Early career

The group's members met on a Hornsey Rise council estate,^[5] where Grant, Lloyd and Hall were school friends at Acland Burghley. In late 1964, Hall suggested that they form a band. John Hall (drums), Eddy Grant (lead guitar), Pat Lloyd (rhythm guitar), Derv Gordon (vocals) and Lincoln Gordon (rhythm guitar) became The Equals. The three-guitar lineup continued until 1969, when Lincoln Gordon switched from rhythm guitar to bass.

At first The Equals performed in London, and gained a following "with their apparently limitless energy and a distinct style fusing pop, blues, and R&B plus elements of ska and bluebeat."^[3] They often opened the bill at shows by visiting American R&B and soul artists such as Bo Diddley, Solomon Burke and Wilson Pickett.^[6][7] A neighbour of Grant's, singer Gene Latter,^[7] put them in touch with President Records, whose boss Edward Kassner heard them and agreed to sign them.^[6]

Commercial success, 1966–70

The Equals released their first single “I Won’t Be There” in 1966,^[8] followed by “Hold Me Closer”, with “Baby, Come Back” as the B-side.^[3] It did not do well in the United Kingdom, but after DJs in Europe began playing “Baby, Come Back”, it went to the number one position in Germany and the Netherlands.^[3]

1968 saw the release of “I Get So Excited”, which reached the Top 50 of the UK Singles Chart. The subsequent re-issue of “Baby, Come Back” in early 1968 reached the top position in the UK, giving President Records its only number one hit.^[9] In June 1969, the group received a gold disc for a combined one million sales of the disc.^[5] A string of single releases followed, several of which charted in the UK, including two further top 10 hits, “Viva Bobby Joe” (1969) and “Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys” (1970).^[3]

Their main songwriter was Eddy Grant, with contributions from the Gordon brothers, Pat Lloyd and John Hall. Though the majority were on traditional teenage pop themes, some, such as “Stand Up and Be Counted”, “Police on My Back”, and the funky “Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys”, touched on social and political issues.^[6]

The band also released several studio albums on President in quick succession, six in four years,^[6] including Unequalled Equals (1967) and Explosion (1968), both of which reached the UK Albums Chart.^[10] Several of their albums were repackaged by RCA, President's distributors, for the American market. According to the band, Kassner did not allow the band to tour the U.S. because of problems that might have arisen because of their multiracial line-up, though the band did tour other parts of the world, including Africa.^[6][7]

They made regular TV appearances on programmes including Top of the Pops in Britain and Beat-Club in Germany.^[4] The band also gained attention for their colourful clothes, presaging the glam rock style, and for Grant's occasional dyeing of his hair blonde, and wearing a woman's blonde wig. Writer Jason Heller commented: “The Equals were effectively code-switching between two audiences—immigrant rude boys and white pop fans—in the same song, if not the same line."^[4]

Break-up and subsequent activities

In September 1969, all five group members were injured in a motorway car accident in Germany.^[11] Grant was the most severely injured and as a result left the touring version of the Equals while initially continuing to write songs for them. In January 1971, Grant suffered a collapsed lung and heart infection, following which he returned to Guyana.^[12] He soon started to pursue a solo career. John Hall left the band in 1974. The Equals disbanded in 1979.^[13]

In 1982, due to German public demand, concert promoter Rainer Haas contacted Pat Lloyd to get The Equals back touring in Germany. Consequently, later that year, Pat Lloyd reformed The Equals and became the registered trademark and copyright owner with Eddy Grant.^[14] The Equals then consisted of Pat Lloyd, Derv and Lincoln Gordon, Ronnie Telemacque and Rob Hendry. Lincoln Gordon left the band in 1986 and in the same year David (Dzal) Martin, who had been a temporary member between 1973 and 1975, re-joined permanently as lead guitarist. In 1996, The Equals released their album Roots, mainly written by Pat Lloyd with contributions from David (Dzal) Martin.^[15]

In 2017, Derv Gordon left The Equals and later that year two new members joined, Decosta Boyce (lead vocals), previously of the funk band Heatwave, and Mark Haley (keyboards), previously with The Kinks. In March 2019, Keeling Lee, previously with Groove Armada,^[16] replaced Martin after their tour of Vienna.

Between 2020 and 2021, The Equals went into the studios to make a new album and in May 2022, they released a single "Nobody's Got Time", written by Eddy Grant. "Nobody's Got Time" reached No.1 in the Legacy Charts for three consecutive weeks. Today The Equals continue to record and tour in the UK, Europe, and Worldwide, increasingly influenced by funk and reggae.^[4]

Pat Lloyd is the only original founder member of The Equals who remains active in the band since their formation in 1965.^[17]

Albums

Singles