As the British Invasion reshaped American pop music in the mid-1960s, a 19-year-old singer from Manchester joined The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and other U.K. acts at the top of the U.S. charts.
Wayne Fontana was still a teenager when he recorded “The Game of Love” with The Mindbenders. Released under the name Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, the infectious rock song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965 and became the biggest hit of Fontana’s career.
Born Glyn Geoffrey Ellis in Manchester, England, in 1945, Fontana adopted his stage name from Elvis Presley’s drummer D.J. Fontana.
“I started singing at school,” Fontana told Daily Express. “I would jump on stage and sing whether the other kids wanted to hear me or not.”
He formed the Mindbenders in the early 1960s with a lineup that included guitarist Eric Stewart, bassist Bob Lang, and drummer Ric Rothwell. The group signed with Fontana Records, a coincidence that made the singer’s chosen surname particularly fitting.
“A talent scout from London came to see us and we passed the audition,” Fontana recalled. “We got a recording contract, ended up in London and became Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders. After ‘Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um’ we had a huge hit with ‘The Game Of Love’ in 1965, which got to number five and that led to appearances on radio and all the TV pop shows of the day including Top Of The Pops.”
Written by Clint Ballard Jr., the songwriter behind hits including “You’re No Good,” the track paired Fontana’s energetic lead vocal with a driving beat and a direct lyric comparing romance to a game everyone eventually learns to play.
The single first became a hit at home, reaching No. 2 on the U.K. Singles Chart.
Its American reception was even bigger. “The Game of Love” climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1965, replacing Freddie and the Dreamers’ “I’m Telling You Now.” Its success made Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders another Manchester act to capitalize on America’s fascination with British rock.
Fontana’s time with the group wouldn’t last much longer.
He left the Mindbenders in 1965 and pursued a solo career, scoring a U.K. hit with “Pamela Pamela.” The remaining band members continued as simply The Mindbenders, with Stewart taking over lead vocals.
They soon found another major hit of their own.
The Mindbenders recorded “A Groovy Kind of Love” in 1965, and the single reached No. 2 in both the United States and the U.K. Stewart later became a founding member of 10cc, extending the band’s connection to another chapter of British rock history.
More than six decades after its chart-topping run, “The Game of Love” remains Fontana’s defining recording. At just 19, he turned a two-and-a-half-minute British pop song into an American No. 1 and secured his place in the story of the British Invasion.
Related: 1978 Rock Song, Written in 15 Minutes in Venice, Is Still an Iconic Hit 48 Years Later
