Climax Blues Band (originally known as The Climax Chicago Blues Band) is a British
blues rock
Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...
band. The band was formed in
Stafford
Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...
, England, in 1967 by vocalist and harmonica player Colin Cooper (1939–2008), guitarist and vocalist
Pete Haycock
Peter John Haycock (4 March 1951 – 30 October 2013) was an English musician and film score composer. He began his career as lead guitarist, vocalist, and founding member of the Climax Blues Band.
Early life and career
Haycock was born in Staff ...
(1951–2013), guitarist Derek Holt (b. 1949), bassist and keyboardist Richard Jones (b. 1949), drummer George Newsome (b. 1947), and keyboardist Arthur Wood (1929–2005).
History
In 1972 the group shortened its name to Climax Blues Band.
The band has released at least 19 albums and had a
Top 10 hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
in the UK with "
Couldn't Get It Right
"Couldn't Get It Right" is a 1976 song by the Climax Blues Band. The song was written after the band's label told them that their 1976 album ''Gold Plated'' lacked a standout track and asked them to "try and write a hit". They then wrote it, in t ...
".
That song and "
I Love You" were also hits in the United States; "Couldn't Get It Right" reached No. 3 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1977, and "I Love You" peaked at No. 12 in 1981.
Jones left the group in 1969 and Holt began playing bass.
The band switched labels to
Harvest Records
Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969.
History
Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music, and to compete with Philips' Vertigo ...
in 1970 and subsequent records had a more rock-oriented feel.
John Cuffley replaced Newsome in 1971.
Albums issued in the 1970s include ''FM/Live'' (1973), a double set recorded at a concert in New York,
and the studio albums ''Stamp Album'' (1975) and ''
Gold Plated
Gold plating is a method of depositing a thin layer of gold onto the surface of another metal, most often copper or silver (to make silver-gilt), by chemical or electrochemical plating. This article covers plating methods used in the modern elec ...
'' (1976), featuring the single "
Couldn't Get It Right
"Couldn't Get It Right" is a 1976 song by the Climax Blues Band. The song was written after the band's label told them that their 1976 album ''Gold Plated'' lacked a standout track and asked them to "try and write a hit". They then wrote it, in t ...
".
In the 1970s, the band's concerts in the US were attended by up to 20,000 people.
By 1981 the band was moving towards a pop-rock sound.
Holt and Cuffley left in 1983.
A previously unknown recording of a live performance was released as ''Climax Blues Band/World Tour 1976'' by the
Major League Productions (MLP)
Major League Productions is a record label from the United Kingdom based in Oxfordshire. It was founded in 1991 and operates in 100 different countries. As of 2013, it had 39 employees. Following a reduction of live services, in 2020 the company ...
record label.
The album ''Sample and Hold'' was recorded for Virgin Records in 1983 by Haycock, Cooper, and Glover, with a rhythm section composed of the session musicians Dave Marquee and Henry Spinetti. A follow-up album was in the works, but Cooper bowed out, citing personal reasons. Haycock went on to record several solo projects, the first of which was the album ''Total Climax'', with his band, Pete Haycock's Climax; this band toured extensively in Europe, including Communist East Germany, and conducted a well-received tour in Australia. After that, Haycock was asked by his former Climax Blues Band manager, Miles Copeland, to record an instrumental album, ''Guitar and Son'', and the live album ''Night of the Guitars'' (from the tour of the same name) for the I.R.S. No Speak label. After that tour, Haycock teamed up with the guitarist Steve Hunter and former Climax Blues bandmate Derek Holt to record the album ''H Factor''. He was later recruited by
Bev Bevan
Beverley Bevan (born 25 November 1944) is an English rock musician, who was the drummer and one of the original members of The Move and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the end of ELO in 1986, he founded ELO Part II.
Bevan also was drumm ...
to become a member of
Electric Light Orchestra Part II
ELO Part II were a band formed by Electric Light Orchestra drummer and co-founder Bev Bevan. The band also included former ELO bassist and vocalist Kelly Groucutt, and violinist Mik Kaminski for most of its career, along with conductor Loui ...
and recorded and toured with that group from 1990 onwards. He also started his
film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
career at this time, playing the lead on
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...
's score to ''
Thelma and Louise
Thelma is a female given name. It was popularized by Victorian writer Marie Corelli who gave the name to the title character of her 1887 novel ''Thelma''. It may be related to a Greek word meaning "will, volition" see ''thelema''). Note that altho ...
