Rock and Roll

Emerson, Lake and Palmer were one of rock and roll's earliest "supergroups" who were formed from members of three already successful bands, The Nice, King Crimson and Atomic Rooster.
The Nice had enjoyed several minor hits and were beginning to build a following in the United States, gaining attention for their wild stage show that was a showcase for keyboard wizard, Keith Emerson. King Crimson had risen to fame after their debut album "The Court Of The Crimson King" had caught on with underground rock lovers. The amazingly tight LP had brought the band from obscurity to a major concert attraction in the UK, Europe and America in just a few months.

In the summer and fall of 1969, the two groups shared the bill at two major concerts in England. Inner turmoil had already begun to tear King Crimson apart and Keith Emerson was feeling that he'd taken The Nice as far as it would go. During a sound check, King Crimson's bassist, Greg Lake began to jam with Keith Emerson. After some discussion, the pair came away with the feeling that it was time to move on from their current bands.

The final live performance for the original King Crimson took place on December 16th and the band returned home. The group still had contractual obligations and were desperately trying to re-build King Crimson with Greg Lake still at the forefront. Although he had already made up his mind to leave, Lake did stick around long enough to finish a second album, using studio musicians to fill in for band members who had already split. The album, called "In The Wake Of Poseidon" was released in March of 1970 and featured Lake singing on just three tracks. King Crimson made one final appearance on the BBC TV show, "Top Of The Pops" with Greg Lake on an acoustic guitar, later the same month.

Two weeks later, Britain's New Musical Express ran the headline: "Keith Emerson and Greg Lake to form new group", while the pair were busy holding auditions for a third member. Several drummers were considered, spoken to, or auditioned; among them were Coliseum's Jon Hiseman, Cream's Ginger Baker, as well as Mitch Mitchell from The Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was Cream's manager, Robert Stigwood, who suggested Carl Palmer, a 20 year old drummer who had worked with Atomic Rooster and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. After a pair of auditions, Palmer was hired.

Although Emerson wanted to keep the project a keyboard-bass-drums trio, there were serious talks about adding Jimi Hendrix to the line up. A jam session was set up with Hendrix for late summer, 1970, but Jimi died before it came together. The rumours of the potential band with Hendrix did leak out to the British music press, who began running articles saying the band would be called "Hendrix, Emerson, Lake & Palmer" or HELP for short.

Before they even had an album out, the band began playing shows. Although most ELP fans believe their first gig was at the massive three day long Isle Of Wight Pop Music Festival on August 29th., the band has since revealed that their first gig actually took place six days earlier at a 3000 seat hall in Plymouth Guildhall. According to Lake, the band was paid $500. The show that ELP played at the Isle of Wight was spectacular. Keith Emerson played the Hammond organ, piano, and his custom Moog synthesizer. Since their first album had not yet been released, the audience was not familiar with their music, but responded with thunderous applause, nonetheless.

Although some critics, such as Melody Maker's Chris Welch, praised the band's early shows and its debut album, not everyone in the media was a fan. John Peel, a popular British DJ called ELP's performance at the Isle of Wight, "a tragic waste of time, talent and electricity."

The trio spent much of the summer of 1970 rehearsing and writing material for its debut album after signing with Island Records for Europe, and an Atlantic subsidiary, Cotillion Records, for the US. Recording commenced in July, 1970, with Lake producing. The resulting album, simply entitled "Emerson, Lake & Palmer", remains one of the most popular rock LPs of all time. It would be the album's final track, an acoustic / folk ballad called " Lucky Man" - penned solely by Lake - that would launch the group, bring Greg Lake's voice to the forefront of the pop music scene, and give the band its biggest hit.

In early 1971, ELP began work on its next studio album. The LP, called simply "Tarkus", was completed in February of 1971 after just six days of recording. The LP was released in July and went straight to #1 in England and #9 in the US. A single," Stones of Years"/"A Time and Place", was released in the US, but failed to chart.

As a follow-up album, the band wanted to release its live recording of "Pictures At An Exhibition". However, the band's US label, Atlantic refused to release it. Manager Stewart young remembers: "The label told the band it was a piece of shit and would damage their careers. We felt otherwise, and had released it in Europe, where it was a huge hit. The British import started to filter to US shops and eventually sold 50,000 copies.The next thing I know the label is on the phone telling me they'd like to put the album out. I told them to go to hell. Three days later the President of the label flew to London to try to get us to change our mind. Eventually, we put the deal together and the album came out. Ultimately, it was a multi-platinum hit." The disc charted at #3 in England and in the US, it reached #10 on Billboard's Hot 200 chart.

