Rockin' Scots

[Elly]

AC/DC



This theatrical Australian hard rock band was formed in November 1973 by Malcolm Young (b. 6 January 1953, Glasgow, Scotland; rhythm guitar) after the demise of his previous outfit, the Velvet Underground (no relation to the US group). Young, whose elder brother George had already achieved stardom in Australia as a member of the Easybeats, also enlisted his younger brother, Angus Young (b. 31 March 1955, Glasgow, Scotland; guitar). Their sister later suggested that Angus wear his school uniform on stage, a gimmick that rapidly became their trademark. The two brothers made their debut appearance in a bar in Sydney on 31 December 1973, along with Dave Evans (vocals), Larry Van Kriedt (bass) and Colin Burgess (drums). In late 1974, the Young brothers and Evans moved to Melbourne. Another immigrant from the UK, Bon Scott (b. Ronald Belford Scott, 9 July 1946, Forfar, Scotland, d. 19 February 1980, London, England; vocals), graduated from being the band's chauffeur to becoming their vocalist when Dave Evans refused to go on stage one night. (Evans went on to form Rabbit, releasing two albums for CBS Records in Australia, before joining Hot Cockerel in 1984 and releasing David Evans And Thunder Down Under in 1986.) Scott had previously recorded with two Australian outfits, pop group the Valentines (1966-6 and rockers Fraternity (1970-74). Indeed, after he emigrated from Scotland in 1951, he had also spent five consecutive years as drum champion (under-17 section) with the Perth Pipe Band. After such a wholesome start, a prison conviction for assault and battery indicated a more volatile side to his nature, and resulted in him being refused admission to the army. In 1965, he joined the Spectors, before the aforementioned periods with the Valentines and Fraternity.

The AC/DC line-up that welcomed Scott had already recorded a solitary single, "Can I Sit Next To You Girl", but it was his voice that graced their first two albums, High Voltage and T.N.T.. The latter album also introduced two new members, Mark Evans (b. 2 March 1956, Melbourne, Australia; bass) and Phil Rudd (b. Phillip Hugh Norman Witschke, 19 May 1954, Melbourne, Australia; drums). Both sets were produced by George Young and his writing partner, another former Easybeat, Harry Vanda. Neither set was issued outside Australia, though Atlantic Records in Britain did offer a selection of material from both records under the title High Voltage in 1976. These albums established AC/DC as a major draw in their native territory, and brought them to the attention of Atlantic, who promptly relocated the band to London in January 1976. However, Evans was replaced by Cliff Williams (b. 14 December 1949, Romford, Essex, England; ex-Home) in June 1977 after the former tired of touring. He went on to Finch/Contraband, then a variety of bands including Swanee, Heaven, Best and Party Boys.

Once AC/DC began to tour outside Australia, the band quickly amassed a cult following, as much for the unashamed gimmickry of its live show as for its furious, frequently risqu‚ brand of hard rock. Let There Be Rock broke them as a chart act in the UK, with its contents including the perennial crowd-pleaser, "Whole Lotta Rosie'. The live If You Want Blood You've Got It consolidated their position, but 1979"s Highway To Hell established them as international stars. This, the band's first album with producer Mutt Lange, also proved to be their last with Bon Scott. On 19 February 1980, after a night of heavy drinking, he was left unconscious in a friend's car, and was later found to be dead, having choked on his own vomit. The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.

Scott's death threatened the band's future, but his replacement, former Geordie lead singer Brian Johnson (b. 5 October 1947, Dunston, England), proved more than equal to the task. His first album with the band, Back In Black, reached number 1 in the UK and Australia, number 4 in the USA, and spawned the UK number 15 single "Rock 'n' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution". The album was certified as having sold 12 million copies in the USA by March 1996. In 1981, For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) topped the American charts for three weeks, the band headlined at the Donington Festival and also achieved two Top 20 UK singles ("Let's Get It Up" and "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)"). After Flick Of The Switch in 1983, drummer Phil Rudd left the band to become a helicopter pilot in New Zealand, and was replaced by Simon Wright (b. 19 June 1963; ex-A II Z and Tytan) - who in turn departed to join Dio in 1989. His replacement was Chris Slade (b. 30 October 1946; ex-Manfred Mann's Earth Band).

In keeping with their superstar status, AC/DC maintained an increasingly relaxed schedule through the 80s, touring to support each carefully spaced album release. Two UK Top 20 singles, "Who Made Who" (1986) and "Heatseeker" (1988), confirmed their enduring popularity. There were further "casualties", however. When Malcolm Young was unfit to tour in 1988 his cousin, Stevie Young (ex-Starfighters), temporarily deputized. Paul Greg also stepped in for Cliff Williams on the US leg of their 1991 tour. A year earlier, The Razors Edge had been one of the more successful albums of their later career, producing a Top 20 UK hit, "Thunderstruck" and reaching number 2 on the album chart in America. In 1992, they issued a live album, while the attendant single, "Highway To Hell", made the UK Top 20. With Brian Johnson long having buried the ghost of Bon Scott, the band showed no signs of varying its winning musical formula, and in 1994 were buoyed by the return of Rudd to the line-up. The following year's Ballbreaker marked a powerful return after a lengthy break from recording. The ensuing Bonfire box set, meanwhile, served as a fitting memorial to Bon Scott. The band greeted the new millennium in typical style with the "business as usual" recording, Stiff Upper Lip. They were deservedly inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in March 2003.

[Elly]

IN Memory of Bon Scott


Bon Scott was born on July 9, 1946 in Kirriemuir, Scotland. He spent the first six years of his life in the small town of Kirriemuir. Bon's parents hailed from musical families; his father, Charles, known to friends and relations as Chick, played drums in the Kirriemuir Pipe Band and performed with the local light-opera company. In 1952, the Scott family relocated to Australia. The Scotts first resided in Melbourne before settling in the Adelaide suburb of Sunshine. In 1956, Bon's brother Graeme was diagnosed with asthma and the Scott family relocated to Fremantle.

As early as grade school, Bon had shown an affinity for music, first playing recorder in school; he would subsequently have brief flirtations with piano and accordion, before settling on drums. Bon took his first tentative steps as a performer at the age of twelve, playing a recorder duet with a classmate at a school concert and banging the drums alongside his father in the local Caledonian Society's Scots pipe band.

Bon's lifelong distaste for authority led him to quit his studies at the age of fifteen. After leaving school, he held a series of odd jobs, driving a tractor, laboring on fishing boats and working as an apprentice weighing-machine mechanic.

Bon's earliest bands found him doubling up on vocals and drums. In Perth during 1966 he played with The Spectors. Then he moved on to The Valentines. In May 1967 The Valentines released a debut single entitled 'Every Day I Have To Cry' on the Clarion label. Despite its lack of originality, the single reached the Top 5 of the local charts. But their next three singles flopped and they decided to move to Melbourne for a change of luck.