''. He also performed on the ''Night of the Guitars'' tours, which included Holt on bass, keyboards and occasional vocals.
Holt wrote "I Love You", one of the Climax Blues Band's biggest
hits
Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block
* ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998
* ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...
. It is included on the Climax Blues Band
double album
A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...
, ''25 Years 1968–1993'', released by the German label Repertoire in 1993. "I Love You" still gets over 20,000
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
hits a year in the US and was used in
Finn Taylor
Finn Taylor (born July 4, 1958) is an American film writer and director.
Background
Taylor was born in Oakland, California, and lived in Norway for a few years in his childhood. He attended the University of Montana and later San Francisco State ...
's 2002 film ''
Cherish'' and in
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film ''Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co ...
's 2008 film ''
Zach and Miri make a Porno''. In 1983 Holt joined drummer Brendan Day and
Nektar
Nektar (German for ''nectar'') is an English progressive rock band formed in Hamburg, West Germany in 1969, by guitarist and lead vocalist Roye Albrighton, keyboardist Allan "Taff" Freemon, bassist Derek "Mo" Moore, and drummer Ron Howden.
H ...
guitarist Roye Albrighton to record an album under the name
Grand Alliance for the A&M label.
In 1985, Cooper and Glover recruited guitarist Lester Hunt, drummer Roy Adams, and original member Derek Holt to record the Climax Blues Band album ''Drastic Steps'', and this line-up toured in support of the album in the UK, Europe, and America.
The new line-up soon became established with Cooper, Glover, Hunt, Adams and Neil Simpson in the early 1990s, releasing the live album ''Blues from the Attic'' in 1993 and ''Big Blues'' in 2004.
Colin Cooper (born 7 October 1939) died of cancer on 3 July 2008, at age 68. He is survived by his wife and two children.
He wanted the band to continue, as the other musicians had all been long-serving (Glover since 1980, Adams and Hunt since 1985, and Simpson since 1991). Cooper was replaced by singer and saxophone and harmonica player Johnny Pugh, who retired in 2012, and was replaced in turn by vocalist Graham Dee and saxophone player Chris Aldridge. Pete Haycock died on 30 October 2013, at age 62.
[
Currently, the band continues to tour without any remaining original members.]
Lineups
Timeline
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bar:Derek Holt from:01/09/1985 till:01/05/1991 color:key width:5
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bar:Arthur Wood from:start till:01/07/1973 color:key
bar:Anton Farmer from:01/07/1969 till:01/07/1970 color:key
bar:Peter Filleul from:01/07/1970 till:01/07/1975 color:key
bar:Peter Filleul from:01/07/1977 till:01/07/1980 color:key
bar:Nicky Hopkins from:01/07/1978 till:01/07/1979 color:key
bar:George Glover from:01/07/1980 till:end color:key
bar:Richard Jones from:start till:01/07/1969 color:b
bar:Richard Jones from:start till:01/07/1969 color:key width:3
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bar:Richard Jones from:01/07/1975 till:01/07/1977 color:g width:7
bar:Richard Jones from:01/07/1975 till:01/07/1977 color:b width:3
bar:Dave Marquee from:01/05/1983 till:01/09/1983 color:b
bar:John "Rhino" Edwards from:01/09/1983 till:01/05/1985 color:b
bar:Roger Inniss from:01/05/1985 till:01/09/1985 color:b
bar:Neil Simpson from:01/05/1991 till:end color:b
bar:George Newsome from:start till:01/07/1973 color:dr
bar:John Cuffley from:01/07/1973 till:01/05/1983 color:dr
bar:Henry Spinetti from:01/05/1983 till:01/09/1983 color:dr
bar:Jeff Rich from:01/09/1983 till:01/05/1985 color:dr
bar:Roy Adams from:01/05/1985 till:end color:dr
Discography
Albums
Albums (guest appearance)
* ''Three's a Crowd'', Tarney/Spencer Band
Tarney/Spencer Band were a rock band formed in London in 1975 with Trevor Spencer on drums and Alan Tarney on lead guitar, bass guitar and lead vocals. Both had been in Australian bands, including James Taylor Move, prior to relocating to the U ...
(1978)
Singles
References
Other sources
*
External links
Climax Blues Band official website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Climax Blues Band
1967 establishments in England
Musical groups established in 1967
British soft rock music groups
English blues rock musical groups
Musical groups from Staffordshire
EMI Records artists
Parlophone artists
Harvest Records artists
Sire Records artists
Polydor Records artists
Virgin Records artists
Warner Records artists