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Wizzard | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Birmingham, Warwickshire, England |
Genres | |
Years active | 1972–1975 |
Labels | Jet, EMI, United Artists, Warner Bros., Edsel |
Spinoffs | |
Spinoff of | |
Past members |
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Wizzard were an English rock band formed by Roy Wood, former member of the Move and co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings was Paul McCartney." [1] They are most famous for their 1973 Christmas single "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday".
Not long after the release of Electric Light Orchestra's first album, Wood found himself in political disagreements with the band's manager Don Arden. Following a difference of opinion during recording of the band's second album, ELO 2 , Wood walked out of the session, went down the road to a studio where the Birmingham group Mongrel (which included his former Move bandmate Rick Price, as well as drummers Charlie Grima and Keith Smart) were recording, and asked them if they would be interested in putting a band together. [2]
Wood left ELO, taking band members Bill Hunt (keyboards and french horn) and Hugh McDowell (cello) with him, as well as ELO's sound engineer, Trevor Smith. Despite press reporting a fallout between Wood and co-founder/leader Jeff Lynne, Wood denies that he and Lynne ever had a real row, blaming it on press fabrication and insisting that "We never had a real row and we're still mates now." [3] [4] In fact, Wood claimed that he left the group because he foresaw a fallout between him and Lynne due to their increasing differences of opinion (which he felt were caused, indirectly, by the band's management) and wanted to avoid it. [2]
Also in the line-up were saxophone players Mike Burney and Nick Pentelow (the son of actor Arthur Pentelow). Prior to the recording of the band's second album, Introducing Eddy and the Falcons , McDowell left and was not replaced (he returned to ELO), and during the recording of the album Bill Hunt also departed and was replaced by Bob Brady (also from Mongrel). Prior to the 1975 recording of the band's final album, Main Street (released 2000), drummer Keith Smart departed the band and was not replaced.
The band made their live debut at The London Rock and Roll Show at Wembley Stadium on 5 August 1972. [5] Wizzard's second appearance was at the Reading Festival later that month. With Wood's distinctive warpaint make-up and colourful costume, [6] not to mention regular appearances on BBC Television's Top of the Pops in which members and friends, including Wood's girl friend, singer Ayshea Brough, variously appeared in pantomime horses, gorilla costumes or as roller-skating angels, often wielding custard pies for good measure, Wizzard were one of the most picturesque groups of the British glam rock era. In 1973 they scored their first Top 10 hit with "Ball Park Incident", which made No. 6 for three weeks from 13 January. [7] Their biggest hit was with their second single. "See My Baby Jive", Wood's faithful and affectionate tribute to the Phil Spector-generated 'Wall of Sound', made No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks. [8] It sold over one million copies globally, and was awarded gold disc status. [9] The follow-up, "Angel Fingers", also topped the charts for one week. [8] Wizzard's songs often included lengthy instrumental improvisations.
The band's 1973 Christmas single "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" became an annual fixture on British (and Irish) radio and television. It was reissued in 1981, and a 12" re-recording appeared in 1984. [8]
During 1973 Harvest Records released the Roy Wood solo album Boulders, which he had recorded and mixed years before forming Wizzard, and which produced a Top 20 hit in "Dear Elaine". Wood said he was bored with Boulders by the time of its release and he wanted to focus on his new music with Wizzard. [2] The subsequent heavy working schedule and strain led to health problems, and several cancelled or postponed live dates on a spring 1974 tour of the UK. [10] One highlight of 1974 was a return to the Top 10 with "Rock 'n' Roll Winter (Loony's Tune)". Release was delayed for several weeks until the end of March, so the words 'Sorry, the word 'Spring' wouldn't fit. R.W.' were added on the label after the title. Unusually for the time, this song and the B-side, "Dream of Unwin", were both recorded and released in mono. The song was dedicated to Wood's girlfriend at the time, Lynsey de Paul, who repaid the honour by recording a Wizzard-style song, "Ooh I Do", a few months later.
