The Natural Acoustic Band were a British acid-folk band, formed in 1969 in

Milngavie Milngavie ( ; gd, Muileann-Ghaidh) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland and a suburb of Glasgow. It is on the Allander Water, at the northwestern edge of Greater Glasgow, and about from Glasgow city centre. It neighbours Bearsden. Mi ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland. There were a number of personnel changes throughout the band's history, but the best known line up was: *Tom Hoy (born 5 February 1950, in Glasgow, Scotland) — Guitar and Vocals *Robin Thyne (born 1 November 1950, in

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 ...

, England) — Guitar, Bongos, Bass and Tenor Recorders, Tambourine, Clacker and Vocals *Krysia Kocjan (10 August 1953, in

Craigendoran Craigendoran (Gaelic: ) is a suburb at the eastern end of Helensburgh in Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Clyde. The name is from the Gaelic for "the rock of the otter". It is served by Craigendoran railway station. Craigendoran pi ...

, Scotland, – 21 February 2007 in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, United States) — Vocals, Guitar, Glockenspiel, Bells The band only produced two albums and one single (reaching No 1 in the '' Melody Maker'' folk charts). They played

The Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no governm ...

(supporting Don McLean), toured extensively with Ralph McTell, played at The Weeley Festival Rod Stewart,

T-Rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

, Status Quo, Rory Gallagher and Monty Python also appearing with Country Joe McDonald at Reading Played

Glasgow City Halls Glasgow's City Halls and Old Fruitmarket is a concert hall and former market located on Candleriggs, in the Merchant City, Glasgow, Scotland. History The City Halls are part of a market complex designed by John Carrick in 1882, but the grand ha ...

with

Billy Connolly Sir William Connolly (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish actor, retired comedian, artist, writer, musician, and presenter. He is sometimes known, especially in his homeland, by the Scots nickname the Big Yin ("the Big One"). Known for his ...

and

Stealers Wheel Stealers Wheel were a Scottish folk rock/ rock band formed in 1972 in Paisley, Scotland, by former school friends Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty. Their best-known hit is "Stuck in the Middle with You". The band broke up in 1975 and re-formed bri ...

, ''

The Old Grey Whistle Test ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music show. The show was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. ...

'' with

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

, and they were on the bill on three occasions at London's

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 wh ...

: November 17, 1971 (supported by Shape of the Rain), 12 April 1972 (supported by

Gnidrolog Gnidrolog was a British progressive rock band. Gnidrolog at Allmusic/ref> History The band was founded in 1969 by twin brothers Colin and Stewart Goldring, who were joined by drummer Nigel Pegrum from Spice and Peter "Mars" Cowling on bass. Jo ...

) and on 22 November 1972 (supporting

Brewers Droop Brewers Droop was a Southern English pub rock band of the early 1970s. Though they did not chart, they are notable as an early exponent of the pub rock style, as well as for their connections with Dire Straits, as both Mark Knopfler and Pick W ...

Later years of the NAB

As a replacement for Krysia Kocjan the NAB had at first recruited ''Joanna Carlin'' but she never recorded with them. She was actually called Melanie Harrold but was trying to avoid confusion with the better known Melanie (

Melanie Safka Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk (born February 3, 1947), professionally known as Melanie or Melanie Safka, is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for the 1971–72 global hit "Brand New Key", her cover of " Ruby Tuesday", her compositi ...

). She later made singles and solo albums (under both her names) and worked with the

Albion Band The Albion Band, also known as The Albion Country Band, The Albion Dance Band, and The Albion Christmas Band, were a British folk rock band, originally brought together and led by musician Ashley Hutchings. Generally considered one of the mo ...

and members of Steeleye Span. The NAB continued as a duo comprising Hoy and Thyne until 1975, when Hoy joined Magna Carta. Thyne also joined this band at a later stage.

Discography

Albums

*''Learning to Live'' (RCA SF 8272) Track Listing :
1. Learning To Live
2. Sometimes I Could Believe In You
3. Subway Cinderella
4. Free
5. Tom
6. February Feeling
7. Maybe It Was The Sunshine
8. Midnight Study
9. All I Want Is Your Love
10. Waiting For The Rain
11. Dying Bird
12. High In My Head *''Branching In'' (RCA SF 8314) Track Listing :
1. Running Into Changes (T Hoy, K Kocjan)
2. Echoes (Hoy, Kocjan)
3. Money (Kocjan)
4. Follow Your Love (Hoy)
5. Road to the Sun (Kocjan)
6. Is it True Blue ? (There's nothing unnatural about electricity) (Hoy)
7. First Boy (Kocjan, Hoy)
8. I'll Carry You (Hoy)
9. Little Leaf (Kocjan)
10.Moontime Writer (Kocjan)
11.Travellers on the Road (R Thyne)
Produced by Milton Okun *Both albums now available on C.D.

Singles

*"Echoes" / "Is It True Blue ?" (RCA RCA 2324)

Later careers

Krysia Kocjan (Krysia Kristianne)

Krysia Kocjan went on to provide backing vocals for Al Stewart,

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhyt ...

