Whistler -

Whistler was an English folk-rock band that released the 1971 Deram album HoHum.

Members: George Howe (vocals, guitar, keyboards), John Chuter (vocals, guitar, bass), Ant Grout-Smith (guitar, bass, saxophone, vocals)

Background

Whistler formed in London as a trio with singer-guitarist-keyboardist George Howe, singer-guitarist-bassist John Chuter, and singer-multi-instrumentalist Anthony Grout-Smith (guitar, bass, keyboards, saxophone).

Chuter and Grout-Smith interacted beforehand in The Uprooted, a mid-Sixties beat group that recorded “It’s Just You,” a never-released track.

Howe was born George Richard Ian Howe on Oct. 19, 1949, in Bromley, Kent. He began guitar lessons at age eight with Brian Rudd and studied organ with Peter Whitehouse at St. Edward’s School in Oxford. Howe joined the 1968 West End production of Alan Bennett’s Forty Years On, where he understudied musical director Carl Davis. Equity rules required Howe to adopt Fenton for acting work; recording credits continued under George Howe.

Howe signed an MCA artist contract while he appeared in Forty Years On. MCA issued “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” (b/w “Spain”) in 1969 with Mike Leander as producer. Howe also sang songs on the 1969 Decca album We Were Happy There!, a collaboration with Davis and narrator John Gielgud.

Whistler sang songs by Davis and Howe for What Became of Jack and Jill?, a film shot from February through early April 1971 at Shepperton Studios. Whistler recorded Ho-Hum for Deram at Decca Studios in West Hampstead with Peter Johnson as producer.

Discography: