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Richard Hudson | |
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Birth name | Richard William Stafford Hudson |
Born | Tottenham, London, England | 9 May 1948
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Years active | 1960s–present |
Labels | A&M |
Richard William Stafford Hudson (born 9 May 1948) is an English musician who played drums and sitar for the Strawbs. He later joined forces with bassist John Ford to form a duo, Hudson Ford, in which he played guitar and sang.
Richard Hudson was a member of Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, [1] in which he played drums and sitar and sang. In 1970, he and band-mate John Ford joined Strawbs. Hudson and Ford began to co-write material which appeared to be aiming in a slightly different direction to the compositions of Strawbs' main writer, Dave Cousins. In 1973 after a 52-date tour to promote the album Bursting at the Seams, there were acrimonious exchanges (which both parties now regret). Hudson and Ford left to form Hudson Ford. Hudson at this point switched from playing drums to guitar and sang more lead vocals.
The punk era sounded the death knell of many progressive rock acts, including Hudson Ford. Hudson, Ford and Terry Cassidy founded the mock punk group The Monks and, more strangely, High Society, which performed a pastiche of 1930s music.
Hudson rejoined Strawbs for their 1987 album Don't Say Goodbye and stayed on for 1991's Ringing Down the Years on which he co-wrote two tracks with bass player Rod Demick and guitarist Brian Willoughby.
In recent years he has played live gigs with Strawbs and continues to play with The Good Old Boys, alongside original Deep Purple bassist Nick Simper. In July 2009, The Good Old Boys released the CD Live at the Deep Purple Convention.
This is a list of recordings on which Hudson appears as a full-time band member.
The Strawbs are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock.
John Ford is a British musician. He relocated to the United States in the mid-1980s and now resides on the North Shore of Long Island, New York.
Hudson Ford were a UK rock band-style duo, formed when John Ford and Richard Hudson left Strawbs in 1973. The original line-up featured Hudson and Ford along with Chris Parren on keyboards, Mickey Keen on guitars, and Gerry Conway on drums. Conway left in May 1974 prior to the recording of Free Spirit and was replaced by Ken Laws. Mickey Keen left the band in December 1974 and was replaced briefly by Mick Clarke, formerly of The Roy Young Band. Clarke moved to the United States in 1975 and was not replaced. The line-up remained stable from that point until the group dissolved in late 1977.
Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, at various times also known as Velvet Opera, was a British rock band active in the late 1960s. Members of the band, Richard Hudson, John Ford and Paul Brett, would later become members of The Strawbs, Hudson Ford and Stretch.
Paul Brett was an English classic rock guitarist. He played lead guitar with Strawbs, The Overlanders, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, The Velvet Opera, Tintern Abbey, Fire, Roy Harper, Al Stewart, Lonnie Donegan. He switched to twelve-string guitar in the 1970s.
Grave New World is the fourth studio album by English band Strawbs, their fifth overall. It was the first album to be released after the departure of Rick Wakeman, who was replaced by Blue Weaver, late of Amen Corner.
Bursting at the Seams is the fifth studio album by English band Strawbs, released on 26 January 1973 by A&M Records. It was the first album to be released after the departure of founder member Tony Hooper and the recruitment of Dave Lambert. It contains their two most successful singles and peaked at No. 2 in the UK Album Chart and No. 65 in Canada.
Dave Lambert is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter, who has been a member of the Strawbs at various stages of the band's career, beginning in the 1970s.
"Benedictus" is a song by English band Strawbs featured on their 1972 album Grave New World.
"Lay Down" is a single by the Strawbs which reached No. 12 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1972 - their first hit. It was included on their 1973 album Bursting at the Seams.
"Part of the Union" is a song by English band Strawbs, featured on their 1973 album Bursting at the Seams and was the band's most successful single, peaking at No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart. It also reached No. 10 in the Irish Singles Chart.
Rodney Coombes is an English musician. He was mostly known from playing drums with British bands Stealers Wheel in 1972 to 1973 and again in 2008 and Strawbs from 1974 to 1977 and again from 2004 to 2010.
A Taste of Strawbs is a box-set album by Strawbs. Instead of being a "best of" album, the compilers have attempted to present alternative versions of some well-known songs plus some previously unreleased material. Included are some very old songs by The Strawberry Hill Boys, with Dave Cousins, Tony Hooper and Ron Chesterman, also are some very interesting songs by Sandy Denny and The Strawbs, and outtakes from different periods of the band's career.
The Best of Strawbs is a compilation album of songs by Strawbs, with one track from the Dave Cousins solo album Two Weeks Last Summer.
Strawbs in Concert is a live album by English band Strawbs. The tracks are taken from recordings of two BBC In Concert programmes from 1973 and 1974.
The Very Best of the Strawbs: Halcyon Days is a compilation album by English band Strawbs. Although credited to Strawbs it does contain three Hudson Ford tracks and a Dave Cousins solo track. The album was released as a 2-CD set in the UK and US. The US release has a slightly different title and a different track listing.
Stretch were a 1970s British rock band that grew from the collaboration between vocalist Elmer Gantry and guitarist Kirby Gregory. Gantry had been the frontman of Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, and Kirby had been a member of Curved Air.
Recollection is a live album by Strawbs published in 2006. The tracks were recorded in 1970 on a tour supporting Roy Harper just prior to the concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Rick Wakeman is an English keyboardist, composer and songwriter, most known as the keyboard player for progressive rock group Yes. His solo albums have sold over 50 million copies.