Starting early 1968 Carter's output became more and more confusing. In late 1967, Carter and Lewis formed Sunny Records as their production company.

As was the case with 'Winchester Cathedral', when the recording, made by session musicians, became a hit, a band had to be assembled for live appearances. One of the first results was ' Let's Go to San Francisco', released as the Flower Pot Men. Early in 1967, Ken Lewis quit the Ivy League and started writing and recording again with Carter. He also released a single 'White Collar Worker', recorded with Mickey Keen and Robin Shaw, as The Ministry of Sound. He found a new songwriting partner in Geoff Stephens, resulting in 'My World Fell Down', recorded by The Ivy League, later to be covered by Gary Usher's Sagittarius and Dutch band The Buffoons.Ĭarter sang lead on the New Vaudeville Band's hit single ' Winchester Cathedral', a traditional pop pastiche that became a U.S. Carter concentrated on songwriting, providing hits for Peter and Gordon and Brenda Lee. That year he married Gill Shakespeare who would later write lyrics for some of his songs. By early 1966 Carter decided he had had enough of touring and was replaced by Tony Burrows from The Kestrels. In 19, The Ivy League scored four UK chart hits, including 'Tossing and Turning', which reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart and 'Funny How Love Can Be' being their other top 10 hit. They then provided backing vocals for ' I Can't Explain', by the Who. In the UK it was a smaller hit for Goldie and the Gingerbreads. Their luck changed when Herman's Hermits recorded ' Can't You Hear My Heartbeat' and took it to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. They noticed their voices blended well and started recording demos together, resulting in a single on Pye Records, 'What More Do You Want' as the Ivy League. In 1964 they met Perry Ford, who worked as an engineer in a small recording studio in Denmark Street, London. But the band never broke through and their main claim to fame remains a brief stint that Jimmy Page did as their lead guitarist. In 1961 the first single by Carter-Lewis and the Southerners was released, 'Back on the Scene'. Terry Kennedy became their manager and convinced them to start their own band as an outlet for their songs. In 1960 the duo went to London and presented themselves under their songwriting pseudonyms John Carter and Ken Lewis. Which was good, it got us excited about songwriting.'

It was then they began writing songs together: 'We began to write real Buddy Holly take-offs. They formed a skiffle band in the 1950s called LVI. Mary Hopkin - ' Knock, Knock Who's There?' Ĭarter met his future songwriting partner Ken Hawker at school in Birmingham.Sacha Distel - 'Vite, Cherie, Vite' (French version of 'Beach Baby').The Flower Pot Men - ' Let's Go to San Francisco'.The Music Explosion - ' Little Bit O' Soul'.Herman's Hermits - ' Can't You Hear My Heartbeat'.The Ivy League - 'Funny How Love Can Be', 'That's Why I'm Crying', ' Tossing and Turning'.

Mainly popular in the 1960s and early 1970s, Carter's craftsmanship can be heard at work with:

John carter gannol