45 & 12: 1969: The Marmalde "Reflections of My Life"

Marmalade were a successful Scottish pop/rock group, originally fronted by the vocalist Dean Ford, and later by Sandy Newman.

Unusually, Marmalade had two bass players, and were originally called Dean Ford & The Gaylords; they released several unsuccessful singles between 1964 and 1966, before changing their name. Their next few singles also failed to chart in the UK, although one, "I See The Rain," was highly praised by Jimi Hendrix and became a Top 40 hit in the Netherlands in 1967.

Marmalade's record label, CBS, threatened to drop them if they did not have a hit, and after the failure of another self-penned single later that year, "Man In A Shop", insisted they record more chart-oriented material. They rejected "Everlasting Love", which became a Number One for Love Affair, but later gave in to pressure and recorded a cover version of an American hit by The Grass Roots, "Lovin' Things", which reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart in the summer of 1968. After a lesser hit with the follow-up "Wait For Me Mary-Anne", which only made number 30, they enjoyed their greatest success with their cover of The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", which topped the UK chart in January 1969. As the first Scottish group to ever top the UK chart, the week it went to the top spot, they celebrated by appearing on BBC1's music programme Top Of The Pops, dressed in kilts.

This was followed by further successes with "Baby Make It Soon". After a change of record label to Decca Records, under a deal allowing them to write and produce their own songs, they recorded what would be their only American hit, the melancholy "Reflections Of My Life", with its distinctive backwards guitar break. Other UK hits included the mainly acoustic "Rainbow", and "My Little One". Other minor hit was "The Ballad of Cherry Flavor". They toured extensively and gave rise to a cocktail — the Marmaladdie. They were managed by Peter Walsh, a 1960s and 1970s pop entrepreneur whose portfolio also included artists like the Bay City Rollers, Billy Ocean, The Troggs and Blue Mink.