[1] In March the following year, the same source stated that Hicks and Wilde were fulfilling contracted dates left after Terry Dene had been diagnosed as unfit to continue touring.
In 1959, the group appeared in the Italian film Europe By Night, with the song "Giddy Up a Ding Dong", which became a hit for them in Italy and resulted in an invitation to tour there.
[3] In the early 1960s just before a concert in Torino, Hicks became ill and lost his voice,[4] and his backing group at the time, consisting of Shel Shapiro, Johnny Charlton, Bobby Posner and Mike Shepstone, were persuaded by a manager in Italy to sever ties with Hicks, which they did.
However, they were signed to RCA Italiana on their own and debuted with a single, a cover version of "Shake, Rattle and Roll".
[5] They hold the distinction of being the first foreign rock band to play in a socialist state (in Yugoslavia in 1960).