John Stokes  

The truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

"Didn't there used to be three of you?" 

Answer:  5 in Con's first band [The Five Chords] in Dublin, then 3 .... then we added a drummer, so there were 4 ... then back to 3 ...  then for our first Summer Season opening back to 2 ... in the UK there were 3, then 2 again - then 3, then 2  .... then 4 [we added a drummer, Tony Tolley] ... then, for the last 4 years with John Stokes, Con and Dec did almost all the singing .... sometimes 2 sometimes 3 on stage.....read on ......

 The very beginning:

Con met John at a Church Dance Hall in Dublin and asked him if he would like to join him and his brother Dec in a harmonica trio. Con had heard John was a member of a group called 'The Jackpots' and had  been asked to leave.  John did not turn up for the appointment. Again Con asked him to come for a meeting and this time he came.  

Con was already performing with his 5 piece harmonica band.  So Con was playing in two band - quite a feat.

Con Dec and John formed a group called 'The Harmonicords' and became very famous in Ireland.

 John's First refusal to appear on stage

The first Summer Season  [a theatre show playing every night for 12 weeks] they were asked to  appear in was  at Butlins in Mosney,  just  North of Dublin. They spent some time rehearsing with the rest of the company. This included  learning dance routines.  On the opening night John refused to go on stage in the dance routine as they were required to wear Lederhosen outfits  [traditional German costumes] .  With ten minutes to spare the choreographer  [Kitty] had to go on in his place. 

 The First UK Tour and John disappears:

 When they finished  their first major tour of Gt. Britain with 'Nina and Frederick' they  were stranded in Manchester with no immediate bookings.  As Con and Dec had professional positions prior to leaving Ireland there was no employment readily available.  John  [as a carpenter] returned with haste to Dublin.  Con and Dec were fortunate, through hard investigation, to obtain bookings.  They  sent for John to rejoin them as they started  performing around the clubs in Manchester [there were 365 clubs in Manchester at that time!]  

The First Recordings and John is gone again! 

When they made their first record and were asked to stay in London during the terrible winter of 1962/3 for interviews etc.  food was short, money was short and heating was definitely short. John disappeared again leaving Dec and Con to wait for the phone to ring. Again they had to send for him when bookings came in.  

John's voice was replaced  

John's voice was replaced on several recordings by their musical arranger Ivor Raymonde, most notably on 'Ramona' which was one of  their hits,  and also on 'I Wouldn't Trade You For The World' . John only played  bass  on one recording; their Irish Album 'Under and Over' .  However Dec had to quietly go back into the studio and replace lots of it.  Dec produced the album.  John never played bass on any other Bachelors' record EVER! 

The Beginning of the End:

The Bachelors bought their own sound system in the late '70s and for the first time they had speakers on stage so that they could hear themselves singing. Con noticed that the voices were somehow out of tune, and immediately thought it was his fault! He asked their sound man , Brian Savoury,  to record his voice solo, during a show, so that he could listen to himself. He was pleasantly surprised to hear that he was singing very much in tune.

 Was it Dec's voice out of tune?

Con then got Brian to record Dec thinking it must be him who was out of tune. Once again he was pleasantly surprised..... It was not him.

Their next show was at Gunton Hall, and once again Con asked Brian, this time to record John solo. When he got home he could not believe what he was listening to! Not only was it out of tune, but there were the weirdest noises he had ever heard on the tape. At the next show Con handed the tape to John and asked him to listen to it, whereupon he flung the tape to the floor saying it was 'doctored' and that there was nothing wrong with his voice. He then stated that the monitors on stage made him sing out of tune!

John's microphone had to be turned off!

Con and Dec had no option but to ask Brian Savoury to turn John's microphone off and it was like that for the four final years except when he had a 'solo' to sing.   Nobody noticed. 

 Offer from EMI

The Bachelors were asked by Kay O'Dwyer of EMI to record three songs. EMI would pay for the recording and promotion of the songs. Dec wrote the orchestrations and arranged to rehearse the first song before the next show they were doing. John did not show up for rehearsals. Con and Dec told him they wanted to put the song in the act to perfect it before recording started. The song was 'Nelly Dean', and still John did not rehearse the song.   In those days the Record company A&R people suggested the songs to be recorded.  This was a golden opportunity for The Bachelors, not to be missed.

John walked off stage 

Dec and Con decided to put the song in the act and when it came time to sing it, John walked off stage. This continued every night they performed. Dec then finished the arrangement for the second song and handed the bass part to John to learn. The music was flung on the floor with the words "It's a load of crap".

