The Quireboys are an English rock band formed in 1984 in London, with strong ties to Newcastle. When the band formed they were originally known as The Queerboys and later as the London Quireboys in the United States and Canada, settling at last with their current name.

History

1985–89: Formation

Vocalist Jonathan Gray (commonly referred to as just 'Spike') moved from

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

to London when he was 17 years old. By the mid-1980s, the two decided to form a rock and roll band, the name chosen for the group was originally 'The Choirboys' taken from the 1977 movie of the same name, but they soon changed it to the Queerboys. The Queerboys started to build up a following, playing 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 ...

. The band's drummer Paul Hornby soon left to join Dogs D'Amour, which contained future friends of the Quireboys, he was replaced by Nick Connell (known as Cozy). On 28 March 1986, the Queerboys appeared with Bernie Torme and the Moho Pack at what was Klub Foot at the Clarendon Hotel,

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London ...

. In May of that year, they played support dates on a Cherry Bombz tour. By 1987, the band's controversial name was starting to hinder them, it caused some of the gigs on their tour with Andy McCoy's band to be cancelled. They were also booked to play

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 ...

, on the understanding that they would change their name. Thus they changed it to the Quireboys and have kept the name ever since.

1990–95: ''A Bit of What You Fancy'' and ''Bitter Sweet & Twisted''

Sharon Osbourne Sharon Rachel Osbourne (née Levy, later Arden; born 9 October 1952) is a British-American television personality, music manager and author. She is married to heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne and came to prominence while appearing ...

was appointed as manager and the Quireboys were signed to EMI for the release of their debut album, ''

A Bit of What You Fancy ''A Bit of What You Fancy'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Quireboys. It was released by EMI on 29 January 1990, and produced by George Tutko and Jim Cregan. ''A Bit of What You Fancy'' remains the Quireboys' most commer ...

''. By 1990, the Quireboys had fired Ginger (who went on to form

the Wildhearts The Wildhearts are an English rock band, formed in 1989 in Newcastle upon Tyne. The band's sound is a mixture of hard rock and melodic pop music, often described in the music press as combining influences as diverse as the Beatles and 1980s- ...

), who they replaced with former Cradle Snatchers / Feline Groove guitarist Guy Griffin. For the debut album, Cozy was substituted by Ian Wallace who played with

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 ...

. The debut album was produced by Jim Cregan and George Tutko at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, California. Ron Nevison mixed the album. The band entered 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 ...

at No. 2. ''A Bit of What You Fancy'' drew positive reviews and was compared favourably to British rock names such as

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

and Faces. The long touring schedule was finished off with a gig in Japan at the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...

on New Year's Eve in front of 50,000 people. A live album was released following this long touring, entitled ''Live (Recorded Around the World)''. They began working on the follow-up, ''

Bitter Sweet & Twisted ''Bitter Sweet & Twisted'' is rock band the Quireboys's second studio album, released in 1993. The album was released on EMI and went into the UK Albums Chart at #31. Three of the tracks from this album ("Tramps & Thieves", "Brother Louie" and "L ...

'', which was released in 1993. In 1993, the Quireboys broke up but briefly reformed live in 1995 with a new drummer. A more permanent reformation came in 2001 when

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Spike and guitarist Guy Griffin put together a new line-up.

1996–2021: Reformation and subsequent albums

On 12 May 2008, the Quireboys released their next album '' Homewreckers & Heartbreakers'' on the Jerkin Crocus label. Talking about the inspiration for the new album, Paul Guerin said "It's a funny story. We were in Malmö, Sweden in the dressing room. It was just before the show and we'd had a few frothy quenchers. We were trying to come up with album titles, and everyone was laughing at the suggestions. A certain member of the band was regaling a story about something he'd done, and another member of the band said "you're just a home wrecker," and someone else said "yeah, and a heartbreaker". We were just having a laugh, and bang, there it was. It was as simple as that." In March 2013, the Quireboys played aboard the Monsters of Rock Cruise, along with bands such as

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

, Tesla, Kix, and

Queensrÿche Queensrÿche is an American heavy metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record. The original lineup ...

. The band released a new single "Too Much of a Good Thing" on 15 May 2013, taken from their seventh studio album, '' Beautiful Curse'', which was released a month later in June 2013. The band's most recent album, ''Amazing Disgrace'', was released on 5 April 2019. In late 2021 they supported the Dead Daisies on their UK Tour. The February 2022 Monsters of Rock Cruise included the Quireboys as a five-piece, with Griffin covering vocal duties, after "a last-minute nonappearance" from Spike.

