Aces High b/w Comin' Home Baby

The Collectors were formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1961 and they were originally known as the C-Fun Classics. The C-Fun Classics released many local records and were initially a cover band. They adopted the name C-FUN Classics when they gigged to promote local Vancouver, British Columbia radio station CFUN-AM. The group were featured as the house band 'The Classics' on 'Let's Go', a weekly CBC TV show.

The intial group line-up consisted of Howie Vickers (vocals), Brian Russell (guitar), Claire Lawrence (sax), Glenn Miller (bass), Tom Baird (piano) and Gary Taylor (drums). It was this line-up that released two singles as the Classics in 1964 - 'Aces High' b/w 'Comin' Home Baby' (Jaguar J2001) and 'Till I Met You' b/w 'I Didn't Take Much' (Jaguar J2002). Both singles were composed by Tom Baird and released in Canada on the Jaguar Records label. Both records were popular locally. The latter single was also released the US (Washington State, Oregon and California) by Jerden Records.

The Classics remained in Canada and were next heard on a single released by DJ Fred Latremouille called 'Latromotion'. With a slight name change to the Canadian Classics in 1966, they released a single on the Los Angeles based Vault record label called 'I Don't Know' b/w 'Gone Away'. This became a minor success for the band and started getting their name known in the US market.

However, despite the success of the single on the Vault record label, the Classics still remained in Vancouver. In September 1966, Howie helped out on an offshoot project called The Eternal Triangle with Susan Jacks and Tom Northcott. 'It's True' b/w 'Watch Me Go' was released on the newly formed New Syndrome record label and made number 16 on the local Canadian charts.

Howie Vickers: vocals
Brian Russell: guitar
Claire Lawrence: saxophone
Glenn Miller: bass
Gary Taylor: drums
Tom Baird: piano