The band toured England in the fall of 1971 and the US and Canada in the spring of '72, before releasing their third studio album "Trilogy" in July. Originally, the album cover was to have featured a work by Salvador Dali, but his demand for £50,000 killed the idea by the band's label. The LP reached #2 in England and #5 in the US. A single, "From the Beginning" was released stateside and managed to climb to #39. Several other cuts, especially "Hoedown", received considerable airplay on US radio stations.

By 1972, ELP was performing about 180 concerts a year, mainly in the US. Melody Maker Magazine voted the band "Best Group" in both British and International sections. By autumn, there were a few changes for ELP. One of them was the introduction of King Crimson's Peter Sinfield as a writing partner with Greg Lake. The other change was the start of ELP's own record company, Manticore Records, to ensure more control artistically. Manticore also began signing other acts to release. Among them: Peter Sinfield, PFM, Stray Dog, Keith Christmas, Junior Hanson, and Banco. Manticore Records was in full operation by April, 1973.

ELP returned to the road in March of 1973, touring Europe for three months and started recording songs for their next studio album, which would be called "Brain Salad Surgery". The LP was released in both the US and England in November 1973 and went on to reach #2 on the charts in England and #11 in the US. ELP toured the US from December 1973 to February 1974 to promote the album. By this time, the band's stage act had grown to immense size. They traveled with 25 roadies and 35 tons of equipment, including a revolving drum kit, Quadrophonic sound, 32 sound cabinets, a grand piano that rose 30 feet into the air and flipped end over end, and a special lighting system. ELP returned to the US to play additional shows through March and April.

On April 6, ELP played the biggest show in its career, when the band co-headlined at the California Jam. The festival was held at the Ontario Motor Speedway with several other established acts including Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Black Oak Arkansas, Earth Wind & Fire and The Eagles. It was attended by 350,000 people. The show was filmed for television and later broadcast by ABC, marking the first time US viewers had seen ELP perform on television. Today, this video remains one of the most in-demand titles for collectors, especially because of the memorable shot where Keith Emerson was spun around and around, 40 feet in the air while playing his 9 foot Grand piano.

In late April of 1974, ELP returned to England to play a sold out show at Wembley Arena. Then, it was back to the US for another tour that would last until the end of the summer. In August, the triple album "Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends...Ladies and Gentlemen, Emerson, Lake & Palmer" was released. As with the other ELP recordings, fans eagerly embraced it. The live album hit #4 on the US charts and went platinum. It remains one of only a few triple albums to ever hit the US Top 10.

After the '74 tour, the band took a long vacation. Keith took up flying and scuba diving. Greg and his wife gave birth to a daughter. Carl and his then-girlfriend moved to a house in Tenerife on the Canary Islands near Spain and he took up karate. When they had rested, they all began work on solo albums. It had been decided that each member would do a solo album and the band would not work together for three years.

Keith Emerson started planning a piano concerto for his solo recording. It would eventually become his most ambitious work. Lake re-grouped with Peter Sinfield and started writing acoustic songs to be recorded with a full orchestra. Among the songs put to disc during this period were " C'est LaVie," and "Watching Over You". Carl Palmer began recording a percussion concerto, a collection of big band recordings made with Harry South and a series of individual tracks that included "LA '74" with Eagles guitarist, Joe Walsh.

With the exception of few solo singles ( Greg Lake's " I Believe In Father Christmas" and Emerson's "Honky Tonk Blues" ) ELP was completely out of the public eye in 1975 and most of 1976. Keith spent more time completing his piano concerto, and started to record it with a full symphony. It was an experience he would later say was among the most difficult of his career.

Said Emerson: "When I recorded the Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic, to them it was just a joke. It was ridiculous. The brass section at the back would be reading porney magazines and the conductor wouldn't even see it. They couldn't give a damn about this new piece of music. So I was pretty stubborn. I booked studio time in London for six sessions. I said, ' You're not taking me seriously and I'm going to book 'em until they get it right.'"

