Best known for their 1968 hit "Dear Delilah ", British psychedelic band Grapefruit was formed in London in 1967. Formed by George Alexander (born Alexander Young, bass and vocals), who, unlike his younger brothers George and Malcolm Young of the Easybeats, remained in England, the band also included guitarist John Perry (Tony Rivers and the Castaways) and brothers Peter and Geoff Swettenham (guitar and drums respectively). Under contract to the Beatles' brand-new Apple Records label, Grapefruit - named after the book written by Yoko Ono - is launched with great fanfare by the Beatles, and its first single "Dear Delilah", produced by Terry Melcher who looks after the band in the U.S., reaches number 21 in the U.K. charts in the spring of 1968. Others followed, such as a cover of The Four Seasons' "C'mon Marianne" (no. 35), before the release of the Around Grapefruit album (1969). In the meantime, changes had taken place within the band and vis-à-vis Apple, who had changed managers, with a not inconsiderable impact on the promotion of the album and its follow-up, Deep Water, with its bluesier, rockier tone, whose title track reached No. 19 in Germany. Finally split up at the end of 1969, Alexander, his brother George and Harry Vanda attempted to revive the name with the release of the single "Universal Party" in 1971, which went nowhere. In 2016, the compilation Yesterday's Sunshine was released, featuring the original, unreleased version of "Lullaby ", produced by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the early days. Mick Fowler, who contributed to the band as pianist, organist and guitarist, died on January 30, 2022 in Thousand Oaks (California).
