Biography
The Beginning of The Flames
Before the band's formation, Steve Fataar would enter talent contests at the Admiral Hotel and do well. According to a friend of his, Bing Kinsey, "he continued entering these contests, which put his mother in a bit of a bother as she had to drive him there." I recall that on one occasion, Steve had heard a song by Cliff Richard just once; I'm not sure whether it was "Gee Whizz It's You" or "I'm Looking out the Window." I knew the song and taught it to him. That night he sang it at the talent contest and won. Eventually, Steve's brother, Edries Fataar, would join him.[6]
The Flames were formally formed in 1962 by guitarist Steve Fataar, bassist Brother Fataar (real name Edries Fataar), drummer George Fabre, and guitarist Eugene Champion. Before a gig, Fabre withdrew. The urgent need for a drummer was resolved when Ricky Fataar joined the band.[7]
Kinsey added, "This became the line-up for the next year or so." The group concentrated on instrumentals, doing covers of The Shadows' and The Ventures' material. Steve was the main vocalist, doing most of the singing, with Eugene and Brother providing harmonies. Eugene and Brother did the occasional song, including "Baby My Heart," a song recorded by The Crickets and The Shadows.[6]
Because of work commitments, Eugene Champion left the group in 1963. Edries Fredericks replaced him. Fredericks' vocal abilities led the band to include more vocalization. Kinsey adds, "Edries had a very soulful sound, and this began the transformation within the group." We began importing records from overseas and also gained access to some recordings by the early soul singers and groups, including Marvin Gaye, Solomon Burke, and James Brown through friends."[6]
The Edries Fredericks Era
In early 1963, the group signed a recording contract with Trutone Records and made their first recording at a studio in Durban run by John and Margaret Cahill. Two songs were recorded; "I Saw Her Standing There", sometimes referred to as "Just Seventeen", and "Misery". Trutone decided not to release it, but heavily promoted The Meteors' version of "I Saw Her Standing There", which became a huge hit in South Africa.
In April, the group traveled to Johannesburg to record four tracks. The first release from this recording session consisted of two instrumentals, "Mr. Moto" and "Dixie" on the Rave label. "Mr. Moto" premiered on Eric Egan's morning program during the new releases segment between 7:00 and 7:15. The second single was released soon after, with "Maniac" and "Modern Casanova". The label showed the artists as Steve and The Flames, as Steve sang lead on both songs. In December of that year, The Flames toured Port Elizabeth. After the gigs, The Flames drove to Johannesburg to record their first album.
The band's first album was recorded over three days, with Art Heatley as producer and Dave Erbstoesser as the sound engineer. "White Cliffs of Dover" was the song that the band thought would be the hit from the album. The only track from this album to get airplay on the radio was "Pretty Woman". Peter Lotus played it a few times on the evening music show. This album was out of print but has been re-issued by Fresh Music as a part of a CD collection.
1964 was the year that the group started to gel into that cohesive soulful group and to make great strides on the national scene. It was the year that they won The Battle of The Bands contest, and Ricky was awarded the Best Drummer title. The group toured throughout the country and began to establish their popularity in the Cape, making two tours to Cape Town performing at The Luxarama, as well as touring the Eastern Cape with shows in Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and East London.
The home scene was not forgotten, with the group performing at places such as Stanger, Verulem, Tongaat, Pietermaritzburg and Richmond. While songs by The Beatles featured prominently in their repertoire, The Flames showed their versatility by including songs by The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Solomon Burke, Otis Redding and British stars such as The Fortunes. Their popularity increased and more regular gigs came up with performances at Upstairs at the Downstairs and later at the Alfresco.
Although the group was very popular and had many bookings, the earnings were not good, and expenses to be met to keep the group's instrumentation modern and up-to-date. Edries Fredericks was in a serious relationship and became concerned that he could not afford to provide for a family. He began looking for something that would provide a decent income and decided to leave the group in March 1966.[7][6]
The Blondie Chaplin Era
Mitchell "Baby" Duval replaced Edries Fredericks in 1966. In his short tenure in the band, he featured on the group's second album, That's Enough. Blondie Chaplin, a young singer making a name for himself as a member of the group The Kittens, replaced Duval in the band.
To quote Kinsey, "Blondie brought another dimension to the group with his soulful singing. He also developed into a great guitarist who would share the lead guitar work with Steve.