The Valentines recorded three Easybeats songs, 'She Said', 'Pelicular Hole In The Sky' and 'My Old Man's A Groovy Old Man'. The latter reached No. 23 in the Australian charts in July 1969. On September 20, 1969 The Valentines were arrested for dope possession which shattered their clean-cut image beyond repair. Nevertheless The Valentines released another single, 'Juliette' in April 1970 that barely reached the Australian Top 30. The band officially called it quits on August 1, 1970.

Within six months of The Valentine's dissolution, Bon received a call from Bruce Houwe, leader of a new blues-rock band called Fraternity, inviting him to join his group. By the time Bon joined Fraternity, the band had already recorded a single, 'Why Did It Have To Be Me', and begun gigging around Adelaide, where it had relocated from its original base of Sydney. After two albums for RCA Australia, 'Live Stock' in 1971 and 'Flaming Galah' in 1972, Fraternity decided to try their luck in Europe. For the most of 1973 they toured the Continent, principally Britain and Germany. They even got to support a band called Geordie, fronted by one Brian Johnson, in the UK. The European trip was largely fruitless for Fraternity and they returned to Australia slightly disillusioned. After returning home, Bon was involved in a motorbike accident that left him in a coma for three days and in hospital for several months, ending his association with Fraternity.

Now based in Adelaide, Bon was reduced to taking on casual work until the day he was offered the chance to drive this new band called AC/DC around. Bon lost little time in telling the band he could play drums, and before long he'd successfully auditioned for Peter Clack's position in the band. He also recommended as bass player his old friend from Fraternity, Bruce Houwe. But Bon harbored ambitions to front the band. He persuaded the Young brothers that the band needed a better front man and he suggested himself as the ideal replacement. And when Dave Evans failed to turn up for a show, Bon seized his chance.

Bon Scott was the man who brought AC/DC into sharp focus. He was a unique personality, a man of such charisma that he could make every single fan in an audience of thousands feel like he was performing just for them, whilst also having the ability to make the local pub seem like an arena. He enjoyed life and loved nothing better than giving pleasure to others.

Yet Bon Scott was also an excessive and this would ultimately lead to tragedy. After a night of heavy drinking, Bon died in a car parked outside a friend's flat in South London sometime on February 19, 1980. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Kings College Hospital. Bon Scott lies in the Fremantle Cemetery's Memorial Garden in Australia.


Angus Young on Bon Scott


It was a little scary to listen to at first." So says Angus Young, co-founder, along with his brother Malcolm, of arguably the greatest hard rock band to ever walk the earth. He's talking about the process of wading through material that eventually ended up on AC/DC's first ever box set, Bonfire, the five-CD collection, crafted by the band as a tribute to their legendary original vocalist, Bon Scott. "I'm never in the habit of listening to old stuff. But when we decided to do this as a tribute to Bon, I was into it. What's amazing is you hear some of these live things we did in the early days and it takes you back to that night. It's never nostalgia, but it really jolts you."

No doubt Bon would be smiling right now. He embodied the good jolt. He single-handedly revived the sacred rock mission of knocking even the most salient listener on their ass. One of music's most enigmatic frontmen, he effortlessly blazed one of rock's most memorable comet trails at a time when all AC/DC really was looking for was the next good place to play.

"We'd play anywhere, trying to get a reputation. Sometimes we'd play for food," laughs Angus. "And we'd play loud. And for good reason. In those early days you had people there for two things. To drink and hear rock n' roll. We never stopped playing in fear of what would happened if we did. The thing about Bon was, he'd never let up anyway. When you were with him, whether on the stage or off, you always felt you were around somebody with a special presence. That was the magical thing about him. That's what I heard most when I went back and listen to the tapes."



The CD's disks range from never-before-released live sessions from the Atlantic studio days, to rare B-sides, to live recordings from one of their favorite clubs in their early Sydney days, to material from their home video release, Let There Be Rock.



The set also includes the entire Back In Black studio album, the first recording with current vocalist Brian Johnson. The breakthrough album was itself recorded as a tribute to Bon after his untimely death in 1980. "My brother and I were at a loss about what to do after Bon's death," says Angus. "He had been working on new songs as a way to just get through the shock. We decided to keep working, not knowing what would happen to the band, but feeling it was the best way to honor what Bon was about."



Through the years AC/DC has shown the same level of commitment to their fans. The band even consulted some hardcore followers when assembling material for the Box set. "We wanted to find things that the fans didn't have. Malcolm even consulted some of the fans to help us track things down." says Angus. "Some of them provided us with information even we didn't know."



And no wonder. Since their very first gig at the Chequers Club, (artists such as Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra had previously graced the stage) in Sydney Australia on December 31, 1973, the AC/DC myth has grown directly in proportion to their reputation as the world's balziest live rock band. Named by their sister (after something to do with a vacuum cleaner, so the rumor goes) Bon Scott was still just their driver in those early days. Eventually he charmed his way into the band. He soon came to epitomize the AC/DC code. One of his more famous qoutes: "Don't mention other bands around us...No one else matters." Some 16 albums later, it's obvious AC/DC has never abandoned their creed. "We still think Bon's around," Malcolm has often said. And the spirit of those early gems, Let There Be Rock, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, and the breakthrough Highway To Hell set the standard for all AC/DC records to come. They also marked the demarcation line for other rock bands that followed. No band worth it's amplifier could pass go without going straight through that trilogy. "There's something about a kid turning 13," laughs Angus. "It's like he's got to hear AC/DC as a rite of passage." When citing some of the nuggets on the Box set, Angus points to Bon's "She's Got Balls," as one of his favorites. "Bon's wife was complaining because he never wrote a song about her," says Angus. "Well, he came back a week later with that one. She left him for a few days over that," he adds.



When asked if he can attribute any secret to Bon's passion and/or the enormous legacy AC/DC has established, Angus doesn't miss a beat. "When my brother wanted to form the band I remember me asking: 'What kind of music are we going to play?'" Angus recalls the dumbfounded look on his brother's face. "It was like, 'Do you have to ask?' 'Rock n' roll, man,' was all he said. Bon had that attitude. We all did. All we ever wanted to do was rock as hard as we could. I mean, there's no need for Einstein on that job application."

[dreamy]

Great post, Elly! I have to admit I never knew that AC/DC was Scottish! their music followed my life and still does. I have always been a major fan, a fact that didn't amused my parents at all whom I nearly drove mad with playing this music.

Bon Scott is indeed a big one.
Thank you for posting this great info, Elly!

[dreamy]

Big Country

This is one of my favourite Scottish Rock Bands. Here is a bit about them:

The nucleus of Big Country was formed after the demise of the Skids when Stuart recruited guitar partner Bruce Watson from a day job cleaning nuclear submarines in Dunfermline. They came across the invincible rhythm section of Tony Butler and Mark Brzezicki when they cut their first Big Country demos and soon signed to Phonogram, released their first single and supported The Jam at Wembley for six nights on their farewell dates.

