Mersey Beat - Sonny Kaye & The Reds

Formed in the early 1960s, Runcorn based Sonny Kaye and The Reds notched up considerable success during their time together, winning the 'Kings of the Big Beat' contest at the New Brighton Tower Ballroom, a major venue for the Merseyside bands of the early sixties.
The original line-up was Billy Mullen on lead guitar, John Ashton on bass guitar, Terry Lewis on drums and Sonny Kaye ( Frank Keenan ) on vocals. Gary Lloyd then joined later on rhythm guitar.

They also appeared on the TV Show 'Opportunity Knocks' in 1968, finishing up in second place.

Ronald Quine, who replaced John Ashton in 1961 recalls; "In 1961, I joined Sonny Kaye and The Reds, one of the area's leading groups, as the main bass player and appeared in many places including the Cavern Club in Liverpool. In the band at the time was; Sonny Kaye (Frank Keenan) as lead singer Tony Moffatt on rhythm guitar, Ronald Quine on bass guitar, Harold Nelson on tenor sax, Billy Mullen on lead guitar and Harry Cosgrove on drums with Eric Hayes our Manager. We played together for four years always surprising our audience with a fantastic gig."
They played all over Merseyside with all the top bands, including St George's Hall, Liverpool supporting Emile Ford and The Checkmates.
They also played The Tower Ballroom in New Brighton supporting 'Wayne Fontana and The Mind Benders' and appeared as a supporting act for the Beatles on three occasions at the Queens Hall, Widnes in 1963, with tickets costing five shillings ( 25p ).

When Sonny Kaye left The Reds they continued under the name 'Reds Incorporated'. His son Kevin Keenan would later form a three piece folk rock band with himself as singer, songwriter on guitar, Sean Holland on bass guitar and drums and Jacque Wallace on backing vocals and would keep the band name as 'Sonny Kaye'.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2016/10/mersey-beat-midnighters.html