Ten Years After are a British rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on 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 addition, they had twelve albums enter the US
''Billboard'' 200. They are best known for tracks such as "I'm Going Home", "Hear Me Calling", "
I'd Love to Change the World
"I'd Love to Change the World" is a song by the British blues rock band Ten Years After. Written by Alvin Lee, it is the lead single from the band's 1971 album '' A Space in Time''. It is the band's only US Top 40 hit, peaking at number 40 on the ...
" and "
Love Like a Man
"Love Like a Man" is a song and hit single by British blues rock group Ten Years After, first released in 1970 and taken from their album ''Cricklewood Green''.
Singles chart success
The single is the group's only hit in the UK Singles Chart.
W ...
". Their style is considered
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 ...
and
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
.
History
Formation: 1962–1966
![Blues Festival Suwałki 2009 - Ten Years After 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Blues_Festival_Suwa%C5%82ki_2009_-_Ten_Years_After_02.jpg)
The band's core formed in late 1960 as Ivan Jay and the Jaycats. After several years of local success in the
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
/
Mansfield
Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...
area, they changed their name to the Jaybirds in 1962 and later to Ivan Jay and the Jaymen. Ivan Jay (born Ivan Joseph Harrison, 1939,
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
,
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
; died April 2009, USA) sang lead vocals from late 1960 to 1962 and was joined by
Ric Lee
Richard "Ric" Lee (born 20 October 1945) is an English drummer of the blues rock band Ten Years After.
Biography
Lee was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. Was a founding member of his first band, The Falcons. He was also a drummer ...
in August 1965, replacing drummer Dave Quickmire (born David Quickmire, 1940,
Mansfield
Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...
,
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
), who had replaced Pete Evans (born Peter Evans, 1940,
Mansfield
Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...
,
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
) in 1962. Roy Cooper (born 11 November 1943,
Huthwaite
Huthwaite is a village in Nottinghamshire, England, located to the west of Mansfield, close to the Derbyshire boundary. It is in the Huthwaite and Brierley ward of Ashfield District Council. Before 1907 the village was known as Hucknall-under-H ...
,
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
) played rhythm guitar, and did vocals from 1960 to 1962. The Jaybirds moved to London to back
the Ivy League in 1966.
In the same year,
Chick Churchill
Michael George "Chick" Churchill (born 2 January 1946) is an English keyboard player of the late 1960s to 1970s blues rock band Ten Years After.
Career
Churchill began playing the piano at the age of six and studied classical music until he wa ...
joined the group as keyboard player. That November, the quartet signed a manager, Chris Wright, and changed their name to Blues Trip. Using the name Blues Yard they played one show at the
Marquee Club
The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed whe ...
supporting the
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band or The Bonzos) was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde art, ...
.
Alvin Lee
Alvin Lee (born Graham Anthony Barnes; 19 December 1944 – 6 March 2013) was an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of the blues rock band Ten Years After.
Early life
He w ...
and
Leo Lyons
Leo David William Lyons (born 30 November 1943) is an English musician, who was most notably the bassist of the blues rock band Ten Years After.
Biography
Leo Lyons was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire in November 1943 and became a professi ...
again changed their name in 1966 to Ten Years After – in honour of
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
,
one of Lee's idols.
(This was ten years after Presley's successful year, 1956).
Some sources claim that the name was pulled by Leo Lyons from a magazine, advertising a book, ''Suez Ten Years After'' (referring to the Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
).
Ten Years After: 1967–1974
The group was the first act booked by the soon-to-be Chrysalis Agency. It secured a residency at the Marquee, and was invited to play at the Windsor Jazz Festival in 1967. That performance led to a contract with Deram, a subsidiary of Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...
— the first band Deram signed without a 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 ...
single. In October 1967 they released the self-titled debut album, ''Ten Years After
Ten Years After are a British rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Billboar ...
''. In 1968, after touring Scandinavia and the United States, Ten Years After released a second album, the live ''Undead
The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive. Most commonly the term refers to corporeal forms of formerly-alive humans, such as mummies, vampires, and zombies, who have been reanimated by super ...
'', with a first version of the noteworthy song, "I'm Going Home". They followed this in February 1969 by the studio issue ''Stonedhenge
''Stonedhenge'' is the second studio album released by the English blues rock band Ten Years After, released in 1969.
Track listing
;Side one
#"Going to Try" (Alvin Lee) – 4:52
#"I Can't Live Without Lydia" (Chick Churchill) – 1:23
#"Woma ...
'', a British hit that included another well-known track, "Hear Me Calling", which was also released as a single. (In 1972, this song was covered
Cover or covers may refer to:
Packaging
* Another name for a lid
* Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package
* Album cover, the front of the packaging
* Book cover or magazine cover
** Book design
** Back cover copy, part of co ...
by the British glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...
rising stars, Slade
Slade are an English rock band formed in Wolverhampton in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The ''British Hit Singles ...
.) In July 1969, the group appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...