The band broke massively worldwide with their debut album The Crossing (1983), which sold over 3 million copies and earned Big Country 2 Grammy nominations. Their subsequent four albums, Steeltown (1984), The Seer (1986), Peace In Our Time (1988) and No Place Like Home (1991) were all certified gold on release and took the bands total record sales tally to over ten million. Big Country played at the Wembley Live Aid and The Princes Trust 10th Birthday Party and in 1988 they played the first ever privately promoted gig in Russia at the Moscow Sports Stadium. At the end of the decade Through A Big Country, featuring all the bands classic hits was released and while it charted Top 5 nationwide and sold over two million copies, the group parted company with Phonogram after massive personnel changes at the label. In 1992 Big Country signed to Compulsion, through Chrysalis, scored two top 30 hit singles (Alone and Ships) from their sixth album Buffalo Skinners, and set out on another sold out UK and European tour. Their first live album, Without The Aid of a Safety Net, was recorded in December 1993 at a tumultuous sold out Barrowlands gig and released in June 94.

Big Country's seventh studio album, Why The Long Face, was released on the newly reactivated Transatlantic Records label in 1995, and while critically well received, did not sell as well as hoped. But on the live scene the band were doing as well as ever; they co-headlined many 1995 European festivals with the likes of Bob Dylan, Faith No More, Black Crowes and Soul Asylum. They then landed the special guest slot on the Rolling Stones European tour and several shows in the UK and Ireland with Page and Plant later that year. A 40-date UK tour proved the band still had much gas left in the tank.

An unplugged album featuring friends (Steve Harley, Kym Mazelle, Hassam Ramzys Egyptian drummers) was released in 1996 after which Stuart decided it was time for a break; he moved to Nashville and the rest of the band did their own thing for a while. In August 1998 they were once again invited to open for the Rolling Stones and played 18 shows in Europe. Some of the best songs on the new album Driving To Damascus, their upcoming eighth studio album, were written in between these dates. ("one of the best opening bands we have had" - quote Mick Jagger)

Two songs (Somebody Else and Devil In The Eye) were co-written with Ray Davies, who became firm friends with the band after they joined him on the main stage (sans Bruce) at Glastonbury in 1997 to perform a storming set in the rain. Both Ray and I pushed each other into areas we wouldn't normally go says Stuart.

The first single from the album, Fragile Thing, released August 2nd, featured Eddi Reader. "We had been mutual admirers from afar and Eddi is one of the finest singers I have ever come across. She took a sideways look at the song and expressed herself" comments frontman Stuart Adamson. Eddi also sang backing vocal on See You, Grace and Bella.

Big Country are one of the few truly awesome live outfits to have survived the roller coaster ride of the mad Eighties to come through wiser and stronger, their star burning brighter than ever in 1999. The group triumphantly returned to the live scene when they headlined the Scotland for Kosovo gig, joined by Eddi Reader, Teenage Fanclub, Gun, Simple Minds, Ricky Ross and Midge Ure, in Glasgow on May 31st this year.

The success of this gig led to the band actually performing on 11th September in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, as part of a multinational all-star bill brought together by Vanessa Redgrave & Bill Kenwright. The band were flown to the gig by the RAF and then shuttled to the venue in a K-FOR armoured car. The sight of several thousand Kosovars going wild in a sports arena in the middle of a devastated city was one of the most moving events in the bands career.

Big Country, who have scored 17 top 30 singles and seven top 30 albums in the past, released their eighth studio album in September 1999.Produced by Rafe McKenna, Driving To Damascus was released on the reactivated Track Record label (original home of Hendrix, The Who etc.).

Driving To Damascus was a major leap forward for the band, containing textures and influences never before embraced and manifested Big Country back at the peak of their creative powers.

However, in November 1999, the band received more International Media coverage than they had seen in a decade or more. Stuart Adamson did not arrive in the UK for British TV appearances and some shows with Bryan Adams. Speculation was such that not only the tabloids but the broadsheets (The Times called his publicist requesting an up to date biog so that they could prepare an obituary) and radio and TV gave massive coverage to him being missing. Then residing in America and with many changes in his personal life, Stuart decided he had had enough of touring. In December the band commenced a British tour which turned out to be the start of the "Final Fling tour". One date was a headline appearance at Aberdeens Millenium Street party with over 50,000 in attendance.Stuart agreed to tour one final time in Europe and the band did perform 18 dates in Germany and Holland.

"In April 2000, a dear work colleague & friend of the bands and management - Joe Seabrook - passed away. On May 3rd (his birthday) Bruce and Mark jammed with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones at his memorial. In more ways than one, the new millennium for Big Country turned out to be the end of an era.

In May of the same year,the band embarked on their "Final Fling" tour of UK. 11 sold out dates resulted in the recording and subsequent release of "Come Up Screaming" a double CD which included most of The Crossing live and other favourite tracks.The band had never sounded so good and the audience as fervent or even, more so than ever.

One would have thought this was the end due to the title of the tour but, the band did in fact perform one more show in 2000 and this was in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia. In October they were on a multi national bill which included Jethro Tull,Steve Vai and Joe Satrianni plus numerous acts from the Pacific Rim. This was their last ever performance.

Stuart only ever wanted to put Big Country on the backburner whilst he explored new territory in Nashville with his new band The Raphaels, he fully intended to work Big Country again. Tragically, it was not to be.

Stuart sadly died on December 16th 2001.

He was honoured by his children Callum (20) and Kirsten (16), former band members and musician friends when they gathered to perform and remember him and his music at Barrowlands in Glasgow on May 31st 2002. The Skids made an appearance for the first time in 20 years. Hugh Cornwell (former Strangler) Midge Ure, Bill Nelson, Steve Harley, Brian James and The Vibrators, Runrig, Damon Hill, Mike Peters and many more took part in a programme put together by Bruce Watson and band manager Ian Grant. A dvd/cd will be released of the concert in 2003 on Track Records.

Whatever can be or has been said about Stuart Adamson,Big Country, The Skids or The Raphaels, no-one can take away the musical legacy.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Stuart Adamson had a heart as big as a mountain. He will be missed by all who loved his music and even more by those lucky enough to know him personally"

The Edge
"Through his great spirited music, with first The Skids and latterly Big Country, Stuart gave pleasure to so many in a career that lasted over two decades. While he may be sorely missed, he will never be forgotten."

Jim Kerr
"My overwhelming memory is of a guy with a fine sense of humour, with his feet firmly on the ground and fully in contact with his roots. Ambitious yes but not lost in the ego palaces of the music business. A decent, compassionate man. "

Bill Nelson
"Stuart had the passion. He was the real thing. No pose. Nothing pompous; passionate through and through, about playing and singing. He was a fine man. If there is heaven, its doors are open to him. "

Steve Harley
"I only met Stuart recently when Big Country played with me at Glastonbury. He was a handsome lad with a sense of humor which is important if you support Dunfermline Athletic Soccer Club. We last met in New York when he was putting new material together. He was proud of his homeland and his family and I am sure they will always be proud of him. He wanted to write heroic music and came off like a heroic figure. We talked more about football than music and he was a big league player in every sense. "

Ray Davies
"Big Country opened for me on the Glass Spider UK tour so it was especially tragic to hear of Stuart Adamson's death and the tragic circumstances surrounding it. My best wishes are with his family and children."

