The Birds (band) Gardner then joining Ashton, Gardner and Dyke. In 2010, Ali McKenzie started to play in gigs as The Birds with the members of Small Faces tribute band, Small Fakers. Session musician: Turn, Turn, Turn The Birds (band) The Birds were an English rhythm and blues band, formed in 1964 in London. They recorded fewer than a dozen songs and released only four singles. Starting out with a hard R&B sound, they later began infusing it with Motown-style vocal harmonies. The best known former member of The Birds is Ronnie Wood, who went on to join the Jeff Beck Group, The
The Controllers (R&B band) on-stage performances also helped them to open for Ray Charles, Nancy Wilson, B.B. King and The Temptations. A follow-up ballad, "Heaven Is Only A Step Away" climbed to #37 R&B, but despite the release of two more albums on Juana, the group failed to find another major single success. In 1983, the group signed with the late Jimmy Bee, a San Francisco based manager, and got a recording contract with MCA Records. Their first release on the label, "Crushed" (which featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica) returned them to the charts, reaching #30 R&B, in 1984 and two years later, "Stay"