Peter Frampton
Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English-American rock musician, songwriter and guitarist. He was associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. After the end of his'group' career, as a solo artist, Frampton released several albums including his international breakthrough album, the live release Frampton Comes Alive!. The album spawned several hit singles. Since he has released several major albums, he has worked with Ringo Starr, David Bowie and both Matt Cameron and Mike McCready from Pearl Jam, among others. Frampton is best known for such hits as "Breaking All the Rules", "Show Me the Way", "Baby, I Love Your Way", "Do You Feel Like We Do", "I'm in You", which remain staples on classic rock radio, he has appeared as himself in television shows such as The Simpsons and Family Guy. Frampton is known for his work as a guitar player and with a talk box and his voice. Peter Kenneth Frampton was born in Bromley, Kent, UK, he attended Bromley Technical High School, at which his father, Owen Frampton, was a teacher and the head of the Art department.
He first became interested in music. Having discovered his grandmother's banjolele in the attic, he taught himself to play it, going on to teach himself how to play guitar and piano as well. At the age of eight, he began taking classical music lessons, his early influences were Cliff Richard & the Shadows and American rockers Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran and The Ventures, Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles. His father introduced him to the recordings of Belgian gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. By the age of 12, Frampton played in a band called The Little Ravens. Both he and David Bowie, three years older, were pupils at Bromley Technical School; the Little Ravens played on the same bill at school as Bowie's band and the Dragons. Peter and David would spend lunch breaks together. At the age of 14, Peter was playing with a band called The Trubeats followed by a band called The Preachers and managed by Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones, he became a successful child singer, in 1966 he became a member of The Herd.
He was singer, scoring several British pop hits. Frampton was named "The Face of 1968" by teen magazine Rave. In 1968, when Frampton was 18 years old, he joined with Steve Marriott of Small Faces to form Humble Pie. While playing with Humble Pie, Frampton did session recording with other artists, including: Harry Nilsson, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Entwistle's Whistle Rymes, in 1972. Pete Drake introduced him to the "talk box", to become one of his trademark guitar effects. After four studio albums and one live album with Humble Pie, Frampton left the band and went solo in 1971, just in time to see Rockin' The Fillmore rise up the US charts, he remained with the same personal manager that Humble Pie had used. His own debut was 1972's Wind of Change, with guest artists Ringo Billy Preston; this album was followed by Frampton's Camel in 1973, which featured Frampton working within a group project. In 1974, Frampton released Somethin's Happening. Frampton toured extensively to support his solo career, joined for three years by his former Herd mate Andy Bown on keyboards, Rick Wills on Bass, American drummer John Siomos.
In 1975, the Frampton album was released. The album went to No. 32 in the US charts, is certified Gold by the RIAA. Peter Frampton had little commercial success with his early albums; this changed with Frampton's best-selling live album, Frampton Comes Alive!, in 1976, from which "Baby, I Love Your Way", "Show Me the Way", an edited version of "Do You Feel Like We Do", were hit singles. The latter two tracks featured his use of the talk box guitar effect; the album was recorded in 1975 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, where Humble Pie had enjoyed a good following. Frampton had a new line-up, with Americans Bob Mayo on keyboards and rhythm guitar and Stanley Sheldon on bass. Wills had been sacked by Frampton at the end of 1974, Bown had left on the eve of Frampton Comes Alive, to return to England and new fame with Status Quo. Frampton Comes Alive was released in early January, debuting on the charts on 14 February at number 191; the album was on the Billboard 200 for 97 weeks, of which 55 were in the top 40, of which 10 were at the top.