David Bowie
I've been greatly saddened by the news of Stuart's passing. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and Stuart. He shared his beautiful musical gifts with us all and he will be greatly missed. I have fond memories of my meeting with him on a U.K. tour and our talk about music and our mutual passion for it. Being a great admirer of Stuart's talent I have always felt honored that he enjoyed some of my music. His music still remains impressive and emotional and I'm grateful he shared it with us. I believe he is now at peace and with God. We are so sorry for his families loss and will keep them and Stuart in our prayers. Sincerely;

Nils Lofgren May 2002

www.bigcountry.co.uk/biography/biography.php

[smudger]

With the info you both found about AC/DC and Big Country all i can say is super . The info about firstly AC/DC was for me as a long time fan really interesting , especially about Bon Scotts life in Scotland .
As for Big Country they are i would say my all time favourite Scottish group , such power and charisma brought over in the music . I saw them in 1995 at an open air concert over here as one of the opening acts for the Stones . Their album "The Crossing " i heard from a mate in 1983 who was in my room at the time and loved every song i heard .
As for AC/DC the first album i heard from them was their classic " Highway to Hell " , as i heard it in 1979 it blew my mind . The later untimely death of Bon Scott in 1980 was a blow for me and the rock music world .

[dreamy]

NAZARETH

You still remember "This flight tonight" or the immortal "Love Hurts"? This is the biography of one of Scotland's greatest Rockbands, "Nazareth"...


In the early 1960’s there were many fledgling Scottish bands struggling to create a unique sound of their own. A major factor holding them back was their remoteness from the main hub of the UK music business. London was where you had to be and frankly nobody was interested in what was happening north of Watford let alone in Scotland

In a gesture of defiance, and self-publicity, guitarist Manny Charlton and The Mark Five, emulated the Jarrow Marchers by demonstration marching all the way from Edinburgh to London. By the time of reaching Market Harborough Fontana offered a “record deal”. However following the release of 'Baby What's Wrong’ Manny Charlton explains, in the end this only aggravated Jock/Sassenach music-biz tensions even more: "We made a record and came against the machine in London. The people just cashed in on the publicity we had and after the record was made we were forgotten."

Matters were made even worse by Scottish promoters and ballroom managers who insisted that Scottish groups limit their set-list strictly to covers of singles in the UK top thirty. In other words,

performers like Agnew, Charlton, singer and front man Dan McCafferty, and drummer Darrell Sweet were excluded by 'the machine in London', and yet trapped into mimicking its often dire output as well.

So, yes, it did really happen that soon-to-be hard rockers Naz were forced - in their original incarnation as the Shadettes - to perform tongue-in-cheek versions of 'Simple Simon Says' if they wanted to get paid after the gig. It was enough to make this group of angry young musos from Dunfermline tell the Brylcreemed Locarno ballroom brigade to stuff it, and instead they went out and conquered the world. What follows is the story – mostly told by Pete Agnew and Dan McCafferty, and possibly in greater detail than ever before - of how Nazareth did just that. But first here are some Naz facts to set the scene.

Trailblazers for 1980s Scottish acts like Big Country, Wet Wet Wet, Del Amitri, Deacon Blue, and Texas? Very likely so. Heroes and inspiration for Guns N' Roses? Most definitely. But The Nazareth Story isn't just another from-rags-to-unheard-of-riches tale of making it in rock'n'roll.

Several things marked these guys out as a bit different: first, they were married and settled before they decided to take the plunge – in the summer of 1971 - quitting good day-jobs and moving away from home to a grotty communal flat in London; second, they grew up and lived in a conservative-attitudes Scottish town, not a bustling fashion-conscious metropolis like Glasgow. Lastly, in bingo millionaire Bill Fehilly, they had what no other struggling Scottish band had at the time - solid financial backing.

So being husbands and fathers meant that once they turned pro they were very focused about what they were going to do – they had to be. Dan McCafferty said something which says a lot about Dunfermline in the early-1970s: once the band had made it, their image – long corkscrew hair, loud flares, and platform boots - did not always sit that comfortably with the folks back home.

Dan now fondly remembers returning from yet another gruelling tour and, ever the dutiful husband, he offered to accompany his wife to the supermarket to do the shopping: 'Not dressed like that you won't!' or some such jokey comment was her reply.

Dress codes on stage were also an issue back in the 1960s. The Shadettes got no hassle from ballroom managers when they were all kitted out bright yellow suits – regulation show-biz uniforms were fine. But as the progressive rock thing took off in the late-1960s and musicians dressed more to express individuality, some ballroom heavies didn't like it at all: for instance, the thought of someone trying to stop Pete Agnew going on stage because the manager didn't approve of his buckskin jacket seems crazy now but it did happen because that was how things were back then.

And then there were times in the very early Nazareth days when Naz's glitter jacket, proto-heavy metal image earned them some scary – even life-threatening –crowd disapproval: like when they supported the seriously dressed-down Rory Gallagher on his late-1972 European tour.

Yet, weirdly, all those Shadettes apprentice years as a pop-covers band in Dunfermline's Belleville Hotel and Kinema Ballroom played a big part in Nazareth eventually finding their own formula for international success. How? Well, each and every week without fail during their Belleville Hotel residency they had to learn three new hits from the charts – they'd rehearse them on a Sunday afternoon and perform them that same night. Now how many semi-pro bands these days could cope with nailing down that amount of new repertoire in just a couple of hours, week-in week-out?

But maybe that was how Dan, Pete, Manny and Darrell developed the knack of stamping their very own identity on somebody else's hit song, something which for Nazareth in the mid-1970s proved to be the key to the world highway. Whereas their breakthrough in Britain was down to the strength of their own original songwriting on the Razamanaz album - especially Broken Down Angel it was their knack of coming up with totally fresh covers of strong songs written by other people that broke them abroad. They became huge in Canada after This Flight Tonight soared up the singles' charts there, whilst reaching number 11 in Britain. Taken from Joni Mitchell's 1970 Blue album, Nazareth's version – produced by Deep Purple's Roger Glover as part of the Loud'N'Proud sessions - is more than a re-working. What they've done is taken the song from its folk-ballad roots right through to heavy metal. Small wonder then that Joni Mitchell both was stunned by and loved this version, reportedly even calling it a Nazareth song from then on.

