Line-up included:
- Leslie 'Les' Godley - guitar (1961 - 1965)
- Clive Bowley - guitar (1961 - 1965)
- Brian 'Jake' Aitken - piano, vocals (1961 - 1963)
- James 'Jim' Leverton - bass (1961 - 1965)
- Roland Langley - drums (1961 - 1965)
The Big Beats formed in 1961 in Dover with a line-up of Les Godley on guitar (b. Leslie Godley), Clive Bowley on guitar, Jake Aitken on piano, vocals (b. Brian Aitken), 15-year-old Jim Leverton on bass (b. James Leverton, Thursday, June 6, 1946, Dover, Kent, England) and Roland Langley on drums.
Clive Bowley was the cousin of Derek Bowley of Mirkwood.
Leverton had started playing a left-handed guitar around 8 or 9. On leaving school at 15 in 1961 he became an apprentice bricklayer, but it was not long before he decided his future lay as a musician. By the early 60's he was already working in semi-pro Beat groups in and around Dover including The Big Beats. In 1964 he was ready to work as a full-time musician and joined Folkestone group The Burnettes, who included his friend Noel Redding on lead guitar. They broke up 18 months later having released two singles and Leverton along with his friend Redding in The Loving Kind (from Jan 1966).
In 1963 Aiten left to join The Playboys.
In 1965 Leverton and Langley left the group and The Big Beat folded.
Leverton joined The Burnettes replacing bassist Kevin Lang (b. Tuesday, March 3, 1942, Levenshulme, Manchester, Lancashire, England d. Tuesday, March 27, 2018).
As for Langley he went onto work with Ray Doble (b. Raymond Doble) and then replaced Brian Scotcher in The Playboys.
Info courtesy John H Warburg
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