Later in 1976, Emerson was approached to write the music for a Norman Jewison film entitled, The Dogs Of War. The film score never happened (although the movie did come out in 1981), but out of it came "Pirates", which featured lyrics by Greg Lake and Pete Sinfield. "Greg and Pete worked like mad -- the longest they've ever worked on one piece of music" said Emerson. "They literally delved into the history of pirates, and that's why the lyrics turned out so well. The idea of pirates was very good for my music because my music is often very adventurous, much like an adventure novel. It demanded to have visuals with it." It would also mark the beginning of the project that eventually became Works Vol. I and Vol. II. In a unique double LP concept, Works Vol. I featured three solo sides of material and one side of ELP recordings.

As ambitious as the Works Volume I album was, it was no match for what the band had up its sleeve for the road show. Fulfilling a life long dream of Keith Emerson's, ELP launched its seventh US Tour with a full symphony orchestra and choir consisting of 75 union musicians. They were taken from a pool of over 1,500 musicians auditioned by the band in six cities around the world.

In 1977, Emerson, Lake & Palmer was touring with an entourage of over 130 people, and a daily payroll cost of $20,000 per day. The tour ran into further complications when union regulations prevented the band from more than three shows a week or travel over 250 miles per day. These regulations made routing nearly impossible and made it financially impossible for the band to make any money with anything less than a sell out wherever the tour went. Before the start of the tour, the band knew it would take a lot just to break even, but after two weeks, they were on track to lose over $3 million dollars. The truth was painfully evident: the orchestra would have to be dropped. A week later, it was and the band continued on the tour as a trio from the Fall of 1977 through March 6th, 1978, when the band played its final show in New Haven, Connecticut. A collection of additional tracks from the Works sessions was released after the tour as Works Vol. II.

By 1978, the band wanted to take a few years off to pursue solo projects, but Atlantic Records wouldn't let the ELP out of its contract. The label demanded a new studio album, as required in its agreement. Emerson, Lake and Palmer were forced to head to Compass Point Studios in The Bahamas to record what would become an album called "Love Beach", a disjointed, uninspired collection of songs released in mid 1979, It also marked the end of ELP for 12 years.

Emerson, Lake and Palmer announced their break-up to the press in December of 1979. After reported record sales of over 30 million records, the members now looked to their own plans for the future. Keith Emerson was already busy in Rome composing and recording music for the movie "Inferno". Greg was writing songs for his solo album and Carl formed the group PM. All three members would see varying degrees of artistic and commercial success as solo artists during the 1980s. Emerson did several film scores ( including Sylvester Stallone's Nighthawks ) and a few solo albums, including 1982's Honky ( a hit in Italy). Greg Lake put a rock'n'roll band together with ex-Thin Lizzy axeman Gary Moore. He returned to playing guitar and released two well received solo albums, "Greg Lake" ( 1981) and "Manoevres" (1983) and had hit singles with both records, and did a US / UK tour in 1981 with the solo band.

Although Carl Palmer's PM only did one record and never toured, he would emerge in 1982 with Asia, a progressive pop rock super group that also featured Yes's Steve Howe ( on guitar), King Crimson's John Wetton (on bass and vocals) and ex-Buggles keyboardist, Geoff Downes. With the advent of MTV and the help of the new medium of music videos, Asia would soon hit #1 with hits like "In The Heat Of The Moment", " Sole Survivor" and " Only Time Will Tell." During almost six years with Asia, Palmer would see a multi platinum success and sold out concerts throughout the world. In 1983, Palmer and Lake would work together again when Lake agreed to sing and play bass with Asia for a series of shows in Japan and a worldwide MTV broadcast. He was recruited when John Wetton had temporarily left the line-up.

During the summer of 1985, Keith received a call from Jim Lewis, a vice-president with Polydor Records, about a possible ELP reunion. He eventually did meet with Greg Lake in London to discuss a joint project. The two hadn't seen much of each other since the break-up, staying in touch only whenever ELP business matters needed attention. Palmer was still contracted to Asia and was unable to participate, but gave his blessing to Emerson and Lake to work together again.

After auditioning several drummers, Keith thought of his friend Cozy Powell, then a drummer on tour in South America with Whitesnake. Powell had also belonged to the Jeff Beck Group and Rainbow and had released some solo material. Once Powell started playing with Keith and Greg, they decided to formally become a trio.