And critics gave Naz the thumbs-up for going to a lot of trouble doing other people's songs in a way that adds; this at a time when prog-rock virtually dictated that in order to be cool you only did your own material to progress the music (and get those fat songwriting royalty cheques). Reviewing a Nazareth gig at Amersham College, and having heard the band's version of Leon Russell's Alcatraz, Woody Guthrie's Vigilante Man and Tim Rose's Morning Dew Melody Maker's Chris Charlesworth wrote: "Their music is basically rock, spiced with bluesy guitar work from Manny Charlton. They don't rely entirely on original material – in fact it's probably true to say that their best numbers – with one possible exception – are their adaptations of other writer's material. They crack away happily at 'Morning Dew’, which they have probably played at every gig since they turned pro three years ago. It's changed a lot in that time but it's still a good song. Perhaps more groups should realise that someone else's song well played is often a more uplifting experience than an original that's mediocre."

And, as Manny Charlton told fanzine Razamanewz, this kind of pressure just went on and right through to the recording in 1977 of album number nine Expect No Mercy: "It was more metal. Not intentional, we didn't go into the studio planning a change in direction. We were under a lot of pressure, and doing a lot of touring at that point. We'd be on tour in Canada and the record
company wanted to know where the next album was coming from. We had to get our heads down, eventually we'd get into the studio and…"What're we going to do?" Some albums were written and recorded very quickly, and when you consider that, it's great. Razamanaz was the start of three albums in 15 months, plus tours. It's a lot of work."

Dan McCafferty's take on pressures in the music industry was characteristically blunt and to the point: "It's a funny business because you've got to work your balls off for two years to get there, and when you get there you've got to work even harder to make sure the next one's an even bigger hit." And in year 2000 Pete Agnew reflected during the interview how this kind of time pressure in fact stayed with them right through to 1980s releases such as Sound Elixir: "When we did that album - our last with Billy - the material had a lot of promise but I don't know what we were doing production-wise. The album never ended up sounding good. And I've always thought what a shame we didn't have more time.

On our latest album Boogaloo what happened was we mixed it and then the album didn't come out for nearly a year and a half afterwards. And we kept coming back to it and saying 'Er this isn't right' and so we'd add some guitar and re-mix. Now if we had had that kind of space back then it would have made a big difference. Back then we handed the masters to the record company and within six weeks it was on the streets and we were away on tour again."

What is typically music-biz about The Nazareth Story, though, is how serious pressure was put on them once Broken Down Angel and its follow-up single 'Bad Bad Boy' charted – reaching 9 and 10 respectively - in 1973. Their record company Mooncrest (a subsidiary of B&C – as was their first label Pegasus) wanted the hits to keep-a-coming. You can see it from B&C's point of view –the company didn't lose faith even when Exercises - their second album, in parts inspired by Grateful Dead's American Beauty classic - stiffed, and now it wanted a return on that investment.

But what this did was to put ridiculous demands on the band to deliver. You get an idea of just how ridiculous these demands were by these extracts from press interviews with Pete Agnew and Dan McCafferty just after their first run of chart success:
The other thing that Nazareth were about to discover was funny about the business, and their path to success on a global scale, was that there's no accounting for different tastes in the singles' market from country to country. For instance, at the end of 1974 with a further two successful albums out, Loud'N'Proud and Rampant, Mooncrest were eager for more singles' sales. A cover of the 1966 Yardbirds hit Shapes Of Things (from the Rampant album) might have made a good single, but in spring 1974 they chose the self-penned 'Shanghai'd in Shanghai' as a follow-up to September 1973's 'This Flight Tonight'. It failed.

Mooncrest still badly wanted another hit so Naz recorded the Everly Brothers' hit Love Hurts written by Boudleaux Bryant. This went nowhere in England but was top ten in America; and then in Norway it reached number one – and stayed there for almost forty weeks.

Similarly, their 1971 debut album - warmly received by critics yet not a big seller - had two singles taken from it – both released in 1972 - that did nothing on the home front. But 'Dear John' made the top three in France whilst Morning Dew was big in Germany - enough so to provide the band with a hectic European touring schedule throughout 1972.

In America Warner Brothers picked up on 'Morning Dew' and its potential given that the song was written by respected American artist Tim Rose. But sales were poor and at the time Pete Agnew had a sneaking suspicion that this might have been something to do with some hatchet work done by Warners whose good intention was to make the single more radio-friendly: Pete: "It was a seven minute track and they cut it to three. I think Warner Brothers had someone editing for them who we thought must have been a deaf mute – they must have run the tape past him and at three-and-a- half second intervals he would hit it with an axe."

Britain in 1973 most definitely was the year of Nazareth, a year when Melody Maker readers voted them Brightest Hope. But if you look at the UK chart placing of follow-up albums to Razamanaz – which reached number 11 – from 1974 what looks like a gradual decline here is more than offset by a series of breakthroughs on the international scene. Whereas Loud'N'Proud reached number 10, Rampant charted with sales nowhere near as strong, and album six Hair Of The Dog failed to chart in Britain but notched up massive sales world-wide.

Musically, 1974's Rampant was a move towards metal and it was also the last of three albums produced by Deep Purple's Roger Glover before Naz's Manny Charlton took over. In 1997, looking back, Manny explained to fanzine Razamanewz the reasons for the split from the man who less than a couple of years earlier had helped the band capture for the first time their live energy on vinyl: "It was a mixture of the band feeling that Roger wasn't keeping up with what we were trying to do, and we were trying to go somewhere and felt it was wrong, and I said I'd like to produce the band. The first thing I did was 'Love Hurts’. We went down to some dingy studio to do it, partly as a stop-gap, and the record company wanted a hit single. We recorded it and thought it was great. Forgot about it and moved on to do the rest of the album. We weren't going to have it on the album, we recorded 'Guilty' for the album. Jerry Moss at A&M Records heard it and said 'That's a hit! Take 'Guilty' off and put that on'. He renewed our contract on the strength of 'The Hair Of The Dog' album. The next singles, 'My White Bicycle' and 'Holy Roller' were recorded to get something out."

1975 saw the release of Hair Of The Dog and the song itself lays down the blueprint for stadium heavy rock and metal anthems of the future: that 'son-of-a-bitch' chorus custom-built for crowd response, and a very heavy rock rhythm from start to finish. Comparisons with AC/DC are natural – but the point is that Nazareth and Aerosmith were the pioneers.... and the rest followed. So it's not surprising then that Guns N' Roses were big fans of Nazareth, as Pete Agnew explained to Metal Hammer's Tom Russell. Russell interviewed that band when they first came to England and were playing club venues like the Marquee, and the tape they had on in their hotel room was … Nazareth's Greatest Hits. Pete Agnew then remembered how "just before Guns N' Roses broke we played seven gigs in California as part of our US tour, and they came to every one. They were just fans of the band. It seems that Nazareth and Aerosmith were, to them, what the Beatles and Stones were to us. They were all right blokes. It seems that now [1992] they are becoming more and bizarre but at that time they were great guys. In fact Axl wanted us to play 'Love Hurts' at his wedding!”

