THE BEATLES made the Top 10 Club in Hamburg huge -- if you played there you were almost guaranteed fame and fortune.

Or so the Uptown Go Go Band hoped when they were spotted performing on the East Lancashire circuit back in 1967 and invited to Germany.

As the Beatles made fortunes before splitting up, the Uptown Go Go Band refused to let their music die.

But as for fame and fortune...it just didn't happen!

And while there may have never have been no gogo-mania, yesterday's final goodbye gig at the Gordon Lennox Arms in Cliviger, Burnley, proved they had achieved success in a different, less profitable way.

Just one member of the soul group's original line-up remains , saxophonist Ken Martin, along with Joe Madden, who joined the group in 1966.

And people travel from across the country to jam with the group, who are one of the perennial favourites at the Burnley Blues Festival every year.

Vocalist and bass player Joe, of Burnley, said: "Back then, the music was a living for us and we played at both the Top 10 club and the Star Club, where the Beatles played.

"Everyone who played there hoped to go on to have the same success as them, but we split up in 1972 when we all decided to go our separate ways.

"We thought that was the end of it but in 1992 we reformed for a charity gig. We didn't think anyone would really remember us, but youngsters, who weren't alive when we were last playing, were asking to play with us.

"We just do gigs every now and again and we have a core of five or six members, of which just me and Ken remember the Hamburg days.

"But sometimes that goes up to 10 or 12."

He added: "When in Hamburg we used to play with some of the great artists, like Deep Purple and Long John Balding."

After they re-formed, the group began playing at the Blues Festival, playing with the likes of Kenny Baker and, more recently, the James Taylor Quartet.

But as sure as the Christmas number one is a novelty song, the group have become something of a legend -- playing every September at Cliviger.

Joe added: "The idea is to raise money for a Christmas do for the old folk but people travel across the country to play with us."

However, like the Beatles, all good things come to an end, and yesterday people packed into the small country pub to see the band's finale.