Unusually they had two bass players, and were originally called Dean Ford & the Gaylords.They released several unsuccessful singles between 1964 and 1966 before changing their name. Their next few singles also failed to chart in Britain, though one, "I See The Rain", was highly praised by Jimi Hendrix and became a Top 30 hit in Holland in 1967.
Their label CBS threatened to drop them if they did not have a hit, and after the failure of another self-penned single later that year, "Man In A Shop", insisted they record more chart-oriented material. They rejected "Everlasting Love", which became a No. 1 hit for the Love Affair, but later gave in to pressure and recorded a cover version of an American hit by the Grass Roots, "Lovin' Things", which reached No. 6 in the summer of 1968. After a lesser hit with the follow-up "Wait For Me Mary-Anne", which only made No. 30, they enjoyed their greatest success with The Beatles', "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" which topped the UK singles chart in January 1969. As the first Scottish group to ever top the British charts, the week it went to No. 1, they celebrated by appearing on BBC TV's music programme "Top Of The Pops", dressed in kilts.
This was followed by further successes with "Baby Make It Soon", and after a change of record label to Decca under a deal allowing them to write and produce their own songs, "Reflections Of My Life", their only American hit, "Rainbow", and "My Little One". They toured extensively and even gave rise to a cocktail - the Marmaladdie. They were managed by Peter Walsh, a 60s and 70s pop entrepreneur whose portfolio also included artists like the Bay City Rollers, Billy Ocean, the Troggs and Blue Mink.
When Campbell, who co-wrote most of the group's original material with Ford, left the band in 1971, Marmalade began a series of line-up changes including the loss of drummer Alan Whitehead, who was sacked to make way for a friend of the new guitarist Hugh Nicolson. They then suffered adverse publicity from the UK's News of the World. An attempt to fit into the UK's move to "progressive" music met with limited success, and two of their last hits were "Cousin Norman" and "Radancer", written by new guitarist Hughie Nicolson. Hughie himself left in 1973 to form "Blue" (not to be confused with a much later boy band of the same name), but Dean Ford and Graham Knight carried on with Marmalade.
Refusing to play most of the band's old hit records on stage, the group slowly came to a standstill. Graham Knight was sacked, but then linked up with the original drummer, Alan Whitehead, to form Vintage Marmalade. They were reunited with their old manager Peter Walsh to play all the hits on stage, and had a full date sheet.
Dean's Marmalade soon died a natural death, leaving Graham and Alan to take over the name Marmalade again with a new line-up. They signed a deal with Target Records, and had another Top 10 hit in 1976 with the ominously entitled song, "Falling Apart At The Seams". Subsequent singles failed to chart.
Alan left the band of his own free will in 1978 to manage other pop groups, which he still does to this day. Graham is still touring with Marmalade - the only original left - along with Sandy Newman (vocals & guitar) Glenn Taylor (drums) & Alan Holmes (guitar). Dean lives in New York having retired from music, whilst Pat Fairley has his own bar, called Scotland Yard, situated in Los Angeles.
Junior Campbell is a successful song writer and arranger, now living in Sussex, England.
