A label from the North East of England. Catalogue numbers, which were in an HEFS-0 series, suggest that Forward released at least three singles, but I've only been able to track down two of them. First out of the blocks was 'Listen Kids' b/w 'Pride Of Tyneside' by Corris & Wayne (HEFS-1); third was Emile Ford's 'Roving Eyes' b/w 'The Man Who's Got The Lot' (HEFS-3). Presumably there's a HEFS-2 out there somewhere; if anybody knows what it is, I'd be glad to hear from them. There's no date on either of the other singles, but according to an article by Tony Henderson, 'Rolling Back The Years' (on The Free Library site), 'Wayne' was actually Ken Sherratt, previously of a band called Wayne Sheridan & The Wanderers. After that band split he worked solo, as 'Wayne Sheridan'; he then met Corris in Jersey and married her, after which they worked together for a while as Corris & Wayne. Ken went solo again at some point, in professional terms at least, and Corris joined an all-girl band, 'The Suffragettes'. That band made an appearance on 'Opportunity Knocks': an advert in 'The Stage' magazine for the 20th of October 1977 describes them as a 'Club / cabaret harmony instrumental group' and thanks Hughie Green for his confidence in them during their appearance on his show, so presumably the show was broadcast not long before that. By October 1977, therefore, Corris & Wayne had been working separately for some time, so their single must be from before that date. Furthermore, run-off markings indicate that their single was pressed by Orlake; comparing the pressing marks on the label with those of other Orlake pressings from the '70s - it was a wet day and I'd nothing better to do - suggests that it was made in 1975 or 1976, which fits in with the Suffragettes' information.
The Forward singles had a picture of the artists on them, as did Emile Ford's own 'Transdisc' label (q.v.) from the late '70s / early '80s; in addition the company's name is in a curve, at the top, which gives them something of a family appearance. Throw in the possibility that the 'EF' part of the 'HEFS' prefix might be derived from Emile Ford's initials, and it seems like a reasonable conjecture that Forward was a precursor to Transdisc, perhaps intended as an outlet for artists whom Ford encountered during his tours of the Clubs; but as yet I've found no solid evidence in support of that theory. Thanks to CarryonSidney of the 45cat site for providing me with the Corris & Wayne record and thereby making this page less dull than it would have been. Pictures of the Emile Ford single can be found on that site.
Copyright 2018 Robert Lyons.