A tour of the US later that year failed to bring them any commercial success there, but after meeting Brian Wilson some members guested on a Beach Boys session, which resulted in the eventual release of the latter group's single "It's OK" in 1976. [10] According to Wood, the record label neglected to make a substantial push to make Wizzard a success in the U.S., preferring to focus promotion on England since the band were already very popular there. [2]
Wizzard was an expensive band to maintain, both because of the large line-up, in terms of recording costs, and Bill Hunt's propensity to smash the pianos of the venues they were playing at. Studio time was an even greater drain on the band's finances. According to Price in a radio interview, "When we finished recording 'Angel Fingers' it was rumoured that we had spent more time in the studio than Paul McCartney had with the whole of the Band on the Run album." Whether it was true or not, this meant that most of the record company's money was spent in studio time and that the members of the band had to rely on live touring work for their income. A couple of tours in the UK and one tour of the US were not enough to ensure regular wages for the band. One by one the band members found other, more lucrative, things to occupy their time. [11]
By autumn 1975 they had split, leaving a farewell single, "Rattlesnake Roll", which failed to chart, and a third album, Main Street , which their record label did not release as they deemed it insufficiently commercial. Wizzard had initially intended their second album to be a double, with one disc a set of rock and roll pastiches and the other disc jazz-rock. [2] The label heard the rock and roll set and decided to release that as a single album, which appeared in 1974 as Introducing Eddy & The Falcons . [10] Main Street, the jazz-rock set, languished in the vaults and was for some time presumed lost, but was finally released in 2000.
Following the band's split in 1975, Wood and Price formed the short-lived Wizzo Band, [6] after which Wood reverted to a solo career in addition to producing records for other acts, notably a 1979 Top 10 cover version of "Duke of Earl" for British doo-wop revivalists Darts.
On 13 November 2014, saxophonist Mike Burney died, aged 76, after a long battle with cancer. [12] [13] Hugh McDowell died on 6 November 2018 following a long illness, at the age of 65. [14] On 17 May 2022, bassist Rick Price died aged 77. [15]
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||||||||||||||
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UK [8] | AUS [16] | ||||||||||||||||
Wizzard Brew |
| 29 | 50 | ||||||||||||||
Introducing Eddy and the Falcons |
| 19 | — | ||||||||||||||
Main Street |
| — | — | ||||||||||||||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
Title | Album details |
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See My Baby Jive |
|
The Best of Roy Wood and Wizzard |
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Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||||||
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UK [8] | AUS [16] | IRL | |||||||||||||||
1972 | "Ball Park Incident" | 6 | 70 | 8 | non-album singles | ||||||||||||
1973 | "See My Baby Jive" [A] | 1 | 12 | 1 |
| ||||||||||||
"Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad)" [B] | 1 | 42 | 7 |
| |||||||||||||
"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" [C] | 4 | 52 [D] | 6 |
| |||||||||||||
1974 | "Rock 'n' Roll Winter (Loony's Tune)" | 6 | — | 13 | |||||||||||||
"This Is the Story of My Love (Baby)" | 34 | — | — | Introducing Eddy and the Falcons | |||||||||||||
"Are You Ready to Rock" | 8 | — | 10 | non-album singles | |||||||||||||
1975 | "Rattlesnake Roll" | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
1976 | "Indiana Rainbow" [E] | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
1981 | "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" (re-issue) | 41 | — | — | |||||||||||||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangements with futuristic iconography. After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. During their first run from 1970 to 1986, Lynne and Bevan were the group's only consistent members.
The Move were a British rock band formed in Birmingham in 1965. They scored nine top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of their career The Move were led by guitarist, singer and songwriter Roy Wood. He wrote all the group's UK singles and, from 1968, also sang lead vocals on many songs. Initially, the band had four main vocalists who divided the lead-vocal duties among themselves.
Roy Wood is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard.
ELO 2 is the second studio album by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released in 1973. In the US, the album was released as Electric Light Orchestra II. It was the band's last album to be released by the Harvest label, the last on which the band used the definite article The in their name, and the one that introduced their abbreviated name 'ELO'.
Jet Records was a British record label started by Don Arden in 1974, featuring musicians such as Lynsey de Paul, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Roy Wood, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Alan Price, Adrian Gurvitz, Riot, Magnum and Trickster.
Flashback is the second box set compilation by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released in November 2000 in the US and the following month in the UK.
