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Band History The Soul Detectives origins can be traced all the way back to 1964 and Tony Jackson, former lead singer of 60's favourites The Searchers. At the time, The Searchers were second only to The Beatles in terms of popularity and when Tony left them and decided to hold auditions for a new band, it was headline news.
Tony Jackson and The Vibrations, as the new band were to be named, were soon in the recording studio and their first single, Bye Bye Baby, became a Top 40 hit in October that year, leading to appearances on Ready Steady Go and Top of the Pops.
The Vibrations performing Love Potion No. 9 on TV in 1965
They continued to perform until 1968.
Paul Francis and Tony Jackson in 1991
Tony Jackson and The Vibrations in 1991, left to right, Chris Teeder, Paul Francis, Tony Jackson, Fred Free, and Rob Stacey
By this stage, Graham 'Grip' Neville was singing lead
vocals for the band, along with Tony.
The Vibrations, left to right, Billy Dyer, Paul Francis, Fred Free and Chris Teeder.
Tony passed away in 2003.
Tony Jackson and The Vibrations on stage in 1991 - front to back Billy Dyer (bass), Tony Jackson (vocals) and Colin 'Fred' Free (lead guitar).
However, rather than simply present only the classic 60's and 70's Soul numbers regularly performed by similar bands, The Soul Detectives were to include many Soul and Latin influenced hits of the 80's and 90's; arrangements rarely attempted by other musicians outside of a recording studio.
The Soul Detectives in 1995 - left to right Chris Teeder, Darren Davis and Paul Francis (standing) Mick Nottage and Fred Free (seated)
The Soul Detectives performing in January 1998 - left to right Fred Free, Paul Francis, Darren Davis, Mick Nottage and Mitch Mitchinson.
All told, 1998 proved to be a busy year for the band which had already added a brass section, comprising Darren Parker on saxes and Johnny Tait on trumpet.
Finally, toward the end of the year, Dave Unwin became Mitch's official replacement on Keyboards and Grant Jones replaced Johnny Tait on Trumpet. 1999 was a period of consolidation for the band, with no further changes to the lineup and by March 2000 they were ready to begin work on their second album "When You're Ready..."
The following year the band worked with Cult record producer Russell Writer on a version of the Theme from Peter Gunn, as featured in the film "The Blues Brothers" This session also featured Tony Hawkins, temporarily replacing Grant Jones on Trumpet, and the track was eventually featured on the album "Cult Themes from the 80's", released through Future Legend Records. Although it failed to become a hit, the album did result in Russell being nominated for a prestigious Record Producer of the Year award.
The Soul Detectives in March 2000 - left to right Paul Francis, Dave Unwin, Mick Nottage and Fred Free (standing), Darren Parker, Darren Davis and Grant Jones (front)
2002 saw the arrival of Glyn Sweeting on Trumpet and in June, the release of the tenth anniversary live album "Carry on RIGArdless" recorded at the Riga Music Bar in Westcliff on Sea.
The Soul Detectives in March 2002 - left to right Glyn Sweeting, Mick Nottage, Dave Unwin, Hayley Byrne, Darren Davis, Maria Sewell- Jones, Paul Francis, Darren Parker and Fred Free.
However, the 9 piece line-up only lasted until August 2002 when both backing vocalists left the Band.
The Soul Detectives return to a 7 piece line-up in 2002
Tina Stevens joined the lineup in January 2003, the same year which saw the band perform two high profile support slots with The Commitments and The Drifters, to considerable acclaim. 2003 also saw the departure of Trumpeter Glyn Sweeting and the return, on a full time basis, of Tony Hawkins.
Tina Stevens joins the band in January 2003
Early in 2004, as recording commenced on the Band's fourth album, Darren Davis announced his decision to leave the Band and emigrate to Australia. Although this had been on the cards for some time, Darren had fronted the band for almost 10 years and his departure heralded some big changes. Darren played his final show with the Soul Detectives at the Riga Music Bar in Westcliff on Sea, on Saturday 11th September 2004 and whilst work on the fourth album was never fully completed, several tracks were compiled into a mini-album to be sold on the night. Like the tickets for the show, all copies quickly sold out.
Whilst auditions continued, Junior Jump vocalist Mal Corking was invited into the lineup and continued to front the band until the end of 2004. Mal
Corking (second left) with The Soul Detectives
The continued failure to find a permanent replacement had nevertheless begun to take its toll and in January 2005, lead guitarist and founding member of the band Fred Free, decided to call it a day. Shortly afterward, Dave Unwin also decided to leave.
Firstly John Field joined on lead guitar and vocals and secondly two former members returned to the band, Chris Teeder on Keyboards and Maria Sewell-Jones on backing vocals. Finally, Richard Valadez was recruited as lead vocalist and a new nine-piece lineup was formed.
