Last Exit (British band)
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Last Exit was a British jazz fusion band formed 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, in 1974. It is best remembered as the group Sting was in before finding stardom with
The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...
.


Biography

Keyboardist Gerry Richardson and bassist Sting originally were members of the Newcastle Big Band. Frustrated by the band's lack of ambition and conservative repertoire, and influenced by more modern jazz ensembles like
Weather Report Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian virtuoso keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer and voca ...
and
Return to Forever Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972. The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhu ...
, they decided to form their own group. The band's name came from
Hubert Selby Jr. Hubert "Cubby" Selby Jr. (July 23, 1928 – April 26, 2004) was an American writer. Two of his novels, ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' (1964) and ''Requiem for a Dream'' (1978) explore worlds in the New York area and were adapted as films, both of whi ...
's novel ''
Last Exit to Brooklyn ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' is a 1964 novel by American author Hubert Selby Jr. The novel takes a harsh, uncompromising look at lower class Brooklyn in the 1950s written in a brusque, everyman style of prose. Critics and fellow writers praised ...
''. The original line-up was drummer Ronnie Pearson (also of the Phoenix Jazzmen), guitarist John Hedley (later replaced by Terry Ellis), Richardson and Sting. The band was a leading act around Newcastle for several years. They released a single in 1975, "Whispering Voices/Evensong" (two Richardson compositions) on the Wudwink label, and later a tape called ''First from Last Exit'' featuring nine original songs. In 1976, Carol Wilson, Head of Richard Branson's music publishing company, saw Last Exit play in the Gosforth Hotel in Newcastle and signed them. Virgin financed the recording of a
demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
in the Pathway Studios in London. Wilson organised a number of gigs, including
Dingwalls Dingwalls was a live music and comedy venue adjacent to Camden Lock, Camden, London, England. The building itself is one of many industrial Victorian buildings that were put to new use in the 20th century. The original owner of the building, ...
, and a double page feature in ''
Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
'' and played the demo to every major record label. Most A&R men liked it but could not see an obvious category to market the band, so no record deal materialised. In 1977, Last Exit moved to London but after a few gigs, half of the band returned to Newcastle, and Sting and Richardson started looking for other jobs. Richardson worked with
Billy Ocean Leslie Sebastian Charles, (born 21 January 1950), better known by his stage name Billy Ocean, is a British recording artist who had a string of R&B international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British R&B singer-son ...
's band as musical director, while Sting joined
Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...
and Henri Padovani and formed
The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...
. Several Last Exit songs were later reworked by Sting, to feature in The Police's and Sting's solo albums: *"Night at the Grand Hotel" was performed by The Police in their early incarnation in 1977 but never recorded. *"I Burn for You", " The Bed's Too Big Without You", and "Oh My God" were recorded by The Police under the same titles, the first being on the ''Brimstone & Treacle'' soundtrack, the second on ''
Reggatta de Blanc ''Reggatta de Blanc'' is the second studio album by British rock band the Police, released on 2 October 1979 by A&M Records. It was the band's first release to top the UK Albums Chart and features their first two UK number-one singles: " Messa ...
'', and the third on ''
Synchronicity Synchronicity (german: Synchronizität) is a concept first introduced by analytical psychologist Carl G. Jung "to describe circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection." In contemporary research, synchronicity e ...
''; *"Carrion Prince", "Truth Kills", and "Savage Beast" are early incarnations of "Bring on the Night" (from ''Reggatta de Blanc''), "Truth Hits Everybody" (from ''
Outlandos d'Amour ''Outlandos d'Amour'' is the debut studio album by English rock band the Police, released on 2 November 1978 by A&M Records. Elevated by the success of its lead single, " Roxanne", ''Outlandos d'Amour'' peaked at No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart a ...
''), and "We Work the Black Seam" (from '' The Dream of the Blue Turtles'') respectively; *The lyrics of "Fool in Love" were reused in The Police song "
So Lonely "So Lonely" is a song by English rock band The Police, released as the third and final single in November 1978 from their debut studio album '' Outlandos d'Amour'' (1978), and again in February 1980 as a re-release. The song uses a reggae styl ...
" (from ''Outlandos d'Amour''). The songs "Don't Give Up Your Daytime Job" and "Don't You Look at Me" were considered for The Police album ''
Ghost in the Machine The "ghost in the machine" is a term originally used to describe and critique the notion of the mind existing alongside and separate to the body. In more recent times, the term has several uses, including the concept that the intellectual part of ...
'', but were not used. They are, however, available as demos on several bootlegs. In 1996, Sting invited Gerry Richardson to play organ on his album '' Mercury Falling''. In 2003, Richardson formed a band called The Big Idea, with Garry Linsley on sax and Paul Smith on drums. Sting sang as guest vocalist a rendition of Graham Bond's "Springtime in the City" on the band's second album, ''This ... Is What We Do'' (2010).


Band members

*Terry Ellis – guitar *John Hedley – guitar *Ronnie Pearson – drums *Gerry Richardson – keyboards * Sting – bass, vocals


Discography

*''First from Last Exit'' (1975) (cassette album) *"Whispering Voices/Evensong" (1975) (single)


Bibliography

* Sting, ''Broken Music'', Simon & Schuster, 2003, .


References

{{Authority control British jazz ensembles Musical groups from Newcastle upon Tyne Sting (musician)