The Winkies were an English pub rock group. The group primarily consisted of

Philip Rambow Philip Rambow (born August 1949) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and guitarist, who fronted The Winkies, had a solo career, and worked with Brian Eno, Mick Ronson, and Kirsty MacColl among others. Biography Born in Montreal, he studied at McGil ...

, Michael Desmarais, Guy Humphreys, and Brian Turrington.

Biography

The Winkies were formed by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-born Philip Rambow with former

Holy Rollers #REDIRECT Holy Roller #REDIRECT Holy Roller {{R from other capitalisation ... {{R from other capitalisation ...

guitarist Guy Humphreys, and the rhythm section of Brian Turrington (bass) and Mike Desmarais (drums). Their music and stage presence were a combination of the sound pub rock and visuals of

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 ...

clothing. The Winkies caught the attention of

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

while he was finishing his debut solo album, ''

Here Come the Warm Jets ''Here Come the Warm Jets'' is the debut solo album by British musician Brian Eno, released on Island Records in January 1974. It was recorded and produced by Eno following his departure from Roxy Music, and blends glam and pop stylings with ...

''. Eno took The Winkies as his backing band in February 1974, on his first and only solo tour. The outing ended after the sixth date of the schedule in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

, after which Eno was rushed to the hospital suffering from a

collapsed lung A pneumothorax is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp, one-sided chest pain and shortness of breath. In a minority of cases, a one-way valve is ...

. In March 1974 the

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

show broadcast four songs performed by Eno and The Winkies: "The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch", a medley of "

Baby's on Fire "Baby's on Fire" is the third track on English musician Brian Eno's 1974 debut solo album ''Here Come the Warm Jets''. Writing and recording Eno recorded "Baby's on Fire" during the ''Here Come the Warm Jets'' sessions in September 1973 at Majest ...

" and "Totalled" (the latter an early version of "I'll Come Running o Tie Your Shoe), and a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "

Fever Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a body temperature, temperature above the human body temperature, normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, set point. There is not a single ...

". Sources differ on whether these performances were recorded during the abbreviated February tour or later, specifically 27 June 1975. In 1979, The Impossible Recordworks (IMP 1-30) unofficially released the album ''Floating In Sequence'', which contained four songs from the Winkies/Eno February 1974 tour. In 1999, ENO-802 (QCS-1441) unofficially released the limited edition vinyl LP, ''Brian Peter George St John Le Baptiste De La Salle ENO* – Music For Fans Vol. 2'' of the same material. On 23 February 1999, German Records World Productions (LUBEK 001) unofficially released ''Dali's Car'' (EAN 4016618288880), containing the same four songs from the Winkies/Eno 1974 tour. The four songs on all three formats include: # "The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch" - The Winkies # "Fever" - The Winkies ~ Recorded: 19 February 1974, BBC Studio Four, London England. # "Baby's on Fire" - The Winkies # "I'll Come Running" (aka "Totalled")- The Winkies ~ Recorded: 26 February 1974, BBC Studio Four, London England. After touring with Eno, the band signed with

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

and recorded various tracks with

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 ...

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 ...

. Guests on these recordings included Chick Churchill and Eno. This intended album was never completed, and the Winkies began work on another set, with

Guy Stevens Guy Stevens (13 April 1943 – 28 August 1981) was a British music industry figure whose roles included DJ, record producer, and band manager. He was influential in promoting R&B music in Britain in the 1960s, gave the rock bands Procol Har ...

producing. Their debut album, ''The Winkies'' was released in March 1975. Shortly after the release of this album, the Winkies disbanded.

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winkies, The English rock music groups Chrysalis Records artists Musical groups established in 1973 Musical groups disestablished in 1975 1973 establishments in England 1975 disestablishments in England