Emerson Lake & Powell released their debut LP in 1986 and began rehearsing in England for a US tour. Before heading out on a tour with Asia, Carl Palmer dropped by to wish them luck. The tour began in El Paso, Texas on August 15 and continued until October 30th. Emerson, Lake & Powell, although unable to attain the success of ELP, would make one of the best albums of both Emerson and Lake's career. Rockers like "Touch & Go" and misty-eyed ballads such as "Lay Down Your Guns" firmly re-established them again with progressive rock audiences. High anticipation came when the trio announced a North American tour in 1986, which would end up being the group's only trek across the US. "That was a good band, and a strong album, but the tour was difficult," says Lake. Shortly after the tour ended, so did Emerson, Lake and Powell. Sadly, Cozy Powell was killed in a car accident near Bristol, England on April 5th, 1998 at the age of 50.

The following year, 1987, Keith got a hold of Carl and asked him to sit in on a session. Carl explained that he had left Asia and was planning a new band with a Californian named Robert Berry. Keith had some new songs and was working at the time with a songwriter named Sue Schriffin. Emerson, Palmer and Berry got together, recorded a few demos, and formed the band '3'. They were signed by A&R wizard John Kalodner to Geffen Records and released one studio album called "To The Power Of 3". In the spring of 1988, they embarked on a tour of US theaters and clubs. The tour was a success, but the record failed to ignite sales, and eventually the trio disbanded to work on solo projects.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s all three members kept busy with a myriad of projects. Emerson cut more tracks for a solo album; Lake recorded several songs with Asia's Geoff Downes for a band project that was eventually shelved and Palmer returned to the Asia line up for a series of tours.

It was in 1991 that all three were contacted by record maven Phil Carson to see about working together once again as ELP. Initially, the idea was for the band to write and record music for a film project that Carson's Victory Records was involved with. The film project never materialized, but a new ELP album, "Black Moon" did.

In 1992, the band returned to concert stages and fans as well as the rock press embraced the reunion. "Black Moon" was spearheaded by the insightful production of Mark Mancina, a true fan of the band and an accomplished musician himself. (Mancina has since gone on to do film score work for several Hollywood blockbusters, including The Lion King, Twister, and Con Air. ) "Black Moon" firmly returned ELP to the contemporary music scene and magically bridged the traditional ELP sound with a vibrant, modern sonic landscape.

The band toured extensively throughout 1992 and 1993, and moved to LA in late '93 to record the follow up LP. It was during this time that Keith Emerson began having problems with nerves in his right arm. The health issues would force him to have an operation on his ulner nerve, and would eventually affect the outcome of 1994's "In The Hot Seat", which had to be recorded in separate segments and pieced together in the studio. It was also plagued by uneven material. Emerson's health problems also forced the band to suspend touring. The members took two years off, and returned in 1996 for a triumphant US tour with old friends, Jethro Tull.

The ELP/Tull tour was among the best received, - and best attended - concert series of that summer. And although, all three members have continued to develop projects outside the band, the warm reception from the fans and the press which ELP has received since it returned to touring solidified the group once again.

In 1997 and 1998, ELP continued to tour, but have now split to continue their solo careers.

Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer enjoyed nearly three decades as a premier Progressive Rock band and their music has remained powerful and thought-provoking throughout.

Eric Patrick Clapton was born on March 30, 1945, in Surrey, England. He was the illegitimate son of Patricia Molly Clapton and Edward Fryer, a Canadian soldier stationed in England. After W.W.II, Fryer returned to his wife in Canada, Patricia left Eric in the custody of his grandparents, Rose and Jack Clapp. (The surname Clapton is from Rose's first husband, Reginald Cecil Clapton.) Patricia moved to Germany where she eventually married another Canadian soldier, Frank McDonald.

Eric, who was called "Ricky" by his grandparents, was a quiet and polite child, an above average student with an aptitude for art. He was raised believing that his grandparents were his parents and his mother was his sister, to shield him the stigma that illegitimacy carried with it. The truth was eventually revealed to him at the age of nine by his grandmother. Later, when Eric would visit his mother, they would still pretend to be brother and sister.

As an youngster, Clapton's first exposure to rock and roll was a Jerry Lee Lewis appearance on British television. Lewis' explosive performance, coupled with young Eric's emerging love of the blues and American R&B, inspired him to learn to play guitar. Eric enrolled at the Kingston College of Art, but was soon expelled for playing guitar in class.

