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The Honeybus were a 1960s band, who, since their heyday, have often been pigeonholed as one-hit wonders, a tag which belies the rich legacy of material left behind by the band.
The best known lineup consisted of Pete Dello (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Ray Cane (vocals, bass, keyboards), Colin Hare (rhythm guitar, vocals), Pete Kircher (drums, vocals). Material written by the band's main resident composers, Dello and Cane, was astonishingly close in quality and content to those of Paul McCartney and perhaps the softer sides of John Lennon of that era. Critics, amongst them Kenny Everett compared the band to Rubber Soul-era Beatles. Yet somehow, the Honeybus never got it right; they never had the right single out at the proper time, and only once in their history did they connect with the public for a major hit, in early 1968. "I Can't Let Maggie Go".
"Maggie" hit the number eight spot in the UK charts, but any chance of future success was shattered when Pete Dello resigned during the single's chart run. He had been willing to play live on radio appearances and the occasional television or special concert showcase, but abhorred the live scene and the idea of touring America. Jim Kelly came in on guitar and vocals, while Ray Cane, whose talents and instincts were a close match for Dello's, took over most of the songwriting, but the group never really recovered and they disbanded late in 1969.
The band's work is arguably best evaluated by listening to the sublime 1970 album The Honeybus Story, which, without an active band to promote it, sank without a trace. Dello and Hare went on to record critically-acclaimed solo albums, sadly without any commercial success. A further surprise for fans came when the Dello lineup got back together in 1971 to record a new body of songs for the Bell label and a complete LP for British Warner Brothers, which was never issued. Eventually, everybody except Kircher (who has played with everyone from Engelbert Humperdinck to Status Quo) gave up music as a profession.
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