Foundations for the band that would eventually be known as The Soul Agents and stake their place in the annals of UK underground music, were laid as far back as 1960. Tony Good (guitar,) Jeff Bromley (bass,) John Keeping (vocals) and (drummer) Chris Warman, who all lived in the New Forest area around Southampton, got together to jam and practice, practice, practice.

After some months, they were proficient enough to be rewarded with some local gigs which they fulfilled under the name, The Stallions.

Ah … the cockiness of youth!

It didn’t take long, though, for them to realise this name was regarded as being a bit on the risqué side and could inhibit potential bookings – this was before the Swinging Sixties properly kicked in, remember. Anything ‘provocative’ that flew in the face of the more prim and proper standards of the time could prove commercially disastrous.

So, in 1962, the more socially acceptable name of The Lonely Ones was adopted, and the band expanded with the addition of rhythm guitarist, Jim Sachs. In August of the following year, the band decided to turn ‘professional,’ at which point original member Jeff Bromley and Jim moved over to cover the vacated bass position.

Like many bands of the time, The Lonely Ones moved to Germany to take up a residency in Frankfurt. The move saw the band change musical direction too, as they edged away from their more generic pop style, towards a ‘harder’ R&B sound.

Their contract was supposed to last the months of December ’63 and January 1964, however vocalist Johnny Keeping developed laryngitis and the band were forced to return home at the end of the year.

Several changes to personnel followed, including the addition of keyboard player Don Shinn and new drummer, Roger Pope. It was at this point another name was decided upon and The Soul Agents were now ready to rock!

On June 5^th, 1964, the band released their first single. ‘I Just Wanna Make Love to You,’ is the R&B standard, and was backed with a Bo Diddley style arrangement of Roy Orbison’s ‘Mean Woman Blues.’

The gigs kept coming as the band began to forge a name for themselves. In October ’64, their second single was released, another cover, this time of Mose Allison’s ‘Seventh Son,’ with a stonking version of John Lee Hooker’s ‘Let’s Make it Pretty Baby.’

https://youtu.be/jo-3vp-fmsw?si=UV_iMI7LT1NZexan

Sadly, neither of the band’s first two singles troubled the UK chart but what followed is probably their greatest claim to fame.

Bassist Jim Sachs explains this in an interview with Lorelei Reddin of The Southern Daily Echo newspaper on 16^th November 2016:

“We joined Malcolm Nixon a London agent, who had collared the majority of blues bands around at that time, including Long John Baldry and the Hoochie Coochie Men, who we occasionally supported. Long John had a warm-up vocalist by the name of Rod Stewart who was lucky to do a couple of numbers, but he was a performer with a unique voice, and we thought he would suit our band.

Long John’s band soon broke up and we saw the opportunity to take The Soul Agents to a new level. Although Rod had been part of other bands, he had never been a frontman but accepted the offer to join us.

Rod lived in Highgate, London, the rest of the band in Southampton. Most times we would pick Rod up from home but on a Saturday, no matter where we were playing, Rod would make his own way to the gig after his regular game of football. He was sometimes late but never let us down. He would stroll into the club looking immaculate with his coiffed hair and way out gear mostly made by a girl at the Chelsea College of Art. On stage he had the audience in the palm of his hand, although early days he said he was never comfortable being a front man.

The closest we got to rehearsing with Rod was in the band wagon. He would sometimes bring an acoustic guitar and rattle off a number and say, “this one is for tonight”.

The highlight of those few months with Rod was when we backed Buddy Guy on his first tour of the UK, February 1965, with Rod as ‘second string vocalist’ – two icons in the making!”

Unfortunately, Rod could never record with The Soul Agents as both parties were contracted to different labels. But on 19^th February 1965, the band’s third and final 7” was released – ‘Don’t Break It Up,’ backed with ‘Gospel Train.’ By now, the band had sufficient kudos to be invited to play this single on the TV show ‘Ready, Steady Go!’

Not long after the show’s recording, however, vocalist Johnny Keeping left the band for family reasons. The remainder of the group continued to perform, gigging throughout the country with Buddy Guy, with Rod and The Soul Agents doing the first set and the group backing Buddy for the second set.

Bass player Jim Sachs left the band to study accountancy in April of that year (in 1972 he would later form the band Tapestry of whom I’d love to find out more) and a few months later, organist Don Shinn developed tuberculosis which forced the band into premature retirement, with Rod then moving on to join up again with Long John Baldry in Steampacket.

And, well … you know how that side of the story turned out! 😉

Meantime, following six months of recuperation, Don Shinn had recovered from his illness and re-formed The Soul Agents with a fresh line-up.

In May 1966, a final single was released with the band’s name, though it was credited this time as being by Don Shinn and The Soul Agents. ‘A-Minor Explosion’ / ‘Pits of Darkness’ were both instrumentals that highlight Don’s keyboard skills.

I’ve read that a young Keith Emerson (E.L.P.) used to watch Don play and considered him an inspiration. Listening to these tracks, I can quite believe it.

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(Reference was made to the 45cat website for some of the information contained in this post.)
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THE SOUL AGENTS

(Personnel over three main versions of the band.)

Tony Good – Guitar
Johnny Keeping – Vocals
Roger Pope – Drums
Jim Sachs – Bass
Don Shinn – Organ
Rod Stewart – Vocals
+
Ian Duck – Guitar
Dave Glover – Bass
Pete Hunt – Drums / Vocals

TITLE	FORMAT	YEAR	LABEL	NOTES
I Just Wanna Make Love To You	7″ single	1964	Pye Records
Seventh Son	7″single	1964	Pye Records
Don’t Break It Up	7″ single	1965	Pye |Records
A-Minor Explosion	7″ single	1966	Polydor	Released under the name: Don Shinn & The Soul Agents.