Maggie Bell | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Margaret Bell |
Born | Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland | 12 January 1945
Genres | Rock, blues rock |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Years active | 1967–present |
Website | maggiebell |
Margaret Bell (born 12 January 1945) is a Scottish vocalist. She came to fame as co-lead vocalist of the blues rock group Stone the Crows, [1] and was described as the UK's closest counterpart to American singer Janis Joplin. [2] Bell was also prominently featured as a guest vocalist on the song "Every Picture Tells a Story" (1971) by Rod Stewart.
From a musical family, she sang from her teenage years, leaving school at the age of fifteen, to work as a window dresser by day and singer at night. [3] Bell was introduced to Leslie Harvey, by his older brother Alex, after getting up on stage to sing with the latter. Leslie Harvey was, at that time, a guitarist with the Kinning Park Ramblers. Bell joined the group as one of the vocalists. After the band split up, Bell moved to the Mecca Band at the Sauchiehall Street Locarno, and later to the Dennistoun Palais Band. [4]
She then rejoined Harvey, forming Power, initially known as The Power of Music and eventually The Power. Bell and The Power regularly performed at The Easterhouse Project, run by Archie Hind and Graeme Noble. They also toured United States Air Force bases in Germany in the mid 1960s. Peter Grant, who was managing The Yardbirds at the time, heard Power playing at one of these bases and agreed to produce and manage them, impressed by the vocal ability of Bell and the guitar playing of Harvey. Power was then renamed as Stone the Crows, an expression used by Grant upon hearing this band. [5]
Stone the Crows split up in 1973, after Leslie Harvey's accidental death from electrocution on 3 May 1972. Harvey had been an integral part of the band and its music. [6] Peter Grant remained as Bell's manager after the split, and along with Mark London offered to help Bell record a solo album. She subsequently recorded two further albums for Atlantic Records, one produced by Felix Pappalardi and the other produced by Felix Cavaliere. Neither has yet been released. [7] Grant then oversaw her first solo album release Queen of the Night (1974), which was recorded in New York City with record producer Jerry Wexler.
Bell signed to the then newly formed Swan Song Records in 1974, along with Bad Company and Pretty Things, as one of the first signings to the label. Jimmy Page contributed to her second album Suicide Sal (1975). [8] Bell then tried to capture past blues rock glories by fronting Midnight Flyer, [9] who were a popular live act but their sole eponymous album released in 1981 was not a commercial success. [10]
Returning to a solo career, she had her biggest hit in the UK in 1981 duetting with B. A. Robertson on a cover version of "Hold Me" which reached No. 11 in the UK Singles Chart. Bell also performed at many charity gigs during this period.
While working with Stone the Crows, Bell was the subject of a BBC documentary in the 1972 Sounding Out series. [11] Bell sang the end credits theme for the late 1970s ITV detective drama Hazell , with lyrics written by Judy Forrest and music by Andy Mackay. Her song "No Mean City", written by Mike Moran, was the theme music to the TV crime drama Taggart . She also appeared in a single episode of Taggart called "Evil Eye" in 1990, playing a gypsy fortune teller named Effie Lambie who is murdered early in the episode.
In 1990, she appeared in four episodes of the BBC drama series Your Cheatin’ Heart .
In 2009, she provided the singing voice of rock singer Esme Ford (played by Joanna Lumley) in the episode "Counter Culture Blues" of the ITV series Lewis . [12]
After living in the Netherlands for twenty years, Bell returned to the UK in early 2006 and joined The British Blues Quintet, sharing lead vocals with Zoot Money. Also featuring former Stone The Crows drummer Colin Allen and bassist Colin Hodgkinson, the band quickly became established on the UK and European live blues circuit. Their debut album, Live in Glasgow (2007), was recorded at one of their first gigs, on Glasgow's Renfrew Ferry in 2006. In addition, Bell toured with Chris Farlowe in the autumn of 2006 and The Manfreds during 2006 and 2008.
In January 2016, the Hamburg Blues Band featuring Maggie Bell and Krissy Matthews, performed at the Quasimodo Club in Berlin, Germany. [13]
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are cited as one of the progenitors of hard rock and heavy metal, although their style drew from a variety of influences, including blues and folk music. Led Zeppelin have been credited as significantly impacting the nature of the music industry, particularly in the development of album-oriented rock (AOR) and stadium rock.
Led Zeppelin II is the second studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 22 October 1969 in the United States and on 31 October 1969 in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at several locations in both the United Kingdom and North America from January to August 1969. The album's production was credited to the band's lead guitarist and songwriter Jimmy Page, and it was also Led Zeppelin's first album on which Eddie Kramer served as engineer.
