THE FORTUNES
Michael Smitham
Michael 'cut his teeth' touring in the UK and Europe with 'Eyes of Blue' backing pop legends such as Del Shannon, PJ Proby, Johnny Tillotson, and Bobby Vee. 'Eyes of Blue' later became 'Smackee' who were asked to be the the backing band of “soul legends” Percy Sledge, Ann Peebles, and The Marvelettes. The group toured at least twice a year throughout Germany and entertained in major cabaret venues all across Europe and The Middle East. Smackee won ‘Band Of The Year’ at one point in time and came second in the nationally shown ‘Search For A Star’ TV show. In 1983 Michael was seen by founder Fortunes members Rod Allen and Barry Pritchard, and was asked to join The Fortunes and since then, has become the longest serving member of the band.
Eddie Mooney
1975 saw Eddie move from Ireland to Manchester where he formed the progressive rock band “Accidents”. Popular on the student circuit, the band survived the onset of punk, releasing their only EP “Execution” on their own Eye label. By 1978 Eddie had gone solo and, with backing group 'The Grave'. During the 80s,Eddie was lead vocalist and bassist with Parq Avenue.
From 1989 to 2007, Eddie was a member of The Dakotas who toured the USA, Germany, Ireland and Sweden as well as the UK nostalgia and theatre circuit. In December 2007, whilst still with The Dakotas, Eddie was asked to stand in as lead vocalist and bassist with 60s and 70s British chart band The Fortunes due to the illness of original frontman Rod Allen. In early 2008 Eddie became a permanent member following the death of Allen and has been with the band ever since.
Chris Hutchison
Chris has had the pleasure of being a stand in keyboard player with the Merseybeats, The Tornadoes, Vanity Fair, The New Amen Corner and the Swinging Blue Jeans, and was asked to take Bob Jackson’s place in The Fortunes whilst Bob Jackson was in hospital.
In the mid 1980’s Chris worked with the original hit artistes ‘Mr Big’. During the late 1980’s and through the 1990’s, Chris was the keyboard player with the Brit pop group, ‘The Beautiful People’, who supported ‘Oasis’ on their ‘Definitely Maybe’ tour. More recently Chris opened for Bear Grylls on his ‘Mud Sweat and Tears’ tour, having been requested personally by Bear, who selected Chris’s version of Amazing Grace to be his no 1 disk, in Bears selection of songs for Desert Island Disks.
Glenn Taylor
Glenn began his career on new years eve in 1970 as the in house drummer at Baileys in Leicester, and very quickly became the ‘go to drummer’ in his home town. Glenn was the powerhouse behind ‘Brass Foundry’ a talented 7 piece outfit featuring fabulous brass in their line up. Glenn played on the Baileys circuit for many years and once shared a stage with The Fortunes! Glenn also worked the Mecca circuit of clubs in this period and the band relocated to Kings Lynn where they stayed till the demise of Mecca…
Shortly afterwards, Glenn spent two years with hit makers ‘Love Affair’ before being asked in 1982 to join hit makers Marmalade. Glenn stayed here till 1989, when he left to try his luck working with his brother. In 1998 he rejoined Marmalade and again toured extensively all over the world.
In 2010 Glenn was asked to join The Fortunes and has become the fourth vocal, the band always needed!