#2: Come See Me by the Pretty Things
City: Kelowna, BC
Radio Station: CKOV
Peak Month: August 1966
Peak Position in Kelowna ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Come See Me”
Lyrics: “Come See Me”
The Pretty Things were a band formed in London, England, in 1963. The name was inspired by a song from 1955 by Bo Diddley. Prior to its formation, a band called Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys was formed in 1962. It consisted of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and guitarist Dick Taylor. They hooked up with Brian Jones, Ian Stewart and Bill Wyman to become the Rolling Stones. Taylor left the band five months later to pursue studies at the Central School of Art and Design in London. A friend from college, vocalist Phil May, convinced Taylor to start a new band. Phil May (nee Kattner), born in 1944, was raised by an aunt whose surname was May. He took her name in his teens. They recruited Brian Pendleton on rhythm guitar, John Stax on bass guitar, and Pete Kitely on drums. Pendleton was born in 1944, and was working as a trainee to become an insurance clerk before responding to an ad placed in Melody Maker by Taylor and May. Stax was born in 1944 with the birth name John Edward Lee Fullagar. He adopted the name “Stax” because of his fondness for the music produced by Stax Records. Several more drummers tried to prove a good fit until the band settled on the drummer for Carter-Lewis and the Southerners’ Viv Prince.