The Groovy Little Numbers were from Bellshill and were the brainchild of Joe McAlinden, himself a former member of The Boy Hairdressers alongside Norman Blake.
Joe McAlinden, who was (and still is) a multi-instrumentalist, joined forces with Catherine Steven (vocals) and Gerard Love (bass, vocals) to form Groovy Little Numbers in 1987. The group also incorporated a brass section from the Motherwell Youth Orchestra comprising Colette Walsh (tenor saxophone), John McRorie (alto sax), Kevin McCarthy (baritone sax), Mairi Cameron (trumpet), and James Wood (trumpet).
There were two EPs, both on 53rd & 3rd, released in January and August 1988. This is the lead track from the second of them:-
mp3 : The Groovy Little Numbers – Happy Like Yesterday
A marvellously, upbeat and catchy track. The two b-sides weren’t bad either:-
mp3 : The Groovy Little Numbers – Shoot Me Down
mp3 : The Groovy Little Numbers – A Place So Hard To Find
Joe would later join the BMX Bandits in 1991 and nowadays he records as Linden, while Gerry became part of Teenage Fanclub. That’s of course, the abbreviated story!!
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 