The album beat, among others, Fleetwood Mac's Fleetwood Mac to become the top selling album of 1976, it was the 14th best seller of 1977. With sales of eight million copies it became the biggest selling live album, although with others subsequently selling more it is now the fourth biggest. Frampton Comes Alive! has been certified as eight times platinum. The album won Frampton a Juno Award in 1977; the success of Frampton Comes Alive! put him on the cover of Rolling Stone, in a famous shirtless photo by Francesco Scavullo. Frampton said he regrets the photo because it changed his image as a credible artist into a teen idol. In late 1976, he and manager Dee Anthony visited the White House at the invitation of Steven Ford, the president's son. On 24 August 1979, Frampton received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the recording industry at 6819 Hollywood Boulevard. Frampton's following album, I'm in You contained the hit title single and went platinum, but fell well short of expectations compared to Frampton Comes Alive!.
He starred, with The Bee Gees, in producer Robert Stigwood's poorly received film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Frampton's career seemed to be falling as as
Tony Visconti
Anthony Edward Visconti is an American record producer and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers, his lengthiest involvement was with David Bowie: intermittently from Bowie's second album in 1969 to the 2016 release Blackstar, Visconti produced and performed on many of Bowie's albums. Visconti's work on Blackstar was cited in its Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and his production of Angelique Kidjo's Djin Djin was cited in its Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album. Visconti was born in New York, he started to play the ukulele when he was five years old, learned guitar. He attended New Utrecht High School. Throughout his teenage years Visconti was involved with both a classical brass band and a traditional orchestra, as well as playing rock'n' roll-oriented guitar, valuable experience which served him well in years. By the age of 15 he focused his efforts playing in local Brooklyn bands. After leaving school he played guitar in a band called the Latineers in the Catskills.
In 1960 he played his first recording session, over the next few years became one of the leading guitarists in New York nightclubs. He played in lounge acts including the Ned Harvey band, the Speedy Garfin Band, before joining a touring version of The Crew-Cuts, where he met his future wife; as Tony and Siegrid, the pair released two singles. Visconti became in-house producer for his publisher, the Richmond Organization. Through this, he met British producer Denny Cordell in 1968 while he was working as Richmond's in-house music producer. Cordell asked him to assist in recordings for successful jazz vocalist Georgie Fame. Visconti moved to London -- in a move. One of his first production projects in England was with the Welsh group The Iveys, he produced several tracks for the band's first LP Maybe Tomorrow, released on The Beatles' Apple label. The title track from this album was released as a single. More early production work on the album My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows for the British outfit Tyrannosaurus Rex began a relationship with T.
Rex that would last for their next seven albums. One of Visconti's greatest successes was Electric Warrior, the album that made T. Rex cemented Visconti's producing prowess, he produced the first two albums by influential progressive rock band Gentle Giant. Shortly afterwards, Visconti began to work with David Bowie and, along with guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer John Cambridge and toured with the band The Hype in which he played bass. Although the band name would be short-lived, most of the line-up persisted and - with Woody Woodmansey replacing Cambridge - would go on to record the seminal album and single The Man Who Sold the World in 1970, he would further go on to work on the albums Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Low, "Heroes", Scary Monsters, Reality, The Next Day and Blackstar. Visconti scored the orchestral arrangements for Paul McCartney and Wings' 1973 album Band on the Run, he produced two albums for the Moody Blues, The Other Side of Life, Sur La Mer. In 1990, he produced several tracks on the Moody Blues' Keys of the Kingdom album, Luscious Jackson's Electric Honey, Leisure Noise by Gay Dad, Soul Caddy for Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Dawn of Ananda for Annie Haslam.
In 1997, Visconti produced the debut album of The Stone Roses member John Squire's new band, The Seahorses entitled Do It Yourself. In the 2000s, Visconti renewed his association with David Bowie, producing the albums Heathen in 2002, Reality in 2003; these two albums hark back to his Berlin production work with Bowie. He produced and played bass on a handful of tracks from The Dandy Warhols 2003 album Welcome to the Monkey House. In 2003 he teamed up with the Finn Brothers to record and produce their second collaborative album released in 2004. In 2004, he produced three songs on the Manic Street Preachers album Lifeblood. In 2005, he collaborated with Copenhagen band Kashmir, whose fifth album, No Balance Palace, featured David Bowie, he has collaborated as co-writer and producer on the album project by Richard Barone. He produced the # 1 UK album by Morrissey, Ringleader of the Tormentors, his autobiography, Bowie and The Brooklyn Boy, was published in February 2007 by Harper Collins UK. The imported soft cover version is now available in the United States.