Mike Heron James Michael Heron (born 27 December 1942) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work in the Incredible String Band in the 1960s and 1970s. Career Heron was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and attended th ...

and many others. She made a solo album ''Krysia'' in 1974 (RCA LPL1 5052) with musicians including some Fairport Convention/Fotheringay members (specifically

Jerry Donahue Jerry Donahue (born September 24, 1946, Manhattan, New York City) is an American guitarist and producer primarily known for his work in the British folk rock scene as a member of Fotheringay and Fairport Convention as well as being a member of t ...

Dave Pegg Dave Pegg (born 2 November 1947) is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, primarily a bass guitarist. He is the longest-serving member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention and has been bassist with a number of folk ...

Dave Mattacks David James Mattacks (born 13 March 1948) is an English rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician and as a performing artist. Apart from playing the drums, he ...

) - and also

Rabbit Bundrick John Douglas "Rabbit" Bundrick (born November 21, 1948 in Houston, Texas) is an American–English rock keyboardist. He is best known for his work with The Who and associations with others including Eric Burdon, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Roge ...

, and renowned percussionist Ray Cooper. On one track she revived her youthful talent for setting romantic English poetry to music with John Keats' ''

La Belle Dame Sans Merci "La Belle Dame sans Merci" ("The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy") is a ballad produced by the English poet John Keats in 1819. The title was derived from the title of a 15th-century poem by Alain Chartier called '' La Belle Dame sans Merc ...

''. Al Stewart's backing group, led by Peter White with Kocjan as a member, chose the name ''Shot In The Dark'' and released an album with the same title in 1981 (RSO 2394 297). On this Kocjan used her occasional alternative name of Krysia Kristianne and her few solo lead vocals here include "Some Towns". She later moved to the US and in 1995 sang the track "The Lament" on the CD ''A Celtic Tale - The Legend of Deirdre'' by Mychael and

Jeff Danna Jeff Danna is an award-winning Canadian film composer. He has composed or co-composed scores for a wide range of films and television, including '' The Boondock Saints'' (1999), '' Resident Evil: Apocalypse'' (2004), '' Silent Hill'' (2006)'', Th ...

, a performance which drew review phrases such as "crystalline soprano" and "most moving" on

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

. In 1996 came the CD ''Tyger and Other Tales'' (Sentience Records 70002) with Leslie Chew and David Kronemyer which revived the Keats work along with ten other romantic English poems set to music. Her own favourite of these was "Complaint of the Absence of Her Lover Being Upon the Sea", as stated privately to a fan. She died at the age of 54 from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

, on February 21, 2007,Andrew Greig and Mike Heron, ''You Know What You Could Be'', 2017, p.318 in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, Oregon, where she had lived and worked as a singing teacher since 2000. A memorial service for Kocjan was held in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

on March 10, 2007.

Tom Hoy

Tom Hoy was born in Glasgow in the quaintly named “Rotten Row Maternity Hospital“. He started playing gigs at the age of 15, mainly rock and soul music, with a dusting of blues. It was around this time he also began to write songs and has been doing so successfully ever since. At the age of 19, he formed the well loved Natural Acoustic Band, taking them down to London, where 16 different record companies tried to sign them on the strength of their live work. They eventually settled with RCA, making two highly acclaimed albums with John Denver's producer, Milton Okun. They played gigs in Europe, Morocco and Tunisia, also appearing at every major U.K. venue from the Royal Albert Hall down. They often supported such acts as Don McLean, Ralph McTell and Country Joe and The Fish, appearing on the prestigious Old Grey Whistle Test on

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

with Alice Cooper. Tom joined Chris Simpson and Glen Stuart in Magna Carta in the early 1970s, staying constant through changing line-ups and going on to record such albums as ''Took a Long Time'', ''Prisoners on the Line'' and ''Live in Bergen''. They toured extensively worldwide, appearing on television and radio throughout Europe and Scandinavia and the UK, achieving chart success in Holland with both the single and album of ''Took a Long Time'' (a song which he co-wrote with Simpson). After leaving Magna Carta, for around 10 years Hoy toured Holland, Germany, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Central America and even The Falkland Islands with his wife Geraldine. He then worked solo for several years and went on to take an extended break to help look after his autistic son Rory. Over the years Hoy has teamed up with Simpson from time to time to play some of the old songs together, including the 30th Anniversary show and, more recently, their appearance together at the Royal Carré Theatre, Amsterdam, where they rolled back the years for the band's 40th Anniversary celebrations. They later went on tour in South Africa and undertook some UK dates with Magna Carta. Hoy now lives in

Knaresborough Knaresborough ( ) is a market and spa town and civil parish in the Borough of Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, England, on the River Nidd. It is east of Harrogate. History Knaresborough is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Chenares ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

. His son, Rory Hoy, is a record producer and film-maker.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Scottish folk music groups Psychedelic folk groups