The untitled fourth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV, was released on 8 November 1971 by Atlantic Records. It was produced by guitarist Jimmy Page and recorded between December 1970 and February 1971, mostly in the country house Headley Grange. The album contains the band's most well-known recording, the eight-minute-long "Stairway to Heaven".
Robert Anthony Plant is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980; since then he has had a successful solo career, sometimes collaborating with other artists such as Alison Krauss. Regarded by many as one of the greatest singers in rock music, he is known for his flamboyant persona and raw stage performances.
James Patrick Page is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Prolific in creating guitar riffs, Page’s style involves various alternative guitar tunings and melodic solos, coupled with aggressive, distorted guitar tones. It is also characterized by his folk and eastern-influenced acoustic work. He is notable for occasionally playing his guitar with a cello bow to create a droning sound texture to the music.
Swan Song Records was a record label that was launched by the English rock band Led Zeppelin on 10 May 1974, however, its first record releases were Silk Torpedo by another English rock band, The Pretty Things and the self-titled album, "Bad Company". It was overseen by Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant and was a vehicle for the band to promote its own products as well as sign artists who found it difficult to win contracts with other major labels. The decision to launch the label came after Led Zeppelin's five-year contract with Atlantic Records expired at the end of 1973, although Atlantic ultimately distributed the label's product.
Alexander James Harvey was a Scottish rock and blues musician. Although his career spanned almost three decades, he is best remembered as the frontman of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, with whom he built a reputation as an exciting live performer during the era of glam rock in the 1970s.
Morrison Hotel is the fifth studio album by American rock band the Doors, released on February 9, 1970, by Elektra Records. After the use of brass and string arrangements recommended by producer Paul A. Rothchild on their previous album, The Soft Parade (1969), the Doors returned to their blues rock style filled with jazz shades. This album was largely seen as a return to form for the band. The group entered Elektra Sound Recorders in Los Angeles in November 1969 to record the album which is divided into two separately titled sides, namely: "Hard Rock Café" and "Morrison Hotel". Blues rock guitar pioneer Lonnie Mack and Ray Neapolitan also contributed to the album as session bassists.
James McCulloch was a Scottish musician best known for playing lead guitar and bass as a member of Paul McCartney's band Wings from 1974 to 1977. McCulloch was a member of the Glasgow psychedelic band One in a Million, Thunderclap Newman, and Stone the Crows.
"In My Time of Dying" is a gospel music song by Blind Willie Johnson. The title line, closing each stanza of the song, refers to a deathbed and was inspired by a passage in the Bible from Psalms 41:3 "The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing, thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness". Numerous artists have recorded variations, including Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin.
Stone the Crows were a Scottish blues rock band formed in Glasgow in late 1969. They are remembered for the onstage electrocution of guitarist and founding member Les Harvey.
Leslie Cameron Harvey was a Scottish guitarist in several bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s, most notably Stone the Crows. He was the brother of Alex Harvey.
"Spoonful" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin' Wolf. Called "a stark and haunting work", it is one of Dixon's best known and most interpreted songs. Etta James and Harvey Fuqua had a pop and R&B record chart hit with their duet cover of "Spoonful" in 1961, and it was popularized in the late 1960s by the British rock group Cream.
"Killing Floor" is a 1964 song by American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Howlin' Wolf. Called "one of the defining classics of Chicago electric blues", "Killing Floor" became a blues standard with recordings by various artists. It has been acknowledged by the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame, which noted its popularity among rock as well as blues musicians. English rock group Led Zeppelin adapted the song for their "The Lemon Song", for which Howlin' Wolf is named as a co-author.
Colin Eric Allen is an English blues drummer and songwriter.
Tony Stevens is an English musician, best known as the bassist with the bands Foghat, Savoy Brown, and Nobody's Business.
Mark London is a Canadian-born British soundtrack composer, songwriter and music producer. He is perhaps best known as composer of the song "To Sir with Love".
The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton (1963–1965), Jeff Beck (1965–1966) and Jimmy Page (1966–1968), all of whom ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 greatest guitarists. The band's other members during 1963–1968 were vocalist/harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja, and bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, with Dreja switching to bass when Samwell-Smith departed in 1966. The band had a string of hits throughout the mid-1960s, including "For Your Love", "Heart Full of Soul", "Shapes of Things", and "Over Under Sideways Down".
Krissy Matthews is a British-Norwegian blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. He had released three albums by the age of 18. His most recent and fifth album, Scenes From a Moving Window, was released by Promise Records in 2015.