Flaming Youth were a British rock band, active in the late 1960s. They were not commercially successful and are now remembered primarily as Phil Collins' first band that had a recording deal.

Career

In 1969, American singer John Walker, of

the Walker Brothers The Walker Brothers were an American pop group of the 1960s and 1970s which included Noel Scott Engel (eventually known professionally as Scott Walker), John Walker (born John Joseph Maus, but using the name Walker since his teens) and Gary Le ...

, toured in England, and was accompanied by keyboardist Brian Chatton, bassist Gordon "Flash" Smith, guitarist

Ronnie Caryl Ronnie may refer to: * Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name * "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe *"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load'' *Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadiu ...

and drummer Phil Collins. After the tour, they decided to go on together, calling themselves Hickory, and recorded a single in 1969, "Green Light/The Key". The group met songwriters

Ken Howard Kenneth Joseph Howard Jr. (March 28, 1944 – March 23, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in '' 1776'' and as basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show '' The Wh ...

and

Alan Blaikley Alan Tudor Blaikley (23 March 1940 – 4 July 2022) was an English songwriter and composer, best known for writing a series of international hits in the 1960s and 1970s in collaboration with Ken Howard, including the UK number ones "Have I the ...

, who were looking for a band to record an album they were working on, so they changed their name to Flaming Youth. They released the album '' Ark 2'' in 1969. In November, '' New Musical Express'' reported that the concept album was the subject of an hour-long television special, which the group had filmed in the

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. The LP was released on Fontana Records in the UK to some critical but no commercial success. There was also a follow-up

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

recorded, "Man, Woman, and Child". The band had difficulty getting gigs; organist Rod Mayall ( John Mayall's brother) briefly joined the band before they broke up in early 1970.

Aftermath

Collins and Caryl together auditioned for

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

the following year. Collins passed the audition and although Caryl did not, he played at a concert with them at Aylesbury, just before they recruited

Steve Hackett Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis ...

. Caryl later played with Collins as rhythm guitarist on his solo tours. After he left Flaming Youth, Chatton joined Jackson Heights with Lee Jackson, bassist and singer of

The Nice The Nice were an English progressive rock band active in the late 1960s. They blended rock, jazz and classical music and were keyboardist Keith Emerson's first commercially successful band. The group was formed in 1967 by Emerson, Lee Jack ...

, along with multi-instrumentalist John McBurnie. They recorded three albums together. Chatton's solo album ''Playing for Time'' featured Collins on drums.

References

Sources

* Coleman, Ray. ''Phil Collins: The Definitive Biography''. Simon & Schuster, 1997. London. pp. 54–58. *
Negrin, Dave. ''One Step At A Time: An Interview With Ronnie Caryl''. The World of Genesis. 29 May 2005

External links

Ronnie Caryl Official Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flaming Youth British rock music groups Phil Collins