The Soul Detectives in April 2005 - left to right John Field, Chris Teeder, Richard Valadez, Tony Hawkins, Darren Parker (back), Paul Francis, Tina Stevens, Maria Sewell-Jones and Mick Nottage (front)
By the end of the 2005, Tina Stevens had left the re-launched band and Dave Unwin had returned, again replacing Chris Teeder. Maria Sewell-Jones remained with the Band until April 2008.
The Soul Detectives in 2007 - left to right Mick Nottage, John Field, Maria Sewell-Jones, Darren Parker, Tony Hawkins, Paul Francis, Richard Valadez and Dave Unwin
Musicians who took part included Richard Valadez, Maria Sewell-Jones, John Field, Fred Free, Darren Parker, Dave Unwin, Paul Francis, Chris Teeder, Mick Nottage, Tina Stevens and, all the way from Australia, Darren Davis.
Former Soul Detectives reunited in April 2007
The current lineup of Richard Valadez (lead vocals), John Field (lead guitar & vocals), Mick Nottage (bass guitar), Paul Francis (drums), Dave Unwin (keyboards and backing vocals) Darren Parker (saxes & electronic percussion) and Tony Hawkins (trumpet and backing vocals) continue to perform to enthusiastic audiences and The Soul Detectives' dedication to their music always keeps the band in great demand. As well as playing to packed audiences in public clubs and theatres throughout East Anglia, they remain a hugely popular act for parties, weddings and corporate functions. Over the years The Soul Detectives have undertaken two successful tours of Gabon, West Africa, appeared on stage with various guest stars, including Steve Harley and Jet Harris from The Shadows and were the only 'unknown' act to be invited to perform at the Millennium Festival of the Sixties at the Brighton Centre. Be sure to track them down.....
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From the hundreds who auditioned,
three were eventually chosen to join Tony on vocals and bass guitar; Martin
Raymond on Keyboards, Ian
Buisel on Lead Guitar and Paul Francis on Drums.
Although
Tony Jackson and The Vibrations were never destined to be as successful
as The Searchers, they continued to release singles over the next few
years
including Love Potion No. 9, Stage Door and You Beat Me to the
Punch.
Martin
Raymond was first to leave the group, being replaced briefly by Ian
Green before the band settled on a line up of Tony Jackson on vocals,
Dennis Thompson on bass, Ian Buisel on lead guitar and Paul
Francis on drums. 
The
story could easily have ended there but 23 years later Paul Francis and Tony
Jackson were reunited and in 1991 Paul reformed The
Vibrations to provide a backing group for Tony and also to perform in
their own right.
The new Vibrations line up comprised Paul Francis on drums, Rob
Stacey on bass and vocals, Colin 'Fred' Free on lead guitar and Chris
Teeder on keyboards. 
Rob Stacey didn't remain with the Band for very long and was initially
replaced by Steve English on Bass Guitar and vocals......
......and
ultimately by Billy Dyer. 
In 1992,
following Tony Jackson's departure, the remaining Vibrations line-up of Paul
Francis, Billy Dyer, Fred Free, Chris Teeder and Graham
Neville opted to continue performing, but to change their name to The
Soul Detectives, which was more reflective of their soul orientated sound.
Both
Graham Neville and Billy Dyer left the band in 1995 and
were replaced by Darren Davis on lead vocals and Mick Nottage
on bass guitar. 
Chris
Teeder decided to leave the band in 1997 and was initially replaced by
Matthew
'Mitch' Mitchinson. However, Mitch only remained with the band for a matter of
months and Chris rejoined the line-up the following year until a more permanent
replacement could be found.
The line up of Darren Davis
(lead vocals & percussion), Fred Free (lead guitar &
vocals), Mick Nottage (bass guitar & backing vocals), Chris
Teeder (keyboards), Paul Francis (drums), Darren
Parker (saxes) and Johnny Tait (trumpet) then went back into the studio to record three tracks, Call
Me Al, Signed, Sealed Delivered, and Living in America. 
This was to include the three
unreleased tracks recorded back in 1998, plus eight more recordings.
The album was rounded off with a ninth new recording, the acappella "It's
All Right" featuring just lead vocalist Darren Davis.
Later the same year, the band expanded
again with the addition of two
backing vocalists, Maria Sewell-Jones and Lianna Williams, although Lianna was
soon replaced by Hayley Byrne. 
Following
the departure of Hayley and Maria in 2002, and after more
than 10 years together, the band felt they needed a change and instead of
recruiting two new backing singers, it was decided to recruit one female
vocalist, who could undertake joint lead singer duties alongside Darren Davis. 
Auditions for a new singer had started almost as soon as
Darren announced he was leaving but, by the time of his departure, no-one
suitable had been found. 
Despite this further setback, a new line up was slowly taking shape. 
Although the band has
featured numerous musicians over the years, everyone has remained great friends.
Both Fred Free and Chris Teeder have continued to make occasional
guest appearances and in April 2007 a very special show took place in
which current and former Soul Detectives performed together for the first
time in many years.