The Cherry Boys

John Byrne – Guitar/ Vocals Jimmy Hughes – Keyboards/ Vocals Keith Gunson – Bass Howie Minns - Drums The Cherry Boys became established in November 1980 and only weeks later their first single came out on the ‘open eye’ label. The first single ‘Man to man’ did well in the independent charts and must have helped the bands popularity throughout the northwest of England. The band also released a six track E.P entitled ‘Give it rise’ as well as their follow up single ‘only fools die’ written by the bands front man John Byrne (aka John Cherry) and released in fall of 1982. The band appeared many times on T.V promoting the single and also on the John Peel show. The bands third single ‘Kardomah café’ released in June 1983 was the bands biggest success, especially in Spain where it hit Number 6 on the charts. However the follow up turned out to be commercial failure and failed to make the top 100. ‘Shoot the big shot’ released in November 1983 failed to make the top 100 and left the bands future un-certain. During the later days of the band Hughes and Minns began writing songs that didn’t quite fit into what the Cherry Boys where about, and the popularity decline possibly may have created friction too. The band split in May 1984 after four years of activity.