2022–present: Spike's departure and ongoing dispute

In March 2022, the Quireboys announced that they had released lead vocalist Spike from the band. This sparked a mixed reaction from fans, leading two venues to cancel their upcoming Quireboys dates. However, the band continue to tour with Guy Griffin as lead vocalist. In 2023, they will complete tours of Germany and the UK, and will perform at Hellfest in Clisson, France. Spike's departure sparked an ongoing dispute about legal ownership of the Quireboys name. In May 2022, Spike announced that he was reuniting with original members Guy Bailey and Nigel Mogg to write and record new music using the Quireboys name. He later announced an upcoming concert in London featuring ex-Quireboys members Chris Johnstone and Rudy Richman, due to take place in December 2022. On 9 December 2022, they released a two-track single "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" in support of Care After Combat, a charity for British combat veterans. On 7 December 2022, the remaining band members released a live album recorded at

O2 Forum Kentish Town The O Forum Kentish Town is a concert venue in Kentish Town, London, England owned by MAMA & Company, and originally built in 1934. History The venue was built in 1934 and was originally used as an art deco cinema. After the cinema was clos ...

in September 2022. Their first album without Spike, titled ''The Band Rolls On...'', is expected for release in December. The lead single "Lie to Me" was released on 5 December.

Personnel

Current members

Following an ongoing dispute about the band's name, there are currently two Quireboys lineups: Quireboys * Spike – lead vocal (1984–1993, 1995, 2001–present) *Guy Bailey – guitar (1984–1993, 1995, 2022–present) *Chris Johnstone – keyboards (1984–1993, 1995, 2022–present) *Nigel Mogg – bass (1984–1993, 1995, 2001–2005, 2022–present) *Rudy Richman - drums (1990-1993, 2022-present) The Quireboys *Guy Griffin – guitar (1989–1993, 1995, 2001–present) lead vocal (2022–present) *Paul Guerin – guitar (2004–present) *Keith Weir – keyboards (2001–present) *Nick Mailing – bass (2013–present) *Pip Mailing – drums (2004–2009, 2019–present)

Former members

*Paul Hornby – drums (died 2015) *Nick "Cozy" Connell – drums *

Ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of ...

– guitar (1987-1989) *Ian Wallace *Kevin Savigar – Keyboards *Martin Henderson – Drums (2001–2002) *Luke Bossendorfer – Guitar (2001–2003) *Bill Coyne – Drums (1984) *Tom Golzen – Guitar (1984) *Michael Lee – Drums (died 2008) *Tim Bewlay - Bass *Damon Williams – Bass *Jimmi Crutchley – Bass * Dave Boyce – Bass * Gary "Gaz" Ivin – Bass * Phil Martini – Drums * Matt Goom – Drums * Dave McCluskey – Drums *

Share Ross Sharon June "Share" Ross (formerly Pedersen; born Sharon June Howe; March 21, 1963 in Glencoe, Minnesota) is an American musician. She was the bass player of the female hard rock band, Vixen, from whom she has been on hiatus since February 2022 ...

– Bass (USA MOR Cruise) * Jason Bonham – Drums (UK MOR Arena Tour)

Timeline

Discography

Albums

Live albums

*''Live (Recorded Around the World)'' (EMI – 1990) *''Lost in Space'' (Snapper – 2000) *''100% Live'' (Demolition – 2002) *''Quireboys Live'' (EMI – 2006) (Reissue of 1990 live album) *''Live in Glasgow'' (Jerkin Crocus – 2011) *''35 & Live'' (Off yer Rocker – 2020)

Compilation albums

*''From Tooting to Barking'' (Griffin – 1994) *''Rock Champions'' (EMI – 2001) *''Masters of Rock – The Quireboys'' (EMI – 2002) *''Best of the Quireboys'' (EMI – 2008)

Singles

Videography

*''A Bit of What You Fancy'' (1990) *''Bitter, Sweet & Live (Live at The Town & Country Club, London)'' (1993) *''One More for the Road (Live at The Mean Fiddler, London)'' (2006)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quireboys, The English blues rock musical groups English hard rock musical groups English glam metal musical groups Musical groups from Newcastle upon Tyne Musical groups from London Musical groups established in 1984 1984 establishments in England