The book has been translated into French by Jérôme Soligny as Tony Visconti Bowie, Bolan et le Gamin de Brooklyn, published by Tournon. In 2007 and 2008, Visconti was active in the studio with Benin singer Angélique Kidjo, producing her Grammy-winning album Djin Djin. Guests artists include Peter Gabriel, Joss Stone, Josh Groban and Carlos Santana, he has produced two albums at Saint Claire Recording Studio in Lexington, Kentucky: The Bright Lights of America by Pittsburgh punk band Anti-Flag and an album by Alejandro Escovedo called Real Animal released in June 2008. He produced the new No. 1 album by French artist Raphael in New York. He produced and mixed Kristeen Young album Music for Strippers and the Odd On-Looker, released in 2009 and arranged Fa
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer. He gained worldwide fame as the bass guitarist and singer for the rock band the Beatles considered the most popular and influential group in the history of popular music, his songwriting partnership with John Lennon remains the most successful in history. After the group disbanded in 1970, he pursued a solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife and Denny Laine. McCartney is one of performers of all time. More than 2,200 artists have covered his Beatles song "Yesterday", making it one of the most covered songs in popular music history. Wings' 1977 release "Mull of Kintyre" is one of the all-time best-selling singles in the UK. A two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an 18-time Grammy Award winner, McCartney has written, or co-written, 32 songs that have reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, as of 2009 he had 25.5 million RIAA-certified units in the United States. McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr all received appointment as Members of the Order of the British Empire in 1965 and, in 1997, McCartney was knighted for services to music.
McCartney is one of the wealthiest musicians in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$1.2 billion. McCartney has released an extensive catalogue of songs as a solo artist and has composed classical and electronic music, he has taken part in projects to promote international charities related to such subjects as animal rights, seal hunting, land mines, vegetarianism and music education. He is the father of five children. James Paul McCartney was born on 18 June 1942 in Walton Hospital, England, where his mother, Mary Patricia, had qualified to practise as a nurse, his father, James McCartney, was absent from his son's birth due to his work as a volunteer firefighter during World War II. McCartney has one younger brother named a stepsister, Ruth; the children were baptised in their mother's Catholic faith though their father was a former Protestant, who had turned agnostic. Religion was not emphasised in the household. McCartney attended Stockton Wood Road Primary School in Speke from 1947 until 1949, when he transferred to Joseph Williams Junior School in Belle Vale because of overcrowding at Stockton.
In 1953, with only three others out of ninety examinees, he passed the 11-Plus exam, meaning he could attend the Liverpool Institute, a grammar school rather than a secondary modern school. In 1954, he met schoolmate George Harrison on the bus from his suburban home in Speke; the two became friends. McCartney's mother, was a midwife and the family's primary wage earner, she rode a bicycle to her patients. On 31 October 1956, when McCartney was 14, his mother died of an embolism. McCartney's loss became a point of connection with John Lennon, whose mother, had died when he was 17. McCartney's father was a trumpet pianist, who had led Jim Mac's Jazz Band in the 1920s, he kept an upright piano in the front room, encouraged his sons to be musical and advised McCartney to take piano lessons. However, McCartney preferred to learn by ear; when McCartney was 11, his father encouraged him to audition for the Liverpool Cathedral choir, but he was not accepted. McCartney joined the choir at St Barnabas' Church, Mossley Hill.
