Hailing from Portmadoc, Gwynedd, Wales (originally as Dino And The Wildfires), The Wackers moved to London, where they established themselves as a popular Merseybeat-style group and signed to Oriole in 1964, releasing their debut single, I Wonder Why.
There was speculation at the time that the group were from Liverpool since they appeared regularly in and around Merseyside – and the band members were quite happy to encourage this impression since it helped their image.
The A&R chief at Oriole, John Schroeder, moved to Pye, and The Wackers followed him, releasing two singles on the subsidiary Piccadilly label. Love Or Money (August 1964) sold well but failed to make the charts, while the superb The Girl Who Wanted Fame (January 1965) fared little better.
The band subsequently changed their name to The Persuasions and released three singles on the UK Columbia label – I’ll Go Crazy (a James Brown composition), Big Brother and La, La, La, La, La – before calling it a day.