At seventeen, he took a job as a manual labourer and spent most of his free time playing the electric guitar he persuaded his grandparents to purchase for him. In time, Clapton joined a number of British blues bands, including the Roosters and Casey Jones, and eventually rose to prominence as a member of the Yardbirds, whose line-up would eventually include all three British guitar heroes of the sixties: Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. The group became a sensation for their blues-tinged rock, as did the budding guitar virtuoso Clapton, who earned the nickname "Slowhand" because his forceful string-bending often resulted in broken guitar strings, which he would replace onstage while the crowd engaged in a slow hand-clapping.

Despite the popularity of the band's first two albums, "Five Live Yardbirds" and "For Your Love", Clapton left in 1965 because he felt the band was veering away from blues in favour of a more commercially viable pop focus. He joined John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and his talent blossomed at an accelerated rate. He quickly became the defining musical force of the group. "Clapton is God" was the hue and cry of a fanatic following that propelled the band's Bluesbreakers album to No. 6 on the English pop charts.

Clapton parted company with the Bluesbreakers in mid-1966 to form his own band, "Cream", with bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. With this line-up, Clapton sought "to start a revolution in musical thought, to change the world, to upset people and to shock them." His vision was more than met as Cream quickly became the pre-eminent rock trio of the late sixties. On the strength of their first three albums (Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears, and Wheels of Fire) and extensive touring, the band achieved a level of international fame approaching that of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles and Clapton became even more almighty in the minds of his fans. Drug abuse and inflated egos eventually led to a split of the band and to a farewell tour in 1968 as well as the release of the Goodbye album in 1969.

Early in 1969, Clapton united with Baker, bassist Rick Grech, and Steve Winwood, formerly of The Spencer Davis Group and Traffic, to record one album as Blind Faith, rock's first "supergroup." In support of their self-titled album, Blind Faith set out on a sold-out, twenty-four-city American tour, the stress of which resulted in the demise of the band less than a year after its inception.

Clapton kept busy for a time as an occasional guest player with Delaney and Bonnie, the husband-and-wife team that had been Blind Faith's opening act during their tour. A disappointing live album and the single, "Never Ending Love" were released in 1970, as was Clapton's self-titled solo debut. That album featured three other musicians--bassist Carl Radle, keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, and drummer Jim Gordon, from Delaney's band, and yielded a modest pop hit with Clapton's version of J.J. Cale's "After Midnight." The four eventually called themselves Derek and the Dominos, and recorded Clapton's double album "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs", with the added contribution of slide guitarist Duane Allman. An anguished lament of unrequited love, "Layla" was inspired by a difficult love triangle between Clapton, his close friend George Harrison, and Harrison's wife Pattie (she and Clapton eventually married in 1979 and divorced in 1988). Unfortunately, personal struggles and career pressure on the guitarist led to a major heroin addiction. Derek and the Dominos crumbled during the course of an American tour and an aborted attempt to record a second album.

Clapton withdrew from the spotlight in the early seventies, wallowing in his addiction and then struggling to conquer it. Following the advice of the Who's Pete Townsend, he underwent a controversial but effective electro-acupuncture treatment and was fully rehabilitated. He rebounded creatively with a role in the film version of Townsend's rock opera, Tommy, and with a string of albums, including the reggae-influenced 461 Ocean Boulevard, which yielded a chart-topping single cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff." Some critics and fans were disappointed by Clapton's post-rehab efforts, feeling that he had abandoned his former guitar-heavy approach in favour of a more laid-back and vocal-conscious one.

"Just One Night", Clapton's 1980 live album, reminded fans just exactly who their guitar hero was, but unfortunately, this period marked Clapton's slide into a serious drinking problem that eventually hospitalized him for a time in 1981. He experienced a creative resurgence after overcoming his alcoholism, releasing a string of consistently successful albums - "Another Ticket" (1981), "Money and Cigarettes" (1983), "Behind the Sun" (1985), "August" (1986), "Journeyman" (1989) and turning his personal life around. Though some say Clapton never regained the musical heights of his heroin days, his legend nevertheless continued to grow. That he was a paragon of rock became more than apparent when Polygram released a rich four-CD retrospective of his career, "Crossroads", in 1988; the set scored Grammy awards for Best Historical Album and Best Liner Notes.