McCartney received a nickel-plated trumpet from his father for his fourteenth birthday, but when rock and roll became popular on Radio Luxembourg, McCartney traded it for a £15 Framus Zenith acoustic guitar, since he wanted to be able to sing while playing. He found it difficult to play guitar right-handed, but after noticing a poster advertising a Slim Whitman concert and realising that Whitman played left-handed, he reversed the order of the strings. McCartney wrote his first song, "I Lost My Little Girl", on the Zenith, composed another early tune that would become "When I'm Sixty-Four" on the piano. American rhythm and blues influenced him, Little Richard was his schoolboy idol. At the age of fifteen on 6 July 1957, McCartney met John Lennon and his band, the Quarrymen, at the St Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton; the Quarrymen played a mix of rock and roll and skiffle, a type of popular music with jazz and folk influences. Soon afterwards, the members of the band invited McCartney to join as a rhythm guitarist, he formed a close working relationship with Lennon.
Harrison joined in 1958 as lead guitarist, followed by Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe on bass, in 1960. By May 1960 the band had tried several names, including Johnny and the Moondogs and the Silver Beetles, they adopted the name the Beatles in August 1960 and recruited drummer Pete Best shortly before a five-engagement residency in Hamburg. The Beatles were informally represented by Allan Williams. In 1961, Sutcliffe left McCartney reluctantly became their bass player. While in Hamburg, they recorded professionally for the first time and were credited as the Beat Brothers, who were the backing band for English singer Tony Sheridan on the single "My Bonnie"; this resulted in attention from Brian Epstein, w
Reg Lindsay
Reginald John Lindsay OAM was an Australian country music singer, multi-instrumentalist and radio and television personality. He won three Golden Guitar Awards and wrote more than five hundred songs in his fifty-year music career. Lindsay recorded over 250 singles, his most popular cross-over hit was a cover version, "Armstrong", which reached No. 6 on the Go-Set National Top 60. It was written and performed by American folk musician, John Stewart, as a tribute to Neil Armstrong's lunar landing in 1969. Lindsay died of pneumonia, aged 79, was survived by his second wife, Roslyn Lindsay, his three children. Born in the Sydney suburb of Waverley in 1929, Reg Lindsay's parents were Ellen Lindsay, he was two years of age when his father gave him a harmonica which he mastered. His father taught him to play, "The Wheel on the Wagon Is Broke", on harmonica by the age of four, he learned how to play the banjo, mandolin and fiddle. After Sydney he grew up in Parkes and Adelaide, his aunt Anne gave him a guitar when he was 15.
After leaving school he worked for the Department of Agriculture and studied wool classing. As a teenager his career ambition was to learned how to shear sheep, he reflected, "The outback has always been romantic to me. People of that ilk have always been romantic. We have the longest cattle drives in the world, you know. I was scheduled to go into a reservation in the north-west of South Australia, but I ended up as a jackeroo in Broken Hill instead."After he twisted his leg in a rodeo accident, he recuperated at his parents' home in Adelaide for several weeks in 1950. He was listening to country music on 2SM with Tim McNamara promoting a radio talent quest. In November 1950 Lindsay travelled to Sydney via a motorcycle to compete, in the following year, which launched his career as a singer-songwriter. Reg Lindsay was a performer in the 2KY radio show, On the Melody Trail, from September 1951, alongside, "Joy and Heather McKean, Australia's Melody Cowgirls, Slim Dusty, Gordon Parsons and other hillbilly artists."
