TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 -
JOANNA
A brief history of the Top Of The Pops pianos
Anyone that loves and knows telly would appreciate that 'props' that were just there just to play a supporting role to the actors, but the presence and popularity of these sidekicks would lead some to become celebrities. The Are You Being Served lift, The Goodies' computer, the Open All Hours cash register were just some of the great props that became characters in their own right. Some of us waited for the props to do their thing, their catchphrase, and we would be rewarded each week. Some actors must have hated them.
Top Of The Pops producers expected any visiting band to bring all their relevant instruments with them, except for one. For a band (or their roadies if they were rich, or friends if they were lucky) to lug any kind of piano from van to stage to van again must have been dedicated beyond reason. That's why you didn't see many piano players in sixties groups, but there were a few exceptions like Gerry & The Pacemakers and The Moody Blues. If they were smart they would have bought a electric piano or small organ instead, but everyone loves a piano, ask Winifred Atwell or Russ Conway or Mrs Mills.
Most appearances by bands with a piano player quite rightly featured an upright model, beloved of pubs up and down the country, but still a bugger to shift from the props department to whatever stage it was required for. But if you could have a bare bones model with no strings then it could easily be transported from A to B. So the BBC props department at Television Centre had a (presumably) gutted upright which could be delivered to the Top of The Pops studio without much fuss. As long at the keys moved up and down no one could hear it was mute.
Some decided however that they'd rather bring their own keyboards if you didn't mind, so Dozy Beaky Mick and Tich lugged along a very fragile looking Moog synthesizer, while Rick Wakeman, Jon Lord of Deep Purple and Brian Auger brought their own stage / recording organs along.
So most of the time any keyboard player at BBC Television Centre would be expected to play the piano provided for them. The most famous Pops piano was the white upright (make / model unknown). The white piano can be traced back to the Gerry & The Pacemakers' Ferry 'Cross The Mersey in 1965, while the show was still based in Manchester, so it might have made the move down to London just as the show did in early 1966. It became as regular a contributor to the show as the DJs who presented it. John Lennon, Elton John, Tony Ashton, Manfred Mann, Hank Marvin, Billy Preston, Jeff Lynne all parked themselves behind it, either sat down or standing, while a brown piano (with studs along the back) also appeared in 1969 played by Pete Ham of Badfinger among others.
By the early to mid-
But by the punk and disco era pianos were out and it's likely that our white and brown superstars were dumped in the skip. When the binmen came to cart them away they were unknowingly taking away another part of pop history.
This brief article is dedicated to all the brown coated Reg's and Bert's that had to lug all the props from store onto set.