Blue-eyed soul pioneers, the Shulman brothers were before they established the renowned prog ensemble Gentle Giant. Although they are seldom remembered today, the British sextet Simon Dupree & the Big Sound released an album in 1967 that used musical instruments owned by the Beatles and other well-known performers who recorded at the same studio. In the 1960s, Derek Shulman and his brothers Ray and Phil created Dupree & the Big Sound. After landing a record deal with EMI’s Parlophone label in 1967, the group found themselves in close proximity to their labelmates, the Beatles.
Derek Shulman with his brothers Ray and Phil created Dupree & the Big Sound in the 1960s. The group signed a record deal with EMI’s Parlophone label in 1967, which placed them in close proximity to the Beatles, their label mates. Derek Shulman states in his autobiography, Giant Steps, which is published by Jawbone Press on October 7, that they had to pass an audition in order to get their contract. Cliff Richards and the Shadows producer Norrie Paramor, Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, engineer Alan Parsons (who would later produce Pink Floyd), Beatles producer George Martin, and “12 other high-level producers and engineers at EMI” were in attendance.
According to Shulman, “they had us play an entire set, like a mini-concert, and most of them didn’t smile the whole time.” We were certain they didn’t like us as they said farewell at the end. We had a record deal two weeks later.
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