The McKean Sisters were a country music duo of Joy McKean and her younger sister Heather, who had presented the show since 1949. Heather married Reg Lindsay in 1954, while Joy had married Slim Dusty in 1951. Lindsay was signed to Rodeo Records in 1951, his singles with that label include, "Blue Velvet Band", "My Home Way Out Back", "Sundowner Yodel", "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time", "By the Old Slip Rail", "Sweeter than Flowers", "Shackles and Chains", "My Blue-Eyed Jane", "I Love You a Thousand Ways", "Country Mile", "I'll Never Live It Down", Got Those Itchy Feet", "In the Luggage Van Ahead". Radio station 2CH had him present. Late in that year he and his show moved over to 2SM, where it continued for 12 years, his singles from the late 1950s on Columbia Records include, "Tom Dooley", "The Walkabout Rock and Roll", "The Ghost of Tom Dooley", "Don't Steal Daddy's Medal", "The Wog", "Where No One Stands Alone", "The Caribbean" and "The House Down Willow Lane". AllMusic's Jason Ankeny observed, "despite his public recognition and relentless touring schedule, success as a performer continued to elude him."
Reg Lindsay continued presenting a radio show into the early 1960s. He headed a touring line-up for The Reg Lindsay Show, which in February 1960 included Heather, "Kevin King, Jacqueline Hall, Nev Nicholls, Fred Maugher and the famous comedian George Nichols." In 1964 he returned to Adelaide where he hosted a local TV show, The Country and Western Hour, which ran for seven-and-a-half years, until 1972. It won two state-based Logie Awards for South Australia's Most Popular show in 1964 and 1965. By 1966 the show was broadcast throughout Australia with Lindsay, as host, flying in from Sydney to Adelaide each week. In that year he issued a single, "They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around", he travelled to the United States in 1968, to record material for his TV show, while there he was asked to appear on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. He was so successful in this debut he was invited back for the ultimate encore, the Saturday night show. Reg was the first Australian to do so and was the first of many Grand Ole Opry appearances.< Upon return to Sydney in 1968, with his wife Heather, he established a business, Reg Lindsay’s Country Store, to sell "records and musical instruments."
Heather described, "It's surprising how many of the young people like to wear this gear-particularly the hand-carved leatherwork. The young surfies like the fringed jackets-they're fantastic sellers-and the girls go for the cotton jackets to wear over bathers to the beach." A second store soon followed, both were sold off ten years later. Reg Lindsay was best known for his single, "Armstrong", a tribute to the historic 1969 moon landing by American astronauts Neil Armstrong, it remained in the charts for 16 weeks. It is included in a time capsule at the Johnson Space Center in Texas; the song was recorded by John Stewart, an ex-member of the Kingston Trio. It is Lindsay's first major hit, reaching No. 8 on the Australian Singles Chart in 1971. His other popular singles from the 1970s are "July You're a Woman", "Silence on the Line" and "Empty Arms Hotel" 1979). In January 1974 he won a Golden Guitar trophy at the Country Music Awards of Australia for Best Male Vocal with "July You're a Woman", he won the same category in 1978 for "Silence on the Line".
A third trophy for "Em
Regal Recordings
Regal Recordings is a British record label functioning as an imprint of Parlophone Records. Regal Records was a British record label founded in 1913 as a subsidiary of the UK branch of Columbia Records, known as the Columbia Graphophone Company; the first record issues on the Regal Record label in February 1914 were re-issues of existing records from the Columbia Record Catalogue: G-6105 to G-6559, G-6440, G 6441 and G 6560 to G 6639. Catalogue numbers starting from G 6000 were used at dates. In November 1921, 12 inch records were introduced, commencing at catalogue number G-1000. From around 1923 onwards many earlier recordings were re-recorded acoustically and released under the same catalogue number as the originals. For catalogue numbers below G-7963 these may be identified by a matrix commencing with an'A', rather than being numeric; the Western Electric electrical process of recording was introduced in February 1926. Those records re-recorded using this process invariably have their catalogue number suffixed by'R'.
