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Within a month, they had produced a brochure with photographs and marketing information and their new found manager and agent went to work distributing these around, not only the hotels and clubs, but also the many corporate bodies who organised large and prestigious functions in Scotland and the North of England. Los Caracas was born.

Very soon they secured weekly 'residencies' in restaurants in Glasgow which were backed up with frequent appearances at private functions, including weddings. It was 1968 and they were in great demand.

Opportunity Knocks was a TV programme which invited up and coming acts to compete for a position on the show. The programme producers arranged auditions throughout the year in the main cities of the UK and Los Caracas decided to enter the competition. They auditioned in Govan Town Hall in Glasgow, and were invited to take part in the show in September that year. Each show had 6 acts and they competed for votes, not only from the studio audience, but from the viewers, who voted by post. The winning act went on to appear in the next show where they competed again with new acts for first place.

Los Caracas performing their Latin American songs won three times in a row and won the right to appear on the All Winners programme at the end of the series. As a result of this widespread national TV exposure the band were soon in demand the length and breadth of the UK.

1969 was a very busy year and it became obvious that the volume of work being generated by the band was beginning to impose on their full time jobs. Sally was a hairdresser, Ken was a cameraman in the film industry, Ian was a surveyor working for the Glasgow Council and Eric was a sales representative for a national stationers. After a great deal of thought, the group turned professional on the first of April 1970 and their first engagement was a three week cruise to the Caribbean on a P&O liner in May.

During June 1970, they met a croupier in a Casino in Glasgow where they were playing and he offered them the possibility of work in Argentina, his home country, where he had important contacts in the record and TV industry. There they would be launched on the international market. The idea was to go to Italy and pick up a cruise ship at Genoa, heading for Argentina and work their passage across.

In the meantime the bands repertoire was that wide that it didn't fit in a special theme. It was obvious that the name Los Caracas was not going to be a suitable 'handle' for their actual style of music and so they decided to change it. Everyone listed as many suitable names for the group as they could. Finally, they choose one which Ken had submitted since it described the kind of music they played in their act. Middle of the Road was born.

Continue with The early years

Site created: November 12, 2006 Last update: Juni 23, 2008