, in the first event rock bands were invited to. Between 26 and 27 July 1969, they appeared at the Seattle Pop Festival
The Seattle Pop Festival was a music festival held at the Gold Creek Park, 16020 148th Ave NE, Woodinville, Washington from July 25 to July 27, 1969. The event was organized by Boyd Grafmyre.
Overview
The plan for Seattle Pop was to have 25 ac ...
held at Gold Creek Park. On 17 August, the band performed a breakthrough American appearance at Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
; their rendition of "I'm Going Home" featuring Alvin Lee as lead singer/lead guitar, was featured in both the subsequent film and soundtrack album and catapulted them to star status. In 1970, Ten Years After released "Love Like a Man
"Love Like a Man" is a song and hit single by British blues rock group Ten Years After, first released in 1970 and taken from their album ''Cricklewood Green''.
Singles chart success
The single is the group's only hit in the UK Singles Chart.
W ...
", the group's only hit in 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 ...
, where it peaked at #10. It was the first record issued with a different playing speed on each side: a three-minute edit at 45 rpm, and a nearly eight-minute live version at 33 rpm. The full studio version song appeared on the band's fifth album, their most successful in Britain, ''Cricklewood Green
''Cricklewood Green'' is the fourth studio album by blues rock band Ten Years After, released in 1970.
Reception
Allmusic gave ''Cricklewood Green'' a firmly positive retrospective review, praising each individual track and summarizing that "t ...
''. In August 1970, they played the Strawberry Fields Festival
The Strawberry Fields Festival was a rock music festival held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park) in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, about 100 kilometers east of Toronto, between August 7 and the early morning hours of August 10 ...
near Toronto, and the Isle of Wight Festival 1970
The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 was a music festival held between 26 and 31 August 1970 at Afton Down, an area on the western side of the Isle of Wight in England. It was the last of three consecutive music festivals to take place on the islan ...
.
In 1971, the band switched labels to Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
(US) and Chrysalis
A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...
(UK) and released the hit album '' A Space in Time,'' which marked a move toward more commercial material. It featured the group's biggest hit, "I'd Love to Change the World". In late 1972, the group issued their second Columbia album '' Rock & Roll Music to the World'' and, in 1973, the live double album ''Ten Years After Recorded Live''. The band subsequently broke up after their final 1974 Columbia album, '' Positive Vibrations''.
Break up and reformation
In the second half of the 1970s and early 1980s, Alvin actively toured with a new band he called Ten Years Later. The original Ten Years After reunited in 1983 to play the Reading Festival
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
, and this performance was later released on CD as ''The Friday Rock Show Sessions – Live at Reading '83' ''.
Reunion, split with Alvin Lee and Leo Lyons: 1988–present
In 1988, the members reunited for a few concerts and recorded the album '' About Time'' (1989) with producer Terry Manning
Terry Manning is an American photographer, composer, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, audio engineer, and visual artist. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he has worked with Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, ...
in Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
. They stayed together for their longest continuous period, until 2003, however without releasing new material. In 1994, they participated in the Eurowoodstock festival in Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
. In 2003, the other band members replaced Alvin Lee with Joe Gooch, and recorded the album, ''Now
Now most commonly refers
to the present time.
Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to:
Organizations
* Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization
* National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization
* Now ...
''. Material from the following tour was used for the 2005 double album, ''Roadworks''. Alvin Lee mostly played and recorded under his own name following his split from the band. He died from complications during a routine medical procedure on 6 March 2013. Ric Lee is also currently in a band called Ric Lee's Natural Born Swingers, along with Bob Hall. In January 2014, it was announced that both Gooch and Lyons had left Ten Years After. Two months later, veteran bass player Colin Hodgkinson
Colin Hodgkinson (born 14 October 1945, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England) is a British rock, jazz and blues bassist, who has been active since the 1960s.
Career
Hodgkinson played in several bands, but was even more prolific as a sessio ...
and singer/guitarist Marcus Bonfanti
Marcus Bonfanti is a British blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has released three albums and one EP, and works both as a solo musician and, since 2014, as the frontman for the British blues rock group Ten Years After. His most recent ...
were announced as their replacements. In October 2017, the band released its most recent studio album, ''A Sting in the Tale''.
Band members
;Current members
* Chick Churchill
Michael George "Chick" Churchill (born 2 January 1946) is an English keyboard player of the late 1960s to 1970s blues rock band Ten Years After.
Career
Churchill began playing the piano at the age of six and studied classical music until he wa ...
– keyboards (1966–1974, 1983, 1988–present)
* Ric Lee
Richard "Ric" Lee (born 20 October 1945) is an English drummer of the blues rock band Ten Years After.
Biography
Lee was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. Was a founding member of his first band, The Falcons. He was also a drummer ...
– drums (1966–1974, 1983, 1988–present)
* Marcus Bonfanti
Marcus Bonfanti is a British blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has released three albums and one EP, and works both as a solo musician and, since 2014, as the frontman for the British blues rock group Ten Years After. His most recent ...
– guitar, vocals (2014–present)
* Colin Hodgkinson
Colin Hodgkinson (born 14 October 1945, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England) is a British rock, jazz and blues bassist, who has been active since the 1960s.