With Nazareth's cover of Tomorrow's 1967 hit 'My White Bicycle' - which got them to 14 in the singles chart in spring 1975 – Naz again showed their talent for creating new out of old, but it was to be their penultimate taste of the top twenty. Self-penned American rock-influenced 'Holy Roller' crept up to 36 in late-1975 whilst 1976's crop of three singles - 'Carry Out Feelings', 'You're The Violin', and 'I Don't Want To Go On Without You' – all flopped. Just as the 'White Bicycle' single began to chart B&C Records went into liquidation and it was only swift action on Mountain's behalf that saved the day. Mountain formed their own label and cut a licensing deal with EMI (B&C's distributor) who continued to press their records until Phonogram took over distribution.

Close Enough For Rock'n'Roll - Naz's seventh album - came out in early 1976 and was their first on the Mountain label, as well as the first to be recorded in Canada. The opener 'Telegram' is a musical diary entry by a successful hard rock band who are growing a tad weary forever slogging it out on the road.

The album achieved little in Britain - no big surprise there - but helped to consolidate Nazareth's hold on Canada where they became one of the biggest British acts ever, notching up no less than fifty gold and platinum albums there during the 1970s. America also beckoned, big time, as their US label A&M Records increasingly regarded them as a priority act.
Mountain had the rights to the old material and naturally was determined to milk it for what it was worth. The Greatest Hits album was out in the shops in time for Christmas '75 but didn't chart.

A couple of years later in November 1977 they released an extended-play 45 called the Hot Tracks EP which featured 'Love Hurts' 'This Flight Tonight' 'Broken Down Angel' and 'Hair Of The Dog' as well. Reaching number 15 it would be Nazareth's final 7" top twenty hit. Play 'N' The Game was album number eight (not counting Greatest Hits) and released in November 1976. It continued the pattern of doing next to nothing sales-wise in England (where, for a couple of years to come, punk rock's cut-throat irreverence eclipsed most acts who dared to take their own music seriously) and yet sold shed-loads abroad – breaking Nazareth in South America.

Sadly, it was around this time that the band lost their manager Bill Fehilly – killed in a plane crash. Bill, a Scottish bingo millionaire, was never a music-biz mentor and hustler in the Andrew Loog Oldham/Peter Grant mould, but from their 1971 debut album Nazareth onwards he kept on coming up with the readies – and even during the band's tricky Exercises phase Bill remained unfazed. Pete and Dan are the first to acknowledge that without Bill Fehilly Nazareth would never have crossed the border to England – never mind the world.

A year later in November 1977 came album number nine – Expect No Mercy – and a definite shift by Nazareth to the AOR market. Adult Oriented Rock was newly created around that time mainly by two bands – the Eagles, and Fleetwood Mac with their monster Rumours album - and on songs like Manny Charlton's 'Shot Me Down' you can hear a big Mac influence. Typical of eclectic Nazareth is a funky 12-bar version of the Ray Charles' classic ‘Busted’; and an equally strong cover of Randy Newman's 'Gone Dead Train' from the album reached number 49 in the singles charts. The other single 'Place In Your Heart' got no further than a bubbling under 70. It was high time for a change.

Guitarist Zal Cleminson (ex-Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Zal, and Tear Gas) was asked to join, and as Manny Charlton told Razamanewz, he brought a lot of energy and ideas with him:
"Getting a second guitarist was pretty much my decision, I think. I told the guys that I'd asked Zal to come along and play on the next album. I felt at that point that I was getting kind of stretched as a guitarist, and wanted someone else I admired and inspired me. I learnt a lot from Zal, a great player. From what I read he loved it. It was a brave decision to leave, to do what he wanted to do. When he came into the band he was real enthusiastic. I really enjoyed working with him and was disappointed when he left." Cleminson joined in time to record Nazareth's tenth – No Mean City out in January 1979.

Naz as a twin-guitar quintet worked wonders even in Britain where 'May The Sun Shine' almost nudged the top twenty, reaching number 22. 'Star' was the follow-up in July 1979 but only got to 54, and as such was Nazareth's final singles chart entry.

For Malice In Wonderland Nazareth’s eleventh album released in February 1980, Manny Charlton handed over the producer's hot seat to Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter, pedal-steel guitarist/guitarist with the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan.

[dreamy]

This turned out to be a controversial move within the band– Manny "I stopped [producing] because I wanted to learn. I'd done five albums and felt that the band was in a sort of rut, and I wanted someone else to produce the album. The record company recommended Jeff Baxter. Another guy who wanted to do it was Bruce Fairburn who went on to do Aerosmith, that was one decision I wish had gone the other way." A lot of Zal Cleminson went into the album with songs like Hearts Grown Cold and Showdown At The Border. Zal was also heavily involved in Talkin' To One Of The Boys, So naturally he was hacked off, when in Britain the album went nowhere, with a bullet. But another far more serious development also caused the guitarist to want to quit, In early 1980 the boys got a devastating piece of news which came totally out of the blue: Mountain was heavily in debt and about to go bust. So for weeks on end, instead of rehearsing, Pete and Dan were on the telephone full-time talking to moneymen and just desperately trying to pick themselves off the floor. Zal just wanted to play – day and night - and couldn't deal with all the financial hassles getting in the way of rehearsals. So he left to form his own band, Tandoori Cassette, which never took off.

Completing the dozen, The Fool Circle was out in February 1981 – It was Naz's first release on NEMS - and made the album charts but only at number 60. The band once more recorded as a 4-piece – with ex-Spirit keyboardist John Locke filling out the sound on a few tracks - and the music veered away from the commercial, sometimes American-rock of Malice In Wonderland, and instead was a mixed bag of rock, reggae and blues, with some socially aware political lyrics thrown in as well. Pete now reflects: "The Fool Circle was a different kind of turn for us I guess. We wrote that kind of separately - Dan and I wrote half of it and Manny did the rest."

After The Fool Circle a respected young guitar slinger and songwriter from Glasgow who had played in Cleminson's band Zal, of five months, was recruited. His name was Billy Rankin and around the same time John Locke was keen to join up, and so the next album release – the very high energy live double-album 'Snaz recorded in Vancouver in May 1981 - featured what Dan and Pete now call the Nazareth 6-piece orchestra. As before, it was Naz's take on rock classics such as J.J. Cale's 'Cocaine' and Z.Z. Top's 'Tush' that helped to make the album a massive international seller.

The band also recorded a live video in Houston Texas on the tour, a great live show, with added interviews from the band.

2XS sold well in the States and Europe extending the band's already extensive touring schedule even further. 2XS amazingly wasn't even released in Britain thanks to legal hassles with their new label NEMS. With Locke out, the 5-piece produced Sound Elixer another eclectic set taking in soul and funk as well. After the tour to promote the album ,Billy decided to leave the band to persue a solo career, he released two solo albums 'Growing up to fast' featuring the US top forty hit 'Baby Come Back' single. and Crankin'.

Nazareth was now back to their original 4-piece line-up.

In 1984 they landed a UK record deal with Vertigo and released The Catch, a Full UK tour followed, including a support slot at the Milton Keynes bowl with Status Quo. In 1985 the band's by now ex-manager Jim White attempted to release Sound Elixir in England on his Sahara label until a court ruling went against him.

