The Ventures

The Ventures recorded their greatest hit before they even had a record deal. "Walk Don't Run" was recorded in 1959 but no record company would sign them so, in the end, they started up Horizon Records and produced it themselves. It wasn't until it gained airplay as a radio news signature tune that it finally made its way to No.2 on the US Billboard charts.

The Ventures had formed in 1959 when Don Wilson and Bob Bogle started to play small clubs in the American Northwest. They later added Nokie Edwards (bass) and Howie Johnson (drums) and the resultant guitar-driven instrumental sound was the genesis of the 'surf-music' genre (although they, themselves, do not accept that label). Mel Taylor would later join the band as replacement for Johnson when an accident left him with spinal damage, and when Taylor died in 1996, his son, Leon, took up his sticks. The line-up has changed at times over the years but the trademark sound remains.

Since this early beginning, they have continued to tour and record, but the height of their popularity was in the 1960s. They have sold over 110 million albums during the course of their long career and, at one point, had five albums in the US Billboard top 100 at the same time.

Their musical virtuosity has inspired following generations, from The Beatles and The Eagles to Elton John and onto Aerosmith and The Go-Go's. Although the fame of the Ventures declined somewhat during the 1970s, interest was revived when the Punks and New Wavers reclaimed the music as their own.