"Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)"

Edison Lighthouse began as a band called Greenfield Hammer, which consisted of Stuart Edwards (lead guitar), David Taylor (bass guitar), George Weyman (drums), and Ray Dorey (guitar). Formed in Slough, England, in 1968, Greenfield Hammer played gigs from Southend to Nottingham, covering a variety of artists from the Beatles to Bob Dylan and from the Rolling Stones to the Moody Blues.

In December 1969, Greenfield Hammer's agent invited them to play at an open audition being held at a London pub by song writers Tony Macaulay and Barry Mason. Initially reluctant because all of the band members had "regular jobs" in addition to playing gigs, the group finally agreed to do the audition and Greenfield Hammer became Edison Lighthouse soon after.

The audition that Greenfield Hammer performed at had been held in order to find musicians to back session vocalist Tony Burrows, who was preparing to record Macaulay and Mason's song "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)." Released under the band name Edison Lighthouse (after the Eddystone Lighthouse off the coast of Cornwall, Wales), the single hit #1 on the UK charts in January of 1970, where it stayed for five weeks. Released in the United States that February, it reached #5 on the Billboard chart and had earned a Gold Record (for one million copies sold) by April.

The success of "Love Grows" meant that Edison Lighthouse had to go on tour, but it turned out that Greenfield Hammer, plus Burrows, were far less adept at handling large concerts than they had been at playing small gigs. Burrows soon left the group to pursue other projects and Macaulay, who owned the rights to the Edison Lighthouse name, sacked Greenfield Hammer in favor of another assembled group of musicians -- Paul Vigrass (lead vocals), David Kerr-Clemenson (bass guitar), Andy Locke (guitar), Eddie Richards (drums) and Wally Scott (guitar).

The second version of Edison Lighthouse barely cracked the UK Top 50 with the single "It's Up to You, Petula." The next single was "What's Happening?," coupled with "Take a Little Time," which was written by the band. They then went on to tour Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Africa. The single released for the Africa tour was "Reconsider My Belinda." The last single released was "Find Mr Zebedee," after which the group disbanded.

Where Are They Now?

Stuart Edwards and David Taylor regularly keep the flag flying as Edison Lighthouse at a wide variety of music venues and private functions throughout Cornwall.

Ray Dorey currently works for John Crane, a division of Smiths Group, where he is the Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region, and a frequent traveller across the region from New Zealand to India. He and wife, Michelle, have lived in Singapore since 2004. They have one daughter, Honey, and one son, Justin. Ray has not been seriously involved in the music business since 1971, but stays in regular touch with Dave & Stuart. On a recent visit to see Dave and Stuart at a gig in Cornwall he got up and performed "Love Grows," the first time the three have performed together since the seventies.

Dave Kerr-Clemenson, after touring with White Plains and Andy Locke, went on to form Fast Buck and toured the world extensively supporting ELO.

Eddie Richards was the drummer in The First Class, which had a hit with "Beach Baby."

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This page was last updated on 06/22/2017.