The Shadows Of Knight

The Shadows of Knight were an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, that played a version of British blues influenced by their native city.The Shadows of Knight saw regional success with a cover of Them's 1964 single "Gloria", which peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the spring of 1966. In 1972, Lenny Kaye coined the term "garage punk" on the track-by-track liner notes for the Nuggets compilation, describing the Shadows of Knight's follow-up single "Oh Yeah", which opens side two of the anthology, as "classic garage punk".The band was formed in 1964 as simply the Shadows. In the spring of 1965, the band learned of an already existing British group, the Shadows. Whiz Winters, a friend who worked for their manager, Paul Sampson, in his record shop, came up with the name "The Shadows of Knight" to tie into the British Invasion in music of that time, and because four of the band members attended Prospect High School in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, whose sports team had the name "The Knights".Founding members included Jim Sohns (vocals; 1964–2022), Warren Rogers (lead guitar), Norm Gotsch (rhythm guitar), Wayne Pursell (bass guitar), and Tom Schiffour (drums). They released three albums in their first five years of existence. In early Fall 1965, Pursell left the band to attend college. Subsequently, Joe Kelley was recruited to play bass. Kelley would swap bass and lead duties with Rogers in late 1965 at the time of the "Gloria" recordings. Guitarist and vocalist Jerry McGeorge replaced Norm Gotsch in late 1965 after Gotsch joined the U.S. Navy, serving in Vietnam during his tour of duty. David "Hawk" Wolinski, who later worked with Rufus and Chaka Khan, replaced Rogers on bass in late 1966.After performing in and around Chicago's northwest suburbs in 1964 and 1965, The Shadows of Knight became the house band at The Cellar in Arlington Heights, Illinois, owned by Sampson. They attracted more than 500 teenagers every Saturday and Sunday at the "Cellar" for more than six months until Sampson began booking other bands, giving them a break. (A recording of a Shadows of Knight performance at The Cellar was released in 2018 by Sundazed Music as Alive in '65, showcasing the five original members of the band.)

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.