In 1986 Nazareth put out there rockiest album in years 'Cinema' It was a welcome return to form for the band. But it wasn't to last!

In 1989 came the controversial Snakes and Ladders – out on Vertigo in Europe but not released in England. Events and weird scenes that surrounded the production of that album eventually led to Manny Charlton leaving in 1990 after twenty-two years with the band. At the start of 1990, after a tour of Russia, tensions in the band were high due to the lack of label support or promotion...long time member Manny Charlton left the band. For the first time in Nazareth's 22-year career the bands 4 original members were no longer together.

With the departure of Manny the band agreed there was only one logical choice to fill Manny's post Billy Rankin. Billy accepted and rejoined Nazareth as Lead guitarist.
After Rehearsals and a few warm up gigs in Scotland the Band were back on the road, with tours in America, Russia and Europe.

Soon after they entered the studio and began writing new material for the new album that was to become NO JIVE.

Touring throughout 1992 to promote the album, including their first UK dates for 8 years, The album sold well, with virtually no airplay!

NAZ was back and stronger than ever. In 1994 the band were back in the studio again to record MOVE ME, with a new deal with Polydor things were looking good.

During that year Billy, Pete and Dan undertook 2 short unplugged tours of the UK,where songs like 'Simple Solution' and 'Shapes Of Things' were given the acoustic treatment. These shows are particularly memorable for their intimate nature and humour content.

Unfortunately as the band were due to start rehearsals for the forthcoming Move me tour, Billy once again left, due to band politics.

A young Scots Guitarist by the name of Jimmy Murrison, who was playing with Pete's son Lee in the band 'Trouble in Doogie land' was contacted by Pete and asked if he would like to join the band, (Pete had seen Jimmy play Many times and was very impressed) Jimmy accepted' and became the new Guitarist for Nazareth.

It was also decided to add a keyboard player to the band once again, so they contacted their old friend Ronnie Leahy . Ronnie had played with Pete and Dan in The Party Boys from time to time.

Ronnie accepted the offer to join.

So now back as a five piece, the band started rehearsing for another world tour to promote the Move me Album.

Revitalized and rocking' 1995/96 saw the band touring the world in support of MOVE ME. The tour has taken the band to Russia (twice), Europe, Brazil, USA, and Canada. Upon returning from their RussiaManaz Part I Tour, the long awaited break Naz had been looking for happened, a signing to a major label! SPV has picked the band up for a three record deal! It seems both SPV & CASTLE recognised the fact that NAZ still draws well at concerts and that their back catalogue has sold well, not to mention their two latest CD's kick some serious ass. After the MOVE ME World Tour ended, the boys headed home to Scotland for a well-earned rest. The band didn't rest too long before they began rehearsing new material for their 20th studio album! They began recording in March of 1997. Darrell said "the new stuff is heavier than No Jive, but it wouldn't be a Nazareth album without a ballad." The band began a world tour in July of 1997 to Sweden, Czech Republic, Canada and US.

The boys re-entered the studio to remixed the new (Boogaloo) album.

BOOGALOO-the long awaited new album featuring the new members Jimmy Murrison and Ronnie Leahy. was released in1998 the year that also saw them celebrating 30 years in the Rock Business, quite an accomplishment in the world of rock n roll.

The release of Boogaloo in Europe on SPV. saw critics begin raving about Boogaloo - it seemed Nazareth were beginning to be noticed once again by the industry. The success of Boogaloo in Europe and the success of The Double Trouble Tour (with Uriah Heep) led to a signing with the major US label, CMC International.

After several months on the road, the band headed home for a short break. They regrouped to embark on a longer and bigger tour of US/Canada to support the growing success of Boogaloo.

As the Naz machine began climbing to the top again, tragedy struck! On April 30, 1999 founding member and drummer Darrell Sweet died suddenly from a major heart attack.

The band had just arrived at the venue for the first show of their Boogaloo Tour when Darrell fell ill. As Darrell stepped off the bus with paramedics - he collapsed and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

Shattered - the band understandably cancelled the tour and headed home to Scotland. The future was in limbo for a few months as the families, band, and crew tried to digest what had happened. But after several band meetings, it was decided that Darrell would have wanted them to continue on.

In fine tribute to Darrell, the band selected Lee Agnew, Pete’s eldest son, to fill the drumming duties for Nazareth. Lee was a natural choice as he is a very talented and accomplished drummer, already knew the music, learned tips from Darrell and he knew all the guys already.

After a few months of rehearsing - the band got ready for their first ever tour without Darrell. They amazed everyone - they played better and stronger than ever. Lee had won the hearts and support of Naz fans everywhere. The band enjoyed how well they were playing and the audience acknowledged this everywhere they played! (Darrell is surely smiling with pride!).

Over the last few years Nazareth have carried on touring around the world, A UK tour with their old mates URIAH HEEP, in March 2001 saw the bands first British shows for many years ending with a great gig at the Astoria in London to a sell out audience. On October the 20th 2001 they Played to a packed house at the Garage in Glasgow, this show was recorded for a new live album and DVD titled Homecoming. It was a great night of rock'n'roll and one the fans will treasure forever!

2002 was yet another busy one for the band, with extensive tours of the States and Europe culminating in a triumphant show in Dunfermline at Christmas when they topped the bill at their annual charity concert.

Sadly that was to be the last time keyboardist Ronnie Leahy appeared with the band, Ronnie decided to hang up his road shoes and retire from touring.

So, once again Nazareth were back to being a four piece, they changed the set list around and did what has always been the way of Nazareth. They took hold of the challenge that change brings, regrouped, and filled 2003 with a live schedule, which would leave many new bands gasping.

In 2004 saw the band head out to the USA, Russia ,Israel and Europe,plus a welcome return to the UK for some shows at the end of the year..

2005 will be a busy time for the band again,with yet more tours scheduled throughout the year...

Taken from: www.nazarethdirect.co.uk/mainindex.htm

[smudger]

Lol dreamy one of Scotlands finest rock groups , a very good choice . They wrote so many good rock classics my faves are " Hair of the dog" , " This flight tonight " and "love hurts" . I have only the one LP from Nazareth at home it is " Playin´the game " , some good songs on there .

[dreamy]

Rod Stewart

Another artist whose music has been a part of most of my life; one I had fallen in love with at the age of 13 ; fortunately it was his music which became my big love then.. Here's a bit about Rod Stewart:



Stewart began his musical career after spending some time as an apprentice with the Brentford Football Club, touring Europe with folk singer Wizz Jones in the early '60s; during this time he was deported from Spain for vagrancy. When he returned to England in 1963, he joined the Birmingham-based R&B group Jimmy Powell & the Five Dimensions, as a vocalist and harmonica player. The band toured the U.K. and recorded one single for Pye Records, which featured Stewart on blues harp. After moving back to London, he joined Long John Baldry's band, the Hoochie Coochie Men. The group recorded a single in 1964, "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl," which failed to chart and soon afterward the group evolved into Steampacket.