Picking the music up from the floor they asked their drummer, Ken Newton, to ask John to learn the part.  John reluctantly took the music. When it came time for Nelly Dean to be sung, John would walk off the stage, and when it came time for the second song to be sung he would take out the music, turn his back to the audience and play the bass without singing.

The Problem with Charity Benefit Shows

Con and Dec were much involved in charitable work and as top stars The Bachelors were in constant demand to appear for differing charities.  It became increasingly more difficult to get John to appear for 'no money'.  Toward the end of the relationship Dec was obliged to request John to appear at charity shows by letter.  John would arrive shortly before the appearance time and leave immediately after.  Con and Dec appeared many times as a duo in these circumstances.

The last Company meeting 

This behaviour went on for some time until Dec and Con had enough of it.  They found it amazing that the audience never even noticed John was missing from the stage ... they thought it was simply part of the act and accepted Con and Dec as a duo.   It was decided to call a company meeting of Bachelors Limited at The Eccentric Club in London with Michael Knight, their accountant, as secretary, and confront John officially with his conduct in the act.  John said, in his defence, that the public did not wish them to sing new songs and that they should continue doing the same act they had done for the past several years. He also stated that they should not be recording the songs they were rehearsing.  

The deterioration of his voice was also discussed although John would not accept the evidence of his voice taped solo.  There was no option but to vote John off the board of directors and also terminate his service contract with the company Bachelors Ltd. John stormed out of the meeting with the words "I've heard enough of this crap". This meeting was minuted.

The last show together

After the meeting which was  chaired by Dec with Michael Knight as Secretary, John was notified of the board ' s decision by post and told that his services would no longer be needed in 1984 after the end of Pantomime at Hanley Theatre.

John got Legal Aid and sued Con and Dec under the Companies Act for unfair dismissal from the board of directors of Bachelors Ltd. He also claimed unfair dismissal from the group The Bachelors. The judge ruled that the name 'The Bachelors' belonged to the trio and NOT to the company and that they should sort that out amongst themselves. Con and Dec declared that they would cease to use the name 'The Bachelors'  -  whereupon John ran from the court followed by his solicitor.

The judge then gave them 20 minutes in the corridor outside to sort out the matter of the company. John refused to meet any of Con and Dec's terms till it was time  to return to the courtroom, whereupon John asked if he could buy the company from them. They agreed to this as the company was in debt to the bank.  [John was on legal aid - but was able to pay Con and Dec for the company!]  

 NB: it should be noted that this offer was already made to John prior to the court action.  The court action was designed to break Dec financially [this was conveyed to Dec by the legal teams involved]

The three offers from Con and Dec to John re. the break up of the Company were:

1) John buy the Company at an agreed, negotiated price with Con and Dec.

2) Con and Dec buy the Company at an agreed price with John

3) The Company to be valued by independent valuers and the proceeds split three ways.    

The negotiations continued from that Monday until Thursday.  John made many extra demands and given that he had legal aid, and Con and Dec did not, they had to agree to all.  Under the terms of John's undertaking no party is allowed, by law, to disclose the financial settlement.

As part of the agreement for John buying the company he signed an undertaking saying that he was not allowed to use the name The Bachelors [or any colourable imitation] in any shape or form. Con and Dec were allowed  to use the name in any way, in particular 'The New Bachelors', but not 'The Bachelors' alone or 'The Original Bachelors'.  

 Stokes and Coe

John formed an act with another chap called Coe and they called themselves 'Stokes and Coe'. This did not last long. John then joined ex footballer Willy Morgan and formed a company running Golf Tournaments, the most famous of these being The Howard Keel Golf Tournament. Eventually Willy Morgan dismissed John and John took him to court.

Meanwhile, Con and Dec had continued successfully as 'The New Bachelors'  [with third member Peter Phipps] until 1993 when John reappeared with another band and called himself,  'The New Bachelors'. Con and Dec had no option but to change their name to avoid confusion.

John's contempt of court

John continues to break the high court undertaking with Con and Dec by using the name 'The Bachelors'.    This contempt of court can carry a prison sentence as can the offence of "deception for personal gain".  His advertising also breaks the rules of The Advertising Standards Authority which state that all advertising has to be plain, clear and not misleading. 

Further court action

Australian Tours and cruises by Bogus Bachelors

Con and Dec are inundated with complaints re the Australian tours by this bogus act each year and are advised that venues cancelled because of John's breach of undertaking and contempt of court.

 Beware of Impostors

To ensure that the public are fully aware that the band they book tickets for are the two guys who recorded every one of the 487 tracks, all The Bachelors hits, and are currently recording their 70th album Con and Dec always add their names to any advertising: Con & Dec The Bachelors.   Every contract issued requires that the 'billing' states this.