In late 1990, the fates delivered Clapton a terrible blow when guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and Clapton road crew members Colin Smythe and Nigel Browne - all close friends of Clapton's - were killed in a helicopter crash. A few months later, he was dealt another cruel blow when Conor, his son by Italian model Lori Del Santo, fell forty-nine stories from Del Santo's Manhattan high-rise apartment to his death. Clapton channelled his shattering grief into writing the heart-wrenching 1992 Grammy-winning tribute to his son, "Tears in Heaven." (Clapton received a total of six Grammys that year for the single and for the album "Unplugged".)

In 1994, he began once again to play traditional blues; the album, "From the Cradle", marked a return to raw blues standards and it hit with critics and fans. Clapton showed no signs of slowing down: in February of 1997 he picked up Record of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Grammys for "Change the World," from the soundtrack of the John Travolta movie "Phenomenon". The year 2000 saw Clapton's "My Father's Eyes" climb the charts, to score another hit for the legendary guitarist.

In his 40-year-plus career, Eric Clapton has rolled up plenty of honors - numerous hits, 18 Grammys and becoming the first musician inducted three times into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Prior to forming Dr. Hook And The Medicine Show, George Cummings, Ray Sawyer and Billy Francis were members of an earlier group called "The Chocolate Papers", along with Bobby Dimingus, Popeye Phillips and Jimmy "Wolf Cub" Allen. After touring clubs in Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina, the six settled in Biloxi to open up their own club called "Chez Joey". The group played as the house band for a while, then went to Chicago, where after a brief stint, Cummings left to form a new band in the New York area.

The year was 1968 when Cummings called his old friend Ray Sawyer to come to New Jersey and join him. This new group began performing using no name at all, until one night, a club owner asked George what name to use when advertising the band. Right on the spot, George came up with the name, "Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show", in reference to Ray's eye patch making him look like Captain Hook from 'Peter Pan' (Ray had lost his eye in an auto accident) and since drugs were all the rage at the time, he tacked on "The Medicine Show".

They had been performing together for about a month or two, when Dennis Locorriere came in one night and sat in on guitar. By the end of the evening, he was asked to join the group. As time passed, George brought two other former 'Chocolate Papers' members in, Popeye Phillips on drums and then Bill Francis to play keyboards. Popeye didn't stay long and moved back to Mobile. He was replaced by Jay David.

Their first big professional break came in 1970 when record producer Ron Haffkine heard a tape of the band's music and asked them to perform the Shel Silverstein song 'Last Morning' in the Dustin Hoffman film, 'Who Is Harry Kellerman And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?' Silverstein, a Playboy magazine cartoonist, had composed the film's musical score and he was subsequently to play an important role in Dr. Hook's story, writing many of their earliest successes. Ron Haffkine meanwhile went on to produce all of Dr. Hook's recordings.

The band signed their first record deal with CBS/Columbia and began the recording of their debut album in New York City, completing all but the track that was to become their first hit single.

After being invited to play at the CBS Records convention in Los Angeles, the band moved to California, settling in San Francisco. It was there that Shel Silverstein played the newly written 'Sylvia's Mother' for them and they decided to include it on their self titled album, released later that year. Initial reaction was encouraging and CBS issued the track, 'Sylvia's Mother' as a single.

The quirky, offbeat love song got off to a slow start when it was first released, managing only to make the lower end of the U.S. pop charts before leaving without a trace. Undeterred, Clive Davis, then boss of CBS Records, was determined to salvage 'Sylvia's Mother'.

Davis believed the record could be a hit and put CBS' full promotion efforts behind the single. It was re-released in July 1972, and this time, 'Sylvia's Mother' climbed all the way to number one, selling over a million copies. Shortly after, the record repeated its American success in Britain where it topped out at number two, spending 13 weeks in the British Top 50 - a considerable achievement for an act that had been unheard of only 12 months before.

Later that year, again with Haffkine producing and with two new members, bassist Jance Garfat and guitarist Rik Elswit, the band recorded their second album, irreverently titled 'Sloppy Seconds'. From this album, their second single, 'Carry Me, Carrie', was chosen. Although the single was a moderate success, reaching the higher end of the Billboard Top 100, the album just missed the Top 40. The band's chart fortunes were restored however, with the release of 'The Cover Of The Rolling Stone', another wry Shel Silverstein composition, again taken from 'Sloppy Seconds'. The single was a huge success in the U.S., climbing to number two and securing the band their very own cover of Rolling Stone magazine in March 1973.

