The First Class

The First Class were a British pop music studio-based group, put together by songwriter and record producer John Carter. They are best known for their hit song "Beach Baby," a top 20 hit in both the US and UK, and #1 in Canada.. Career The First Class was the studio creation of British singer/songwriter John Carter, who hired singers Tony Burrows and Chas Mills to join him as an outlet for material Carter wrote, with his creative partner and wife, Gillian (Jill) Shakespeare. In the 1960s, Carter had formed the group Carter-Lewis and the Southerners with fellow producer Ken Lewis. That band dissolved when Carter and Lewis began working extensively as studio singers, appearing on the hits "It's Not Unusual" (Tom Jones), "I Can't Explain" (The Who), "Hi Ho Silver Lining" (Jeff Beck), "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (Sandie Shaw), "Excerpt From A Teenage Opera" (Keith West), and "Out of Time" (Chris Farlowe). Concurrently with this session work, Carter was a member of The Ivy League, leaving in 1966 to be replaced by Burrows. Carter and Shakespeare wrote the song "Beach Baby". Carter immediately created a studio band, enlisting musicians Burrows and Mills, to record the song for Jonathan King's UK Records record label – under the name The First Class. In 1974, the song became a hit in the UK (where it peaked at #13), and in the US, where it peaked at #4. The group recorded a follow-up single, "Bobby Dazzler", and material for their eponymous first album, The First Class. While there was some demand for live performances by the group, neither Carter nor Burrows had the time for or interest in touring, so a group including bassist Robin Shaw, a previous member of Burrows’ groups The Flower Pot Men and White Plains, lead singer Del John, guitarist Spencer James (lead singer with The Searchers from 1986-2019), keyboardist Clive Barrett and drummer Eddie Richards (like Burrows, a former member of Edison Lighthouse) was assembled to perform a number of dates as The First Class. Although that quintet was pictured and credited along with Carter, Burrows and Mills on the cover of the band's first album, none of the "live" quintet actually performed on "Beach Baby" or any of the album's other tracks.