From March 1930 all new releases were prefixed in the catalogue by'MR', commencing at MR1. In 1932 it was merged with the British Zonophone label and became Regal Zonophone, following the merger of those labels' respective parent companies, the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company, to form EMI. A listing of records produced by Regal in this era is available from the CLPGS. In 1995, the Regal label was revived by EMI as the Parlophone imprint Regal Recordings. Regal Recordings' current roster includes Lily Allen, Loney Dear, Cathy Davey, Jakobínarína. Regal, as well as Parlophone, became part of the Warner Music Group in 2013. Parlophone Regal Zonophone Records Columbia Graphophone Company Zon-O-Phone Records Regal Recordings MySpace page
T. Rex (band)
T. Rex were an English rock band, formed in 1967 by singer-songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan; the band was called Tyrannosaurus Rex, released four psychedelic folk albums under this name. In 1969, Bolan began to shift from the band's early acoustic sound to an electric one; the following year, he shortened their name to T. Rex; the 1970 release of the single "Ride a White Swan" marked the culmination of this development, the group soon became a commercial success as part of the emerging glam rock scene. From 1970 until 1973, T. Rex encountered a popularity in the UK comparable to that of the Beatles, with a run of eleven singles in the UK top ten. One of the most prominent acts in British popular culture, they scored four UK number one hits, "Hot Love", "Get It On", "Telegram Sam" and "Metal Guru"; the band's 1971 album. It reached number 1 in the UK; the 1972 follow-up, The Slider, entered the top 20 in the US. Following the release of "20th Century Boy" in 1973, which reached number three in the UK, T.
Rex continued recording one album per year. In 1977, Bolan died in a car crash several months after the release of the band's final studio album Dandy in the Underworld. Since T. Rex have continued to exert a vast influence on a variety of subsequent artists. Marc Bolan founded Tyrannosaurus Rex in July 1967, following a handful of failed solo singles and a brief career as lead guitarist in psych-rock band John's Children. After a solitary disastrous performance as a four-piece electric rock band on 22 July at the Electric Garden in London's Covent Garden alongside drummer Steve Porter plus two older musicians: guitarist Ben Cartland and an unknown bassist, the group broke up. Subsequently, Bolan retained the services of Porter, who switched to percussion under the name Steve Peregrin Took, the two began performing acoustic material as a duo with a repertoire of folk-influenced Bolan-penned songs with an eastern flavour, an obvious homage to Indian musician Ravi Shankar; the combination of Bolan's acoustic guitar and distinctive vocal style with Took's bongos and assorted percussion—which included children's instruments such as the Pixiphone—earned them a devoted following in the thriving hippy underground scene.
BBC Radio One Disc jockey John Peel championed the band early in their recording career. Peel appeared on record with them, reading stories written by Bolan. Another key collaborator was producer Tony Visconti, who went on to produce the band's albums well into their second, glam rock phase. During 1968–1969, Tyrannosaurus Rex had become a modest success on radio and on record, they released three albums, the third of which, came within striking distance of the UK Top 10 Albums. While Bolan's early solo material was rock and roll-influenced pop music, by now he was writing dramatic and baroque songs with lush melodies and surreal lyrics filled with Greek and Persian mythology as well as poetic creations of his own; the band became regulars on Peel Sessions on BBC radio, toured Britain's student union halls. By 1969 there was a rift developing between the two-halves of Tyrannosaurus Rex. Bolan and his girlfriend June Child were living a quiet life, Bolan working on his book of poetry entitled The Warlock of Love and concentrating on his songs and performance skills.
Took, had embraced the anti-commercial, drug-taking ethos of the UK Underground scene centred around Ladbroke Grove. Took was attracted to anarchic elements such as Mick Farren/Deviants and members of the Pink Fairies Rock'n' Roll and Drinking Club. Took began writing his own songs, wanted the duo to perform them, but Bolan disapproved of his bandmate's efforts, rejecting them for the duo's putative fourth album, in production in Spring/Summer 1969. In response to Bolan's rebuff, Took contributed two songs as well as vocals and percussion to Twink's Think Pink album. Bolan's relationship with Took ended after this, although they were contractually obliged to go through with a US tour, doomed before it began. Poorly promoted and planned, the acoustic duo were overshadowed by the loud electric acts they were billed with. To counter this, Took drew from the shock rock style of Iggy Pop. With a belt, y'know, a bit of blood and the whole of Los Angeles shuts up.'What's going on, there's some nutter attacking himself on stage.'
