Forty kilometres southeast of Auckland is the small farming community of Clevedon. It was in this idyllic setting that the Brown siblings, Graham, Ron and Gaye, grew up on the family farm where they helped out with various chores and absorbed a wide range of musical influences, not just from the radio but also from their mother Joy, who played piano. Unlike most mothers of her generation she preferred southern American blues and gospel music to the crooners and pop hits that dominated NZ in the 1950s.
Ron Brown - guitar, vocals
Ace Follington - drums
Gaye Brown - vocals, keyboards, bass
Graham Brown - drums
Milton Lane - vocals, rhythm guitar
Rob Aickin - vocals, bass
The Cleves’ Songs For Michael EP was the soundtrack for director Peter Weir’s segment in the three-part Australian film Three To Go.
Gaye Brown had a single in her own name – Let A Little Love Come In/Minstrel Song, on Anchor Records in 1974.
Rob Aickin returned to Auckland in the mid-1970s where he became a well-known record producer, recording Th’ Dudes, Hello Sailor and Golden Harvest, among others.
UNKLE sampled Bitch’s Good Time Coming for their song ‘Restless’ in 2011.