You might think the revival of what the founders say is “SA’s longest running band”, The Staccatos (established 1961), is nothing short of a cultural miracle.
But it is nothing of the sort. It is really a story of one woman’s steely grit and her love for the music, and later, the man.
The return of singer Steve Ashley, 77, and 82-year-old founding member Brian le Gassick has been a vibrant, noisy, happy affair, says the woman who brought them back to public life, Ebeth Loots, 58.
She is a former human resources manager at Johannesburg’s Milpark Hospital who is the marketing, organising, driving and merchandise-selling force behind the two men.
She says, life for “the team”, is one big, happy, road-tripping jorl.
They talk on stage, crack jokes, get audiences roaring out old favourites, and on the road, they talk, tell jokes – reminiscing about the hip and hot sixties.
There were “groupies” who followed the band that hit the top of the charts in 1963 with one big song, the heart-wrenching, soul-gutting lament Cry to Me.
It spent a record-breaking 38 weeks on the Springbok Radio Hit Parade in 1969 and won the group a music competition which led to a recording contract with EMI and the title of “Beatles of South Africa”.
The song is still SA’s biggest selling single track released by the SA music industry.
But by 1999 the group had disbanded.
But in 2014, Ebeth and her then husband Tom Loots watched in disbelief as Steve was brought onto a stage to do the hit and it was as good as ever.
Tom had exclaimed “Bull…t! He’s probably dead".
But, in a twist of fate, it was Tom who would pass away from natural causes in 2021, but not after they all became “helse” friends.
Ebeth said: “At that stage, Steve was semi-retired and doing the odd gig.
“I said you have a God-given talent. People should hear you again.”
She started managing him as a solo artist in 2015.
In 2019, Ebeth decided to reunite the band and gave up her job to be their manager.
She knew nothing and nobody. People said she was “flogging a dead horse”.
But she had determination and today the band claims to be the best-selling external show on the Barnyard circuit in 2019, and has sold out all their 2023, 2024 and 2025 shows.
“We had to work ourselves up to today. When I started we had not one contract.
“I did not know who to phone, what to ask.
“But I never called in a favour. I did it myself,” she said of the hustling and administration which creates the real platform for the musicians.
“I put everything into these guys, I source their few sponsors, do the bookings …”
The band has blown up in small towns in SA and Namibia and performs on average three times a week, only taking January off.
“We tour places like Reddersburg, Rouxville and smaller dorps. Everybody comes!
“They treat us like royalty and are so appreciative of what we do.
“Bigger artists don’t go to smaller dorps. They say it doesn’t pay.”
But it does pay for The Staccatos. They are in such demand that some shows will see the group being transported, even flown, to the venue and put up by the towns and then receive a performance fee.
Steve also has a solo career.
There has also been recognition of Ebeth’s role, the band has received several accolades, including three “best artist manager” awards for Ebeth.
“And yes, here we are today travelling, selling out [venues] as we go.
“They are in demand like you won’t believe. They have been on television and radio.
”Cry to Me gets aired five or six times a week on one station."
The band spends many hours on the road, driving. Cars are a passion of Brian’s — he would take his restored Chevy to shows like those run by the Piston Ring Club.
“I do most of the driving, and 99% of the time we do not listen to the radio. Instead I listen to them telling stories, the naughty things they got up to.
“I never hear them complain. We have driven through the Western Cape.”
At some point on the new, exciting road, Ebeth and Steve got married two years ago. It felt easy.
In Cape Town, they absolutely rock the retirement villages who “fall over their feet” to book them.
In many cases, children in their 50s book the show for their parents and the grandchildren come with.
Ebeth says Steve is known as “South Africa’s Tom Jones” but the show spans the decades and styles, from the bubbly pop of The Archies, to the crooning Engelbert Humperdinck, Elvis Presley, and some heavy rock like Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple.
She goes on, listing Roy Orbison, The Monkees, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Michael Bolton, The Animals, The Doobie Brothers, Status Quo, Glenn Frey, and Bob Seger.
But mostly it’s the crowd in sing-a-long heaven with House of the Rising Sun, and Have You Ever Seen The Rain … or they see a Bad Moon Rising.
All the guys have to do is stop playing, raise their arms, and the audience belts out the chorus — call and response!
“It’s loud!” she says.
They will generally play about 20 songs, mostly from a song sheet, but occasionally when they have read the auditorium, they will tell a few jokes or a long story or two — “Brian went into a vintage shop. They didn’t want to let him go…”
And then they launch into an unscheduled song.
“The sound engineer does the tech but I hit the play button for the simple reason: I know how Steve talks and when he is ready to play [that song off the set list], I know him that well.
“We are in rhythm. And, just by the way they are telling a story, I know what is happening and what song will be played next.”
The line-up, after 54 musicians have joined The Staccatos over the years, is that Brian plays backing vocals and strums, and Steve sings.
Ebeth, ever the smart manager, says they prefer to play at small-town theatres because they have their own in-house sound system and engineer. It saves money and schlepping equipment, known in the musical world as “humping”.
The crew flies into KuGompo City and plays on Friday, July 3 and Saturday, July 4.
When possible the shows end before dark since a lot of fans “don’t travel at night”.
Steve said, “We can’t wait to be down there because we are going to take everyone down memory lane doing some of our hits and the music of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
“I can promise you we are going to be rocking that place.”
Brian and Steve said: “We will tour countrywide and sing and entertain the South African public for as long as we are healthy and God permits.”
The Staccatos perform at the Guild Theatre at 7pm on Friday, July 3, and present a Saturday matinee at 3pm on July 4. Book on Webtickets.
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