Career
Hodgkinson played in several bands, but was even more prolific as a sessio ...
– bass (2014–present)
;Former members
* Alvin Lee
Alvin Lee (born Graham Anthony Barnes; 19 December 1944 – 6 March 2013) was an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of the blues rock band Ten Years After.
Early life
He w ...
– guitar, vocals, harp
The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
(1966–1974, 1983, 1988–2003; died 2013)
* Leo Lyons
Leo David William Lyons (born 30 November 1943) is an English musician, who was most notably the bassist of the blues rock band Ten Years After.
Biography
Leo Lyons was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire in November 1943 and became a professi ...
– bass (1966–1974, 1983, 1988–2014)
* Joe Gooch – guitar, vocals (2003–2014)
Timeline
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:18
PlotArea = left:100 bottom:90 top:5 right:20
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1966 till:24/05/2023
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4
ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1967
ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1968
Colors =
id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar,_vocals
id:Keys value:purple legend:Keyboards
id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass
id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:lines value:black legend:Studio_albums
id:lines2 value:gray(0.85) legend:Live_albums
BarData =
bar:Alvin text:"Alvin Lee"
bar:Joe text:"Joe Gooch"
bar:Marcus text:"Marcus Bonfanti"
bar:Chick text:"Chick Churchill"
bar:Leo text:"Leo Lyons"
bar:Colin text:"Colin Hodgkinson"
bar:Ric text:"Ric Lee"
PlotData=
width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4)
bar:Chick from:01/01/1966 till:31/12/1974 color:Keys
bar:Chick from:01/08/1983 till:31/08/1983 color:Keys
bar:Chick from:01/01/1988 till:end color:Keys
bar:Ric from:01/01/1966 till:31/12/1974 color:Drums
bar:Ric from:01/08/1983 till:31/08/1983 color:Drums
bar:Ric from:01/01/1988 till:end color:Drums
bar:Leo from:01/01/1966 till:31/12/1974 color:Bass
bar:Leo from:01/08/1983 till:31/08/1983 color:Bass
bar:Leo from:01/01/1988 till:31/12/2013 color:Bass
bar:Colin from:01/01/2014 till:end color:Bass
bar:Alvin from:01/01/1966 till:31/12/1974 color:Guitar
bar:Alvin from:01/08/1983 till:31/08/1983 color:Guitar
bar:Alvin from:01/01/1988 till:31/12/2003 color:Guitar
bar:Joe from:01/01/2004 till:31/12/2013 color:Guitar
bar:Marcus from:01/01/2014 till:end color:Guitar
LineData =
at:27/10/1967 color:black layer:back
at:22/02/1969 color:black layer:back
at:01/06/1969 color:black layer:back
at:17/04/1970 color:black layer:back
at:01/12/1970 color:black layer:back
at:01/08/1971 color:black layer:back
at:01/10/1972 color:black layer:back
at:01/04/1974 color:black layer:back
at:22/10/1989 color:black layer:back
at:13/07/2004 color:black layer:back
at:01/01/2008 color:black layer:back
at:20/10/2017 color:black layer:back
at:10/09/1968 color:lines2 layer:back
at:01/06/1973 color:lines2 layer:back
at:01/01/2001 color:lines2 layer:back
at:01/01/2003 color:lines2 layer:back
at:01/01/2005 color:lines2 layer:back
at:01/01/2014 color:lines2 layer:back
Discography
*''Ten Years After
Ten Years After are a British rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Billboar ...
'' (1967)
*''Stonedhenge
''Stonedhenge'' is the second studio album released by the English blues rock band Ten Years After, released in 1969.
Track listing
;Side one
#"Going to Try" (Alvin Lee) – 4:52
#"I Can't Live Without Lydia" (Chick Churchill) – 1:23
#"Woma ...
'' (1969)
*'' Ssssh'' (1969)
*''Cricklewood Green
''Cricklewood Green'' is the fourth studio album by blues rock band Ten Years After, released in 1970.
Reception
Allmusic gave ''Cricklewood Green'' a firmly positive retrospective review, praising each individual track and summarizing that "t ...
'' (1970)
*''Watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
'' (1970)
*'' A Space in Time'' (1971)
*'' Rock & Roll Music to the World'' (1972)
*'' Positive Vibrations'' (1974)
*'' About Time'' (1989)
*''Now
Now most commonly refers
to the present time.
Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to:
Organizations
* Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization
* National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization
* Now ...
'' (2004)
*''Evolution '' (2008)
*''A Sting in the Tale '' (2017)
Bibliography
* ''The New Musical Express Book of Rock'', Star Books, 1975. .
*
* ''Alvin Lee and Ten Years After – Visual History'' – Herb Staehr, Free Street Press, 2001.
References
External links
*
The original Ten Years After website
*
*
{{Authority control
1966 establishments in England
Chrysalis Records artists
Columbia Records artists
Decca Records artists
Deram Records artists
English blues rock musical groups
English hard rock musical groups
Musical groups from Nottingham
Musical groups disestablished in 1974
Musical groups established in 1966
Musical groups reestablished in 1988