During the summer of 1965, the group supported the Rolling Stones and the Walker Brothers on a U.K. tour, as well as recording an album that remained unreleased until 1970. Early in 1966, Steampacket disbanded and Stewart became a member of the blues-rock combo Shotgun Express, which released one single that fall before splitting. Rod Stewart then joined the Jeff Beck Group at the end of 1966.


With the Jeff Beck Group, Rod Stewart began his climb to stardom. Stewart and the former Yardbird guitarist pioneered the heavy blues-rock team of a virtuoso guitarist and a dynamic, sexy lead vocalist which became the standard blueprint for heavy metal. Truth, the band's debut album, was released in the fall of 1968, becoming a hit in both America and Britain. The Jeff Beck Group toured both countries several times in 1968 and 1969, gaining a dedicated following. In the summer of 1969, they released their second album, Beck-Ola, which became another hit record in both the U.S. and U.K. However, the group fell apart in the fall.


After rejecting an offer to join the American rock group Cactus, Stewart and Jeff Beck Group bassist Ron Wood joined the Small Faces, replacing the departed vocalist/guitarist Steve Marriott. With Wood switching over to guitar, the group shortened their name to the Faces and recorded their debut album, First Step. During this time, Stewart had also signed a solo contract, releasing his first album, An Old Raincoat Won't Let You Down (re-titled The Rod Stewart Album for its American release), at the end of 1969; the record failed to chart in the U.K., yet it made it to number 139 on the U.S. charts. On the album, Stewart's folk roots meshed with his R&B and rock influences, creating a distinctive, stripped-down acoustic-based rock & roll that signalled he was a creative force in his own right.


The Faces released First Step in the spring of 1970. The album was a departure both from the R&B/pop direction of the Small Faces and the heavy blues of the Jeff Beck Group; instead, the group became a boisterous, boozy, and sloppy Stones-inspired rock & roll band. The album fared better in the U.K. than it did in the U.S., yet the group built a devoted following on both continents with their reckless, messy live shows. Stewart released his second solo album, Gasoline Alley, in the fall of 1970, supporting it with an American tour.


The following year proved to be pivotal in Stewart's career. At the beginning of 1971, the Faces released their second album, Long Player, which became a bigger hit than First Step, yet his third solo album, Every Picture Tells a Story, made Rod Stewart a household name, reaching number one in both America and Britain. "Reason to Believe" was the first single from the album, becoming a minor hit in both the countries, but when DJs began playing the b-side, "Maggie May," the single became a number one hit in both the U.K. and U.S. for five weeks in September. The Faces released their third album, A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...To a Blind Horse, a couple of months later. Thanks to the success of Every Picture Tells a Story, the album was a Top Ten hit in both countries; it also launched the single "Stay with Me," which became the band's only Top 40 hit in the U.S.


The following year, the Faces began a lengthy spring tour. During the tour, tensions grew within the band as Stewart's solo career increased in popularity. That summer, Stewart released his fourth solo album, Never a Dull Moment, which nearly replicated the success of Every Picture Tells a Story, peaking at number two in the U.S. and number one in the U.K. In the spring of 1973, the Faces released their final album, Ooh La La. Stewart expressed his disdain for the record in the press, yet it hit number one in the U.K. and number 21 in the U.S. After releasing the "Pool Hall Richard" single in the beginning of 1974, the band went on tour; it would prove to be their last. Stewart released Smiler in the fall of 1975. Smiler followed the same formula as his previous four albums -- and it also became a hit -- yet it showed signs that the formula was wearing thin. In March of 1975, he began a love affair with Swedish actress Britt Ekland; the romance, along with a bitter fight with U.K. tax collectors, prompted him to apply for U.S. citizenship. Atlantic Crossing, released in the summer of 1975, made the singer's relocation explicit. Recorded with producer Tom Dowd and the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, the album removed much of the singer's folk roots and accentuated his pop appeal. At the end of the year, Stewart left the Faces and the band finally called it quits.


Recorded in Los Angeles with a group of studio musicians, 1976's A Night on the Town continued Stewart's move to slicker pop territory and proved quite successful, becoming his first platinum album; it featured the hit single "Tonight's the Night," which was number one in the U.S. for eight weeks. Foot Loose and Fancy Free, released the following year, followed the same artistic pattern as A Night on the Town while surpassing its commercial performance, selling over three-million copies. Stewart incorporated some disco to his musical formula for 1978's Blondes Have More Fun. Supported by the number one single "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?," the record became Stewart's first number one album since Every Picture Tells a Story, selling over four-million records. By this time, Stewart was notorious for his jet-set lifestyle, particularly the series of actresses and models he dated.


With 1981's Tonight I'm Yours, Stewart began adding elements of new wave and synth-pop to his formula, resulting in another platinum album. Soon afterward, his career hit a slump. His next four albums sounded forced and he only scored three Top Ten hits between 1982 and 1988; out of those four albums, only 1983's Camouflage went gold. Stewart rebounded with 1988's Out of Order, recorded with Duran Duran's Andy Taylor and Chic's Bernard Edwards. His version of Tom Waits' "Downtown Train," taken from the 1989 four-disc box set Storyteller, became his biggest hit since "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" Vagabond Heart (1991) reflected a more mature and reflective Rod Stewart and continued his comeback streak.


Stewart reunited with Ron Wood to record an MTV Unplugged concert in 1993; the accompanying album launched the Top Ten hit single, "Have I Told You Lately." Unplugged also returned Stewart to a more acoustic-based sound. On his 1995 album, A Spanner in the Works, the singer explored a more polished version of this sound, scoring another hit with Tom Petty's "Leave Virginia Alone." The following year, he released If We Fall in Love Tonight, which was comprised of both previously released and new material. When We Were the New Boys, a return to his roots in trad rock, followed in 1998.

In 2001, Stewart embarked on a new path with Human, an album that attempted to cross over to contemporary and urban audiences, but it failed with the critical and commercial public alike. His next project may have sounded equally unlikely, but it was much more successful. It Had to Be You..., the first in his series crooning the great American songbook, became an adult contemporary favorite and lodged near the top of the album charts after its release in 2002. As Time Goes By... followed it into the charts in 2003, and missed the top spot by only one notch. Finally, in late 2004, his third volume in the series (Stardust...) hit number one.

www.vh1.com/artists/az/stewart_rod/bio.jhtml

[Elly]

I loved Rod`s music as well, still have a listen to him now and again Dreamy.

[dreamy]

admin said:

I loved Rod`s music as well, still have a listen to him now and again Dreamy.

Same here, Elly. I'm still not tired to listen to his music after more than 30 years.

[smudger]

Lol Elly , Dreamy

Rod Stewarts music is simply excellent songs like " Sailing " , "Stay with me " , " I don´t want to talk about it " , " The first cut is the deepest " and "Hot legs " are classics