I don't konw if Telstar by The Tornados was the first rock hit to come over to America from the UK, as I was a mere lad in England at the time. But the "organ" on Telstar was in fact a "Clavioline" which was a strange one-and-a-half or two-octave mini keyboard (monophonic, to boot) which was designed to attach to the front of a piano keyboard (the old joanna-basher in our local pub used to have one). I remember my Dad was willing to fork out 12 pounds (almost a week's wages in 1961) for a second-hand one for me. I didn't go for it in the end though, because it didn't have 'that sound' - I was just getting into Jimmy Smith at the time.

My first exposure to B3 was at the Baptist church where my mother played the organ. I would go with her when she practiced and she would let me play on it for awhile. That had to be in the early 50's. I think.
What's a joanna-basher?
DonM

Don - A Joanna was originally Cockney Rhyming slang for Piano but most people in the UK know what it is. A basher is probably a thumper of keys playing in a sort of "Stride" fashion as was the favourite style of pub pianists of yesteryear in the UK.

I played Hammonds for 25 years of all models and one of the things that sets the As, Bs and Cs apart is the Chorus Vibrato that you got on those models. This is the effect that Jimmy Smith mainly used. It was so good even through straight speakers (Non Revolving) I remember you had 6 different vibrato settings. There was V1 to V3 which was just modulation and C1 to C3 settings with the C3 setting being the deepest. I could play all day with that setting with the 16/8/4 bars full out and the 2 2/3 percussion. Those were the days.......... Back Problems, 2 Ton truck, 3 roadies

KF