McGuinness Flint was a rock band formed in 1970 by Tom McGuinness, a bassist and guitarist with

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two differen ...

, and

Hughie Flint Hughie Flint (born 15 March 1940, Manchester, Lancashire) is an English drummer, known for his stint in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, for his group McGuinness Flint in the early 1970s and for his subsequent association with The Blues Band. ...

, former drummer with

John Mayall John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, musician and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among it ...

; plus vocalist and keyboard player Dennis Coulson, and multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters

Benny Gallagher Bernard Joseph "Benny" Gallagher (born 10 June 1945, in Largs, Ayrshire) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, most famous as half of the popular duo Gallagher and Lyle. Career The son of Irish parents, Gallagher atten ...

and

Graham Lyle Graham Hamilton Lyle (born 11 March 1944, in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. Between 1970 and 1997, he co-wrote 18 British Top 40 hits, 9 Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 entrie ...

Career

Their first single "

When I'm Dead and Gone "When I'm Dead and Gone" is a song written by Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle. Background "When I'm Dead and Gone" was one of the first hit singles to feature prominent use of mandolin, played by Lyle, who also took lead vocal. Gallagher played ...

" reached No. 2 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at the end of 1970, No. 47 on the Billboard pop chart and No.3 5 on the Cashbox pop chart in the U.S., No. 5 in Ireland, and No. 31 in Canada.) The debut album ''McGuinness Flint'' also made the Top 10 of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. In 1999, it received another outing, in the soundtrack of the film, '' East is East''. A follow-up single, "Malt and Barley Blues", was a UK No. 5 hit in 1971, but the group floundered under the pressures of instant success, being required to record a second album and reproduce their recorded sound adequately on stage, which resulted in disappointing concerts, then a series of illnesses among the band members cancelled most of the concerts on their first tour. According to McGuinness, at this time the band consisted of two groups of close-knit friends, the first being Flint, McGuinness, and Coulson, and the other being Gallagher and Lyle. Though these two units generally got along well, a key disagreement between them was that the first group felt the band should focus on touring and performing, while the Gallagher/Lyle camp felt they should focus on songwriting and recording. The second album ''Happy Birthday Ruthy Baby'' failed to chart, as did the title track when released as a single, but contained some Gallagher and Lyle songs, notably "Sparrow", which attracted cover versions.

Gallagher and Lyle Gallagher and Lyle were a Scottish people, Scottish musical duo, comprising singer-songwriters Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle. Their style consisted mainly in pop, soft rock, soft and folk rock oriented songs. Their first recognition came in ...

left towards the end of 1971 to record as a duo, and would enjoy major success in 1976 with their hit-laden fifth album '' Breakaway''. McGuinness Flint would continue to play some of their compositions in live performances. After several temporary members came and went, including comedian

Neil Innes Neil James Innes (; 9 December 1944 – 29 December 2019) was an English writer, comedian and musician. He first came to prominence in the pioneering comedy rock group Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later became a frequent collaborator with the Mon ...

on piano, the group recruited bassist Dixie Dean on a permanent basis, and recorded ''Lo and Behold'', an album of

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

songs (which had not yet been officially recorded and released by the writer himself). This album was credited to Coulson, Dean, McGuinness, Flint, and was issued in 1972. A single "Let The People Go" was

banned A ban is a formal or informal prohibition of something. Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some bans in commerce are referred to as embargoes. ''Ban'' is also used as a verb similar in meaning ...

by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

as it related to the Ulster crisis, a fate which also befell a contemporary single by

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...

, "

Give Ireland Back to the Irish "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" is the debut single by the British–American rock band Wings that was released in February 1972. It was written by Paul McCartney and his wife Linda in response to the events of Bloody Sunday, on 30 January that ...

". Coulson left to record a solo album for

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

(which Gallagher and Lyle contribed to), and was replaced by Lou Stonebridge on keyboards and Jim Evans on guitar. This new line-up recorded two further albums. Neither of these recordings sold well and the group broke up in 1975. A splinter group, Stonebridge McGuinness, had a minor hit in 1979 with "Oo-Eeh Baby" (No. 54 in the UK) and released the album ''Corporate Madness'' on

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

the following year. This group proved short-lived, however, and afterwards McGuinness and Flint both joined

The Blues Band The Blues Band is a British blues band formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead vocalist and harmonica player with Manfred Mann, and guitarist Tom McGuinness also of Manfred Mann and The Roosters. The band’s first line-up also included bass ...

, which featured former

vocalist and harmonica player, Paul Jones. Stonebridge had a stint in early 80s classic soul revival outfit The Dance Band, who recorded for the PRT-distributed Double D label. McGuinness briefly reunited with Graham Lyle in 1983 to form the Lyle McGuinness Band, a short-lived

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

ensemble that recorded a single, "Elise", and an album, ''Acting on Impulse'', for the independent Cool King label; in Germany, this set was granted a major label release on Polydor. Lyle's songwriting career exploded soon afterwards with the worldwide success of his composition " What's Love Got to Do with It?" for

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

, ensuring that the Lyle McGuinness Band would not continue. Diamond Recordings reissued the album on CD in 1997 as ''Elise, Elise'', with the addition of the non-album single plus a previously unreleased song. McGuinness continues to record and perform as a member of both

and

The Manfreds The Manfreds is a British pop group, formed in 1991 as a reunion of former members of the 1960s pop group Manfred Mann, however without their eponymous founder Manfred Mann. History The original members of Manfred Mann, minus keyboard player Ma ...

, the latter outfit being an amalgamation of 1960s Manfred Mann members that has operated since 1992. Dennis Coulson died on 15 January 2006.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Notes

References

{{Authority control English rock music groups Musical groups established in 1970 Musical groups disestablished in 1975 Capitol Records artists Bronze Records artists