I mean, Iggy Stooge had the same basic approach."As soon as he returned to the UK, Bolan replaced Took with percussionist Mickey Finn. and they completed the fourth album, released in early 1970 as A Beard of Stars, the final album under the Tyrannosaurus Rex moniker. Meanwhile, after helping found the Pink Fairies and appearing on Mick Farren's solo album Mona – The Carnivorous Circus, Took would spend the 1970s working on his own material, either solo or fronting bands such as Shagrat and Steve Took's Horns. Unlike Took, Finn had no songwriting aspirations. Mickey's backing vocals weren't strong, so Marc would double-track them with his own voice for reinforcement"; as well as progressively shorter titles, Tyrannosaurus Rex's albums began to show higher production values, more accessible songwriting from Bolan, experimentation with electric guitars and a true rock sound. A breakthrough had been "King of the Rumbling Spires", which used a full rock band setup, the electric sound had been further explored on A Beard of Stars.
Th
Andy Bown
Andrew Steven Bown is an English musician, who has specialised in keyboards and bass guitar. He is a member of the rock band Status Quo. Bown's first major band was The Herd, along with Peter Frampton. After The Herd dissolved he spent two years with Judas Jump who were the opening act of the Isle of Wight Festival 1970, he played for Frampton in the 1970s switching to bass when Rick Wills departed the Peter Frampton band in early 1975. Bown himself left the Frampton entourage less than a year just as Frampton was on the verge of becoming a worldwide Rock sensation, he went back to England where he first dabbled with a solo career resumed work with Status Quo whom he started playing keyboards for in 1973 as a session musician, first appearing on their Hello! Album in that year, he joined Status Quo as a full member in 1982, has been with them since. Bown released a number of singles in the 1970s, including "New York Satyricon Zany" and "Another Shipwreck", none of which charted, his most well-known song however was the theme tune to the children's series Ace of Wands, "Tarot".
He released five albums, the first of which, Gone to My Head was released in 1972. His latest solo album Unfinished Business was released on 5 September 2011; the album was produced by Mike Paxman and recorded by Chris West, it features contributions from Henry Spinetti on drums, Mick Rogers on guitars, Trevor Bolder and Brad Lang on basses as well as vocalists Juliet Roberts and Sylvia Mason-James. It was recorded at State of the Ark Studios in Richmond, Surrey in 2010, he was the bass player in the "Surrogate Band" during Pink Floyd's The Wall tour in 1980 and 1981 and can be heard on the live album Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81, he did some keyboards for Pink Floyd's The Final Cut album. and on Jack the Lad's last album Jackpot in 1976. In addition he played Hammond organ and 12-string guitar during the recording of Roger Waters' solo album The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking in 1984, but did not take part in Waters' subsequent tours, he still plays keyboards and harmonica with Status Quo to this day, is an integral part of the band, having co-penned many well known Quo songs on various studio albums, most prominently collaborating with Rick Parfitt on the group's 1979 hit "Whatever You Want".
Gone to My Head – 1972 Sweet William – 1973 Come Back Romance, All is Forgiven – 1977 Good Advice – 1978 Unfinished Business – 2011 During live performances Bown uses a Roland RD-100 piano, a Hammond C3 Organ and a Roland D-70 synthesizer, which are connected to a Roland U-220, an E-mu Vintage Keys module, an Akai Sampler and a Leslie speaker. Bown uses a vintage Fender Telecaster, a Gibson Les Paul, a Washburn semi-acoustic as well as a Takamine acoustic, he uses custom Telecaster types and a Stratocaster-type made by J Davey Guitars, sometimes uses Rick Parfitt's custom-made Fender Telecaster Thinline Official website
