| Climax Blues Band | |
| Alias: | The Climax Chicago Blues Band (1968–1970), Climax Chicago (1971–1972) |
| Origin: | Stafford, England |
| Genre: | Blues rock, soft rock |
| Years Active: | 1967–present |
| Label: | Harvest/EMI Sire/Warner Bros. Records Virgin Records Major League Productions |
| Current Members: | George Glover Roy Adams Lester Hunt Neil Simpson Chris Aldridge Graham Dee |
| Past Members: | Colin Cooper Pete Haycock Derek Holt George Newsome Arthur Wood Richard Jones Anton Farmer Peter Filleul John Cuffley Nicky Hopkins Dave Marquee Henry Spinetti John "Rhino" Edwards Jeff Rich Roger Inniss Johnny Pugh Alice Waterston |
Climax Blues Band (originally known as The Climax Chicago Blues Band) are a British blues rock band. They have released at least 19 albums. "Couldn't Get It Right" reached No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977. "I Love You" peaked on the Billboard chart at No. 12 in 1981.
The band were formed in Stafford, Staffordshire, England, in 1967 by vocalist and harmonica player Colin Cooper (1939–2008), guitarist and vocalist Pete Haycock (1951–2013), guitarist Derek Holt (b. 1949), bassist and keyboardist Richard Jones (b. 1949), drummer George Newsome (b. 1947), and keyboardist Arthur Wood (1929–2005).
Jones left the group in 1969, and Holt began playing bass.[1] The band switched labels to Harvest Records in 1970 and subsequent records had a more rock-oriented feel.[2] John Cuffley replaced Newsome in 1971.
In 1972 the group shortened their name to Climax Blues Band.
Albums issued in the 1970s include FM/Live (1973), a double set recorded at a concert in New York,[3] and the studio albums Sense of Direction (1974), Stamp Album (1975) and Gold Plated (1976), featuring the hit single "Couldn't Get It Right". In the 1970s, the band's concerts in the US were attended by up to 20,000 people.[4] By 1981 the band was moving towards a pop-rock sound. Holt and Cuffley left in 1983.
A previously unknown recording of a live performance was released as Climax Blues Band/World Tour 1976 by the Major League Productions (MLP) record label.
The album Sample and Hold was recorded for Virgin Records in 1983 by Haycock, Cooper, and George Glover, with a rhythm section composed of the session musicians Dave Marquee and Henry Spinetti.[5] A follow-up album was in the works, but Cooper bowed out, citing personal reasons.
Haycock went on to record several solo projects, the first of which was the album Total Climax, with his band, Pete Haycock's Climax; this band toured extensively in Europe, including Communist East Germany, and conducted a well-received tour in Australia. Haycock was later asked by his former Climax Blues Band manager, Miles Copeland, to record an instrumental album, Guitar and Son, and the live album Night of the Guitars (from the tour of the same name) for the I.R.S. No Speak label.
After that tour, Haycock teamed up with the guitarist Steve Hunter and former Climax Blues bandmate Derek Holt to record the album H Factor. He was later recruited by Bev Bevan to become a member of Electric Light Orchestra Part II and recorded and toured with that group from 1990 onwards. He also started his film score career at this time, playing the lead on Hans Zimmer's score to Thelma and Louise. He also performed on the Night of the Guitars tours, which included Holt on bass, keyboards and occasional vocals.
Holt wrote "I Love You", one of the Climax Blues Band's biggest hits. It is included on the Climax Blues Band double album 25 Years 1968–1993, released by the German label Repertoire in 1993. "I Love You" still gets over 20,000 radio plays a year in the US, and was used in Finn Taylor's 2002 film Cherish and in Kevin Smith's 2008 film Zach and Miri make a Porno. In 1983, Holt joined drummer Brendan Day and Nektar guitarist Roye Albrighton to record an album under the name Grand Alliance for the A&M label.
