Les Sauterelles
band that plays pop music
Les Sauterelles (French, literally: the grasshoppers) are a Swiss musical group established in 1962. At least in the German-language area, they are believed to be as one of the 'closest' tribute bands to The Beatles, and to The Shadows.
History
Founding and name
On 19 September 1962, in the lobby of the studio Brunnenhof of the Swiss national radio in Zürich, two unnamed students from French-speaking Switzerland, who are dedicated to the music of The Shadows, and also Toni Vescoli, an aspiring singer-guitarist participated at the trials for a guitar festival in Lausanne as "mini-Shadows": they had hardly a chance to win, but at least their first professional studio recording, and never met again. François Garzoni, drummer, and Toni Vescoli rehearsed first songs at Garzoni's home, and LES SAUTERELLES were born, the "grass-hoppers" or more precisely "Locusts". Peter Frey, in fact a jazz musician and former classmate of Vescoli, acted as third member as "instrumental guitarist in the style of The Shadows" as the most experienced and oldest guy. Bass guitarist Günter Sohr, which, however, does not play bass guitar, the latter played by Peter Furrer, but the sound at the youth center Zürich-Bachwiesen convinced. Otto Ritschard, the friend of Toni Vescolis sister Vera, shortly thereafter joins the Sauterelles as bass guitarist, although he has never played a guitar; Toni Quero, former music teacher, taught him.
The Les-Sauterelles sound of the 1960s
Toni Vescoli planned with the band to earn his income, what for François is too risky, and Toni Quero brings Otto Bumbacher in the band, with the "two Ottos" and "two Tonis", it's now complete again. Toni Vescoli's sister Vera joined as a singer, as well as her agent to mediate gigs. On 26 December 1963, the Sauterelles have their first professional engagement, a week in Laax, which must however be terminated due to lack of snow and therefore guests on 1 January 1964.
The public source identifies “Les Sauterelles” as band that plays pop music. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sauterelles, band and plays.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1820573. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1962, 1963 and 1964.
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This entry incorporates text from “Les Sauterelles” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.