Patto

Patto was an English band that played a unique blend of progressive jazz-rock and they started as Timebox with Ollie Halsall (guitar), Clive Griffiths (bass), Chris Holmes (keyboards), John Halsey (drums) and Mike Patto (vocals). Timebox recorded several singles on the Deram label, one of which made the Top 40. They started recording an album but the sessions did not go well and the project was abandoned by Deram. This prompted Chris Holmes to quit and move on to the band, Babe Ruth, then The Tommy Hunt Band and finally, No Spring Chicken. Timebox then changed their name to Patto and were signed to the Vertigo label. Their debut album was recorded live in the studio to capture the raw feel of the guitar and vocals, however it was not a commercial success. After they recorded their second album Vertigo dropped them but they were gaining a reputation as an exciting live act. Muff Winwood was the producer of their previous albums and was able to get Patto signed to Island where they recorded their third album. Their final album, Monkey's Bum was recorded in 1973 but was never officially released. With the band members working on their own projects Mike decided to break up the band.
Ollie Halsall joined Tempest did session work and played with Kevin Ayers and The Soporifics. He reunited with Mike Patto in 1975 and they formed the short lived Boxer. His next venture was with the Rutles and after that he bounced around between Sweden, Spain and England working with various artists. In 1992 Ollie died in Madrid of a heroin induced heart attack. Clive Griffiths did some work as a backup musician for the childrens group, The Four Bucketeers, with band mate Ollie Halsall. He joined Alexis Korner's band CCS and then he was working with Joe Brown's Bruvvers when he and John Halsey were in a car accident. John suffered broken bones and now walks with a limb but Clive was knocked unconscious for weeks and when he finally regained consciousness he suffered severe mental issues. Clive barely remembers being in a band and John now runs a pub with his wife in Suffolk. Mike Patto's actual name was Michael McCarthy he changed it to Patto so that their would be no association to Paul McCartney. He formed Boxer with Ollie Halsall and sang on Spooky Tooths final studio album. In 1976 he was diagnosed with lymphatic leukemia and passed away on March 4th, 1979.