'The Cover Of The Rolling Stone' gave Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show their second million-selling single. Ironically however, the record ran into problems in Great Britain when it was released. The BBC steadfastly refused to play it on either TV or radio because the song's title was deemed an advertisement for the famous American rock music magazine. CBS Records in London attempted to sidestep the airplay problem by setting up special phone lines whereby fans could call up and hear the record. There was even an 'alternative' version in which a group of BBC radio disc jockeys were heard to chant 'Radio Times' over the offending words. Despite these efforts, the single failed to make any impact on the British charts.

The follow ups to 'Rolling Stone' failed to match the group's earlier success. 'Ballad Of Lucy Jordan', (later successfully revived by Marianne Faithful), 'Roland The Roadie And Gertrude The Groupie', and 'Life Ain't Easy', failed to make any significant impact. The singles struggled to make the Billboard Hot 100 while the sales of 'Belly Up', their third album, were equally disappointing (the album peaked at number 141 in the Billboard chart).

It was at this point that the band's long-time co-manager, Bobby Heller, entered the picture. Heller, had been a life-long friend and confidant of Haffkine's and had followed the band's career with interest. He received a phone call from Haffkine asking him to help sort out major band and label problems, together with other complicated business and legal issues. This resulted in Heller flying out to San Francisco. The group had become disillusioned with CBS Records following the sudden departure of Clive Davis, the man who had been their main champion there and they were anxious to obtain a contract release.

After Davis left, three executives attempted to run CBS by committee. They shuffled Heller from one office to another and ignored his plea to support the band financially or to let them out of their contract. The band's foreign sales success was one of the main reasons for CBS' reluctance to grant them a release. Eventually, Heller, with the right legal support, got the band out of the deal by commencing a successful bankruptcy proceeding. The group was now free to deal with another label.

It was decided to shorten their name to just 'Dr. Hook', and a change of fortune arrived when Capitol Records showed interest in the band. Dr. Hook were subsequently offered a one-year deal with the company and thus began the most successful and musically creative period of their career.

Their recording comeback was slow in taking off however. Their first album for Capitol Records, appropriately title 'Bankrupt', reached only number 141 in the Billboard chart, while 'The Millionaire', their debut single for the label, peaked at number 55. Undaunted, and with a new drummer, John Wolters, the band finished 1975 with a U.K. tour which helped to lay the foundations for their future British success.

In early 1976, Capitol Records released a second single from the album, a revival of the Sam Cooke classic 'Only Sixteen'. There had been some resistance within the record company over the release of a cover version as a new single, but Bobby Heller, together with Bruce Wendell, the head of promotion at Capitol at the time, were the persuasive factors. Eventually, the song was released and entered the American charts in early February, just as their contract was about to run out.

Capitol increased its promotional efforts on 'Only Sixteen' and the single eventually enjoyed a 14 week chart run in the American Top 40 and reached number 6, giving the group their third million selling single. Capitol's investment in the band was further rewarded when Dr. Hook secured another major hit with the title song from the 'A Little Bit More' album, recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, which was now the group's new home base. George Cummings however, decided to leave the Hook line-up mid-way through the recording of the album.

'A Little Bit More' reached number 11 in the U.S., and spent 14 weeks in the Top 40, and also stayed for four weeks at number 2 in the U.K. charts, only being prevented from reaching number one by the Elton John and Kiki Dee duet, 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart'. Meanwhile their album was also a huge hit this side of the Atlantic, climbing to number 5 and spending a total of 42 weeks in the charts (in the U.S. the album reached number 62 in the Billboard chart).

Underlining their country music influences, the band appeared at a benefit performance at the world-famous Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and followed it with more recording sessions in the country music capital. 1976 ended on a triumphant note when another single 'If Not You', penned by Dennis Locorriere and also taken from the album 'A Little Bit More', reached number 5 in the U.K. (spending ten weeks in the Top 50), but stalled at number 55 in the Billboard Hot 100.