In 1985, Cooper and Glover recruited guitarist Lester Hunt, drummer Roy Adams, and original member Derek Holt to record the Climax Blues Band album Drastic Steps, and this line-up toured in support of the album in the UK, Europe, and America.[6] [4] Neil Simpson replaced Derek Holt in the early 1990s, releasing the live album Blues from the Attic in 1993 and Big Blues in 2004.[7] [8]
Colin Cooper died of cancer on 3 July 2008, aged 68.[4] [9] He was replaced by singer and saxophone and harmonica player Johnny Pugh, who retired in 2012, and was replaced in turn by vocalist Graham Dee and saxophone player Chris Aldridge. Pete Haycock died on 30 October 2013, at age 62.[3]
As of 2019, the band continued to tour without any remaining original members.[10]
| 1968–1969 | 1969–1970 | 1970–1973 | 1973–1975 | |||||
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| 1975–1977 | 1977–1978 | 1978–1979 | 1979–1980 | |||||
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| 1980–1983 | 1983 | 1983–1985 | 1985 | |||||
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| 1985–1991 | 1991–2008 | 2008–2012 | 2012–present | |||||
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Colors = id:voc value:red legend:Vocals id:ww value:gray(0.5) legend:Wind_instruments id:g value:green legend:Guitars id:key value:purple legend:Keyboards id:b value:blue legend:Bass id:dr value:orange legend:Drums id:alb value:black legend:Studio_releases
LineData = layer:back at:10/08/1969 at:01/10/1969 at:01/01/1970 at:01/01/1971 at:01/01/1972 at:01/01/1974 at:01/01/1975 at:01/01/1976 at:01/01/1977 at:01/01/1979 at:01/01/1980 at:01/01/1981 at:01/01/1983 at:01/01/1988 at:01/04/2003 at:05/01/2019
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| Year | Title | Chart positions | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [11] | CAN | US | UK [12] | |||||||
| 1969 | The Climax Chicago Blues Band | |||||||||
| Plays On | ||||||||||
| 1970 | A Lot of Bottle | |||||||||
| 1971 | Tightly Knit | |||||||||
| 1972 | Rich Man | |||||||||
| 1973 | FM/Live | |||||||||
| 1974 | Sense of Direction | |||||||||
| 1975 | Stamp Album | |||||||||
| 1976 | Gold Plated | |||||||||
| 1978 | Shine On | |||||||||
| 1979 | Real to Reel | |||||||||
| 1980 | Flying the Flag | |||||||||
| 1981 | Lucky for Some | |||||||||
| 1983 | Sample and Hold | |||||||||
| 1988 | Drastic Steps | |||||||||
| 1993 | Blues from the Attic | |||||||||
| 1994 | 25 Years 1968–1993 | |||||||||
| 2004 | Big Blues | |||||||||
| 2011 | Climax Blues Band World Tour 1976 | |||||||||
| 2014 | Security Alert: The Live Bootleg | |||||||||
| 2018 | Tempus Fugit 4-track EP: Album Sampler | |||||||||
| 2019 | Hands of Time | |||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||
| Year | Title | Chart positions | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS | CAN | CAN AC | US [13] | US AC [14] | UK [15] | |||||
| 1969 | "Like Uncle Charlie" | |||||||||
| 1971 | "Cubano Chant" | |||||||||
| "Reap What I've Sowed" | ||||||||||
| "Towards the Sun" | ||||||||||
| 1972 | "Mole on the Dole" | |||||||||
| 1973 | "Shake Your Love" | |||||||||
| 1974 | "Sense of Direction" | |||||||||
| 1975 | "Using the Power" | |||||||||
| 1976 | "Couldn't Get It Right" | |||||||||
| 1978 | "Makin' Love" | |||||||||
| "Mistress Moonshine" | ||||||||||
| 1979 | "Children of the Night Time" | |||||||||
| 1980 | "I Love You" | |||||||||
| "Gotta Have More Love" | ||||||||||
| 1981 | "Darlin'" | |||||||||
| 1982 | "Friends in High Places" | |||||||||
| 1983 | "Listen to the Night" | |||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||