This new line-up recorded the Soul albums, which were to produce the iconic Flames' song "For Your Precious Love" featuring the famous introduction by Steve and the fabulous singing of the young Blondie. The song had been part of the group's repertoire since they heard Oscar Tony Jr. in 1967."
Steve Fataar said, "At the time of recording Burning Soul!, we were a tight band that had been performing continuously, so the recordings were pretty much live. They were done on a four-track analogue recorder and the sessions were quite cheerful, confident and sans stress. Essentially it was a band adventure. Soulfire was recorded similarly but there was more overdubs and brass tracking added," he says. "All this was a learning curve and rather exciting — consider that Ricky and Blondie were only 14 and 15 years old at this time."[4]
Graham Beggs recorded material for a live album at the Al Fresco in Durban. The recordings weren't released and currently haven't been located, though they're probably in the hands of Graham Beggs.
In 1965, The Flames entertained the idea of trying their luck overseas. It didn't work out then, but the idea never left them. It seemed as if the group had no real future because they couldn't get the exposure that other groups seemed to be getting. This influenced them to perform in a number of venues in London and also record a song called "Streamliner". In 1969,[4] their performances gained the attention of The Beach Boys (Particularly Carl Wilson and Al Jardine)[8] and The Bee Gees.
The Beach Boys offered The Flames to join their Brother label and move to America, which they did. A decision was made to change the group's name to The Flame to avoid confusion with another band. A self-titled album was released in 1970.[6] It was the first ever rock album recorded in quadraphonic sound[8] and the only non-Beach Boys album on the Brother records label. It was produced by Carl Wilson.[9] One track, "See The Light" reached the Billboard Hot 100. The group developed a following as they performed at different venues, mainly in the West Coast. They once visited South Africa, performing in Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
A second album was recorded but was never released. Attempts have been made, and are still being made, to release this album finally.
The following is a listing of the tracks that were recorded for this album:
- "Mother Of The Century"
- "Sigh Baby Sigh"
- "High Overhead"
- "Sunny Skies"
- "Thank Someone"
- "Seven Sisters"
- "Have You Ever Been Happy"
- "Henry's Son"
- "Sweet Jane"
- "I'm A Man" (Outtake)
- "Hello!" (Outtake)
- "Everybody" (Outtake)
Both Steve and Brother were unhappy with the situation in the US. Brother left to England and Steve to South Africa, thus disbanding the group essentially.[6]
Post-break up
In 1972, Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin joined The Beach Boys.[10] Blondie's role in The Beach Boys was as a bass guitarist and vocalist. He sang lead on a number of tracks on two Beach Boys studio albums and the live Beach Boys in Concert album. The track "Sail On, Sailor" is most associated with him. Blondie left the group in 1973 and worked with a number of other musicians, performing live as well as on records, including members of The Band and The Byrds. He also recorded two solo albums. Blondie's talents came to the attention of The Rolling Stones and he's toured with the group for over 10 years, as well as appearing on some of their studio recordings. He is also a member of Skollie, a band formed with fellow South Africans, Keith Lentin and Anton Fig.
Ricky remained with the Beach Boys for three years before branching out into other fields. In 1978, he featured in the film All You Need Is Cash, a spoof on the Beatles. He played the role Stig O'Hara, a character based on George Harrison.[6] He also featured on The Rutles' two albums. He became a producer and his production of Renée Geyer's So Lucky, which also featured Blondie on vocals, was his first success in the role. He later emigrated to Australia where he produced a number of successful artists including Tim Finn, Kate Ceberano, Dragon, and Wendy Matthews. Ricky wrote the scores for a few Australian films. Ricky met Bonnie Raitt in 1978, and has since accompanied her on many tours, as well as appearing on most of her later recordings.
Steve Fataar and Edries Fredericks later teamed up with some other artists to form In Formation.
In the 1970s,[8] almost all The Flames' masters were destroyed in a fire. It is only through the restoration done by Bas Mollenkramer from physical records that almost all the Flames recordings are available.[6]
Brother Fataar died on September 10, 1978, and Baby Duval died on an unknown date.
The Flames have reunited a few times. In 2000 and 2011, the three surviving members of the band reunited for a few shows in South Africa.[11]
Steve Fataar died on January 18, 2020, having performed at a show hours before. It's believed he died in his sleep from lung complications.[12]