The first half of 1977 saw Dr. Hook back in the studios, recording their next album 'Makin' Love And Music', (while Ray Sawyer simultaneously made his own solo album of country songs in the next-door studio). In late summer, they released a new single from the album, a revamp of 'Walk Right In', originally a number one for The Rooftop Singers in 1963, which failed miserably. The album however, went top 40, and a follow up single scored a U.K. Top 20 single in April 1978 with Shel Silverstein's 'More Like The Movies'. In October 1978 their latest U.S. single 'Sharing The Night Together', taken from their forthcoming Capitol album 'Pleasure And Pain', started climbing the Billboard Hot 100.

'Sharing The Night Together' climbed to number 6 on the American chart, spent a total of four months in the Top 40, and sold over a million copies. The release of the 'Pleasure And Pain' album in early 1979 also became a milestone for the band as it became their first gold album, selling over 500,000 copies in the U.S. alone. Tragically, guitarist Rik Elswit became seriously ill with cancer and had to leave the line-up for a year. Rik's place in the band was taken over by Bob 'Willard' Henke, who remained within the ranks for some time after Elswit's return.

Dr Hook's next U.S. single, 'All The Time In The World', also from the 'Pleasure And Pain' album, could only reach number 54 in February 1979 but was followed by what was to ultimately become Dr. Hook's biggest-selling single, 'When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman', composed by Even Stevens. The single received little response in England, but following its international success, was re-issued by Capitol/EMI and Dennis Locorriere and Ray Sawyer flew to London to help promote it. Locorriere and Sawyer's efforts paid dividends. 'When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman' broke into the British Top 50 in September 1979 and within two months had sailed gracefully to the top chart position, where it remained firmly planted for three weeks. It racked up a 17 week chart residency in the Top 50 and back in the U.S., the song was also a huge hit for the band, climbing to number 6 on the Billboard chart and spending 16 weeks in the Top 40.

The new decade began with yet another transatlantic smash hit for Dr. Hook. 'Better Love Next Time' reached number 12 in the U.S. (with 14 weeks in the Top 40), and made number 8 in the U.K. Three months later, in March 1980, the band released the infectious 'Sexy Eyes' and it notched up yet another Top 10 hit for them, reaching number 5 in the U.S. charts (with a total of 15 weeks in the Billboard Top 40) and providing Dr. Hook with their sixth million selling single. In the U.K. 'Sexy Eyes' fared equally as well, soaring to number 4 and spending nine weeks in the Top 50. The single was featured on their latest album, 'Sometimes You Win', which reached number 14 in the U.K., and spent 44 weeks in the Top 50, earning the band another gold disc.

Ironically, 'Sexy Eyes' proved to be the last major hit single for Dr. Hook. There were two more minor hit singles during 1980 - 'Years From Now', which peaked at number 47 in the charts (and made number 51 in the Billboard Hot 100), followed by 'Sharing The Night Together' which stalled at number 43 in Britain, two years after its original American chart success. By now the band's contract with Capitol Records was about to expire and they decided to part company with the label.

Now with new guitarist Rod Smarr replacing Henke, Dr. Hook signed a new recording deal which saw their music released on Casablanca in the U.S., and on the Mercury label in the U.K. Their first album under the new arrangement, 'Rising', barely made the Billboard albums chart and did only marginally better in the U.K. where it reached number 44. Their single however, 'Girls Can Get It', made the Top 40 on both sides of the Atlantic.

There were several other minor American hits including 'Loveline' and 'Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk' (which reached number 25 in the U.S.) taken from their final studio album, 'Players In The Dark', but increased tensions and musical differences were taking their toll. Ray Sawyer left the band in 1982 to pursue a solo career and Dennis Locorriere carried on with the band, doing two more sell out tours of the U.K and Australia - including " Dr. Hook's One and Only Farewell Tour" before disbanding the group in 1985.

Since then, Sawyer has returned to live performance with a new band, however, Locorriere's company owns all the rights to the Dr. Hook name and licenses it to Sawyer.

Dennis Locorriere has toured the U.K. several times in recent years, performing his own successful solo gigs, as well as helping to promote the best-selling anthology album, 'Completely Hooked'. During 1996, he completed work on his solo album, 'Running With Scissors', which he produced with former Dr. Hook member Rod Smarr, and released in Autumn '96.

In 1995, Sawyer released an album containing re-recordings of many of the classic Dr. Hook hits under the name 'Dr. Hook featuring Ray Sawyer', a group which consists of no original members other than Sawyer himself.