Girl | |
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 Girl in the early 1980s | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1979–1982 |
| Labels | Jet Records |
| Past members | Phil Lewis Gerry Laffy Phil Collen Jonathon Trevisick Dave Gaynor Mark Megary Simon Laffy Pete Barnacle Bryson Graham Pete Bonas |
Girl were an English glam metal band formed in London in 1979. [1] They split up in 1982 with band members going on to join Def Leppard and L.A. Guns, among others.
Girl were formed in 1979 by vocalist Phil Lewis, guitarists Gerry Laffy and Phil Collen, drummer Jonathon Trevisick (replaced shortly thereafter by Dave Gaynor), and bassist Mark Megary (replaced shortly thereafter by Simon Laffy). Collen had previously been in the bands Lucy, Tush, and Dumb Blondes. Girl were first discovered and managed by Jon Lindsay who was looking for bands for former manager of The Who, Kit Lambert, for a proposed new record label. Lindsay and Girl separated over managerial decisions when the band wanted to sign a recording deal with Don Arden instead of a recording contract negotiated by Lindsay with music figure Simon Napier-Bell's Nomis Publishing.
The band were signed by Jet Records, releasing two singles prior to their debut album Sheer Greed (1980), which reached number 33 in the UK Albums Chart. [2] The band's profile was raised by tours with the Pat Travers Band and UFO, in the midst of the new wave of British heavy metal explosion. [3] Girl recorded a pre-L.A. Guns version of the song "Hollywood Tease", which peaked at No. 50 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1980. [4]
Gaynor left in 1981, to be replaced by former Gillan/Broken Home drummer Pete Barnacle. However, following several live dates with the band, Barnacle himself was replaced by Bryson Graham during the recording of the next album. [2] Both Barnacle and Graham appear on Girl's second album Wasted Youth which was released in 1982 and reached number 92 in the UK. [2] Pete Bonas replaced Phil Collen, who left to join Def Leppard, though the band broke up soon after.
Girl still have six albums available through Sanctuary Records (previously released by Don Arden's Jet Records): Sheer Greed, Wasted Youth, Killing Time, Live at the Marquee , Live at the Exposition Hall, Osaka, Japan , the 37 track anthology My Number: The Anthology , Bootleg - Live in Tokyo 1980 and Girl-Sheer Greed-Gerry Laffy - The Rare DVD Collection.
After the band's dissolution, Phil Lewis joined The London Cowboys, then Airrace, and in 1987 L.A. Guns. [2] Lewis also sang with New Torpedos, Tormé, Filthy Lucre, and The Liberators.
Gerry Laffy, Simon Laffy, and Pete Barnacle went on to play in Sheer Greed, which also featured guest appearances from both Lewis and Collen. Sheer Greed also recorded two versions of "Hollywood Tease", one recorded in studio for the album Sublime to the Ridiculous and another live for Live in London .
Collen and Simon Laffy are currently in a band called Man Raze, along with former Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook. [5]
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, it has consisted of Rick Savage, Joe Elliott, Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen, and Vivian Campbell. They established themselves as part of the new wave of British heavy metal of the early 1980s. Their greatest commercial success came between the early 1980s and early 1990s.
Stephen Maynard Clark was an English musician. He was a guitarist and songwriter for the hard rock band Def Leppard until his death in 1991. In 2007, Clark was ranked No. 11 on Classic Rock Magazine's "100 Wildest Guitar Heroes". In 2019, Clark was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Def Leppard.
Philip Kenneth Collen is an English musician who is best known as the co-lead guitarist for the rock band Def Leppard. Collen joined the band in 1982 during the recording of the Pyromania album. Before joining Def Leppard, Collen had performed with a number of bands in the burgeoning British glam metal scene. Outside of Def Leppard, he has been involved in a number of side projects; those projects include the trio Man Raze, with which he is the lead singer and sole guitarist.
Peter Andrew Willis is an English guitarist, best known as a founder member of the hard rock band Def Leppard. He co-wrote many tracks and played guitar on the band's first three albums: On Through the Night, High 'n' Dry, and Pyromania, which was being recorded at the time of his departure. He was fired from Def Leppard in 1982 and replaced by Phil Collen. In 2019, Willis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Def Leppard. He did not attend the induction ceremony, however.
Man Raze are an English three-piece alternative rock band originally from Finchley, London, England formed in 2004, featuring Phil Collen, Simon Laffy and Paul Cook.
Simon Laffy is an English novelist and bassist, a member of Man Raze and former member of Girl.
Philip Francis Lewis is an English singer and musician, best known as the vocalist and occasional guitarist for the American glam metal band L.A. Guns. Born in London, Lewis has lived and worked in the U.S. since the 1980s but was privately educated at Royal Russell School in Surrey.
Gerry Laffy is a British singer and guitarist who has played in the bands Girl, The London Cowboys, Sheer Greed, John Taylor, and Ultravox among others. Girl are still cited as an influence by many major artists twenty years later, even though they disbanded after only three years, allegedly due to their record company and mismanagement. In total Gerry Laffy has released 30 albums; he has played in venues as diverse as Wembley Arena, Taipei Hard Rock Cafe, the Reading Festival.
Pete Barnacle is an English rock drummer who has played for various bands including Gillan, Girl, Broken Home, Spear of Destiny, Theatre of Hate, Yngwie Malmsteen, Sheer Greed, and Soldiers of Fortune. Barnacle now lives in Japan, teaching English, and occasionally working as a drummer.
Sheer Greed is the first album of the British glam rock band Girl, released in January 1980 by Jet Records. The album was published during the explosion of the new wave of British heavy metal phenomenon and its sales took advantage of the favourable attitude towards hard rock bands in the UK in that period. Sheer Greed peaked at No. 33 in the UK Albums Chart. Hollywood Tease was released as a single, and reached No. 50.
Wasted Youth is the second and final album released by the British glam rock band Girl. Bryson Graham replaced drummer Pete Barnacle during the recording of this album, and contributed to the songwriting process. A remastered CD was reissued by Rock Candy Records in 2016 complete with a bonus CD of a concert recorded in October 1981.
Killing Time is a British glam rock band Girl compilation album that was released after the band broke up. It was made with leftover tracks from the recording sessions of their two studio albums and unpublished tracks for a third studio album never released.
Live at the Exposition Hall, Osaka, Japan is a live album by the British glam rock band Girl, originally recorded in 1982.
Live at the Marquee is a live album by the British glam rock band Girl, recorded in 1981 and released in 2001. The album is included as the bonus disc of the 2016 Rock Candy Records re-issue of Girl's 1982 album Wasted Youth.
My Number: The Anthology is a Girl compilation album.
The Dumb Blondes were an English glam rock band.
Sheer Greed were a short-lived British hard rock band formed in 1992 by former Girl members Gerry Laffy, Simon Laffy and Pete Barnacle, and by guitarist Neil Gabbitas. The band was apparently named after the Girl album Sheer Greed.
Sublime to the Ridiculous is the only studio album by the British hard rock band Sheer Greed, released in 1992 in Japan.
Surreal is the debut album from UK alternative rock band Man Raze. The album was written over a two-year period from 2004-2006 and recorded during April 2006 in Dublin in only two weeks. It features the singles "Skin Crawl" and "Turn It Up". The album was released in the USA on June 3, 2008. The UK Edition featuring a 5 track bonus disc is available from December 1, 2008.
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