keyboardist Barry Landemen (born 25 October 1947, Woodbridge, Suffolk, England) to the group. "Hitchin' A Ride", written by Peter Callander and Mitch Murray, gave them a million-selling hit reaching number 5 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and making number 16 in the UK in January 1970. This disc sold over one million copies, and received a gold disc awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America.