Richard Tandy was an English musician. He was the full-time keyboardist in the band Electric Light Orchestra ("ELO"). His palette of keyboards was an important ingredient in the group's sound, especially on the albums A New World Record (1976), Out of the Blue (1977), Discovery (1979) and Time (1981). He collaborated musically with ELO frontman Jeff Lynne on many projects, among them songs for the Electric Dreams soundtrack, Lynne's solo album Armchair Theatre and Lynne-produced Dave Edmunds album Information.
Wizzo Band were an English jazz rock band formed by Roy Wood after Wizzard split in 1975, fulfilling his ambitions to create an ensemble that was more jazz-orientated than rock or pop. The line-up included former Wizzard and Move member Rick Price, alongside Bob Wilson (trombone), Billy Paul, Paul Robbins, Graham Gallery (bass), and Dave Donovan (drums).
A lot of people had been doing jazz-rock stuff. There had been jazz musicians getting into the rock field, like Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke, but it's very rare that you find a band doing it the other way around a rock and roll band getting into jazz, and it's quite interesting. The rhythm section is very heavy, almost Zeppelinish, the horns are very jazzy and the songs are very commercial, so it makes for quite an interesting combination.
Wizzard Brew is the debut album by rock group Wizzard, released in 1973 on EMI's Harvest label. It reached a peak of No. 29 in the UK Albums Chart. In the United States, it was released by United Artists Records as Wizzard's Brew but failed to chart there.
Introducing Eddy and the Falcons is the second album by the English rock band Wizzard. It peaked at No. 19 in the UK Albums Chart – ten places higher than its predecessor, Wizzard Brew. As with the previous Wizzard album, all songs were composed by Roy Wood.
Main Street, credited to Roy Wood & Wizzard, is the group's third album.
Mustard is the second solo album by English musician Roy Wood, released in December 1975 by Jet Records. The album was recorded at De Lane Lea Studios and Phonogram Studios, although a dispute at one of the studios delayed the release of the album. Produced and entirely performed by Wood, who also designed the album artwork, Mustard was a departure from his previous solo album Boulders (1973), with a more ambitious approach and denser, more layered production, again mixing a number of musical styles. Annie Haslam and Phil Everly contributed guest vocals to the album; Wood's influences on the record included the Andrews Sisters, the Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin.
"See My Baby Jive" is a 1973 song by the British glam rock band Wizzard.
"California Man" is a song by British rock and roll band The Move. It was written by the band's guitarist/vocalist Roy Wood, who has said he wrote it as a pastiche of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis.
"Brontosaurus" is a song by rock group the Move, written, sung and produced by Move guitarist Roy Wood. It reached number 7 in the UK Singles Chart during April 1970, and number 36 in Canada.
"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", sometimes written as "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day", is a Christmas song recorded by English glam rock band Wizzard. It was first released in December 1973 and, as with most Wizzard songs, was written and produced by the band's frontman Roy Wood—formerly of The Move and a founding member of Electric Light Orchestra. Despite the song's strong, long-lasting popularity, it has reached no higher than number four on the UK Singles Chart, a position it occupied for four consecutive weeks from December 1973 to January 1974. The song was beaten to the 1973 Christmas Number 1 spot by Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody", which remained at the top of the charts for five weeks, from December 1973 to January 1974.
Richard Gordon Price was an English bassist and singer who played with various Birmingham-based rock bands, most notably Sight and Sound, the Move (1969–1971), and Wizzard (1972–1975).
"Ball Park Incident" is a song by Roy Wood. A version, produced by Wood, was recorded in 1972 by his glam rock band Wizzard and released that November as their debut single, on the Harvest label. It was in the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart for ten weeks, and stood at its highest position of number six for three weeks in January 1973. The single also reached number one on the Dutch Top 40.
"Rock 'n' Roll Winter " was a song written by Roy Wood. It was released by the British rock band Wizzard, as their first single on the Warner Bros label in 1974. It was originally meant to be issued early in 1974 but the date was pushed back to 29 March 1974, before it was finally released on 19 April that year. Nevertheless, it sold well and reached number 6 on the UK Singles Chart, and number 13 on the Irish Singles Chart.