The New Vaudeville Band

Bob Kerr then formed his own group, Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band, which continues to perform today. One of their hits was the 1974 song "The Night Chicago Died". The group enjoyed success for two years until the novelty wore off. Paper Lace was a band consisting of two people, Peter Robin Callander and Mitch Murray. The lead singer of the touring version of the group was Alan Klein who was billed as 'Tristram--Seventh Earl Of Cricklewood'. Only Bob Kerr from that group was interested, so he left The Bonzos to help Geoff Stephens form a touring version of The New Vaudeville Band.

He contacted a real group called The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band which played similar music at the time. With Geoff receiving several requests for The New Vaudeville Band to tour, he had to put together a group as the song was recorded by studio musicians hired only for the recording session. To his surprise, the song became a huge international hit and became a #1 song in the USA. The New Vaudeville Band was a group created by songwriter Geoff Stephens in 1966 to record his composition "Winchester Cathedral" which was a song inspired by the dance bands of the 1920s.