In addition, they are one of the first groups to feature Tony Burrows who later performed lead vocals on a string of hit songs for other bands in the late 1960s and early 1970s, several of which were written by Cook and Greenaway.
They were one of the busiest vocal groups in England during the late 1950s and early 1960s, singing back-up behind Joe Brown, Billy Fury, Eden Kane, and Benny Hill, amongst others, and made dozens of television appearances between 1958 and 1964.
They initially started working together as the Beltones and the Hi-Fi's, but their manager, taking his lead from the manufacturer of the pencil he had in his hand at the time, decreed that they should become The Kestrels.
The Kestrels' debut single for Pye Records, "In The Chapel In The Moonlight," originally released as the B-side of their cover of Jack Scott's "There Comes A Time," came close to charting in late 1959.
[4] Geoff Williams, one of the original quartet, suffered a heart attack and died on 20 August 2010 aged 71, whilst on holiday in Crete.