Purple Hearts are an English mod revival band, formed in 1977 in Romford, eastern Greater London.
[2] Purple Hearts started in 1977, when teenagers Jeff Shadbolt, Simon Stebbing, Bob Manton, and Nick Lake formed the band in Romford as The Sockets, before they even knew how to play their instruments.
[3] They formed for the purpose of getting a support slot at a Buzzcocks gig at the East London Polytechnic,[3] to debut their tongue-in-cheek rock opera, Reg.
[5] The single taken from the album, "Jimmy", gave the band another minor hit reaching number 60 in the UK chart in March 1980.
Gary Sparks joined High Zierra with former members of Department S, Tony Lourdan, Mark Taylor and Michael Herbage.
Bob Manton joined Simon Stebbing and Peter Green in cosmic country rockers Owen and the Deacons.
Simon then went on to form Speakeasy with Mark Le Gallez (the Risk and Thee Jenerators) after an initial EP on Biff Bang Pow Records, with guests Fay Hallam (Makin Time) on Hammond organ and the late Mike Evans (the Action / Mighty Baby) on bass, Speakeasy released a self-titled album on Detour Records in 2010, then Trouble their second LP released on Twist records in 2014 with Ian Jones (The Affair / Long Tall Shorty) as new bassist.