Based in Wallasey. Evolved from BOB EVANS & THE FIVE SHILLINGS (who claim to have been the first rock group on Merseyside) through THE VEGAS FIVE. This line-up settled when Jones arrived to replace Les McGuire (who went to GERRY & THE PACEMAKERS). Became THE UNDERTAKERS when a printer's error in a local paper advertised them as that! Subsequently adopted black clothing/top hat/wild west undertakers image. Evans, the founder and leader, insisted they use nicknames (as had his heroes, Johnny & the Hurricanes): thus he was Big Bow, McManus was Spam, Jones was Boots, Huston was Shine, Nugent was Trad and Dave Cooper was Mushy - the only one that stuck. A kidney ailment forced Evans off the road. 
 

Line-up 

Bob Evans: drums (to Renegades); 
Jimmy McManus: vocals; 
Brian Jones: sax, vocal; 
Chris Huston: lead guitar; 
Geoff Nugent: guitar, vocal; 
Mushy Cooper: bass. 
 
 
 

September 1961 until January 1962

Worked all the Merseyside haunts, building up a solid reputation as a powerhouse band. Their repertoire of Anglicised US hits from the past five years took in various elements of soul (Mary Wells, Isley Bros, the Impressions, Solomon Burke), R & B (Rosco Gordon, James Brown), rock'n'roll (Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Fats Domino)...but their tour de force was 'Mashed potatoes', an obscure dance stomp done originally by Nat Kendrick & the Swans. Merseybeat newspaper, which had started in July 1961, ran their first story on the Undertakers in issue 17: "they will be photographed in a hearse for publicity material to be sent to the States", it said! At the start of 1962, Mushy Cooper was cajoled into joining Faron's Flamingos for a French tour. 
 
 

Line-up
Mushy Cooper: bass (to Faron's Flamingos); 
Jimmy McManus: vocals; 
Brian Jones : sax, vocal; 
Chris Huston: lead guitar; 
Geoff Nugent: guitar, vocal; 
Bugs Pemberton: drums. 
 
 
 
 

January 1962 until July 1962
 

Lomax, the most well known Undertakers (due to subsequent Beatle connections and solo career), was from another Wallasey group, DEE & THE DYNAMITES - as was Pemberton. Jones: "A lot of groups used to drive around the city in big flashy cars - but we used to invest our money in equipment...we had the best in Liverpool. In fact, we were the first group in the country to have an all-Gibson guitar line-up, and the first with a 100 watt p.a. As well as our own gigs, we often used to back Beryl Marsden and also the Chants (a black vocal group), who used to do lots of Coasters songs. The Beatles used to back them too; we were the two groups who knew the most Coasters songs...but we had a sax, so we could sound more like the records. 
 
 
 
 
 

Line-up

Jimmy McManus: vocals (to Renegades); 
Jackie Lomax: bass, vocal; 
Brian Jones: sax, vocal; 
Chris Huston: lead guitar; 
Geoff Nugent: guitar, vocal; 
Bugs Pemberton: drums. 
 
 
 

July 1962 to December 1964

Their first stint in Hamburg, 9 weeks in summer 1962, ended with Nugent and Jones behind bars. Their last German trip, two years later, ended with an 18 hour interrogation at Checkpoint Charly. In the meantime, they'd signed with Pye, who saw them as a treadmill group and failed to capture their stage excitement on record (along with the Beatles and the Big Three, they were reckoned best hard rockers). "Just a little bit", the best of four singles, scraped the chart. In August 1964, they went to New York for a chaotic few months of recording and gigs. Split up after a flu injection paralysed Jones' arm for 18 months. 
 
 

Line-up

Jackie Lomax: bass, vocal (went solo); 
Brian Jones: sax, vocal (now with Gary Glitter); 
Chris Huston: lead guitar (studio engineer); 
Geoff Nugent: guitar, vocal (C & W singer); 
Bugs Pemberton: drums (now a joiner in US). 
 
 
 
 
 

                   DISCOGRAPHY
                                   (1963 - 1964)
 
 
 

 SINGLES

'Everybody Loves a Lover'/    PYE 7N 15543      7/63 
'(Do the) Mashed Potatoes' 

'What About Us?'/'Money'       PYE 7N 15562    10/63 

'Just a Little Bit'/'Stupidity'     PYE 7N 15607      2/63 

'If You Don't Come Back'/      PYE 7N 15690      9/64 
'Think' (as the Takers) 
 

'(Do The) Mashed Potatoes' was included on the compilation Package Tour (Golden Guinea GGL 0268). Brian Jones of the Undertakers plays sax on B-side of the Beatles 'Let It Be', 'You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)'.