John Nicholas Shakespeare (born 20 October 1940), known as John Carter, is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer.Carter met his future songwriting partner Ken Hawker at school in Birmingham. They formed a skiffle band in the 1950s called LVI. It was then they began writing songs together: "We began to write real Buddy Holly take-offs. Which was good, it got us excited about songwriting." In 1960 the duo went to London and presented themselves under their songwriting pseudonyms John Carter and Ken Lewis. Terry Kennedy became their manager and convinced them to start their own band as an outlet for their songs. In 1961 the first single by Carter-Lewis and the Southerners was released, "Back on the Scene".

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