Spencer Davis Group
Encyclopedia : S : SP : SPE : Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group was a mid 1960s British rock band, founded by Spencer Davis (born 17 July, 1939 in Swansea, Wales).
Career
The group's first professional recording was a cover version of "Dimples", but they came to success at the end of 1965 with "Somebody Help Me", the group's first number one single. In 1966 they followed this with "When I Come Home" and "Keep On Running". For the German market the group released "Det war in Schöneberg,im Monat Mai"/"Mädel ruck ruck ruck an meiner grünen Seite" (traditional songs from early Berlin) as a tribute single for that audience, because Spencer Davis had studied in West Berlin in the early 1960s. By the end of 1966 and beginning of 1967 the group released two more massive hits: "Gimme Some Lovin'" (which was re-released in a live, nine minute long version by Traffic in 1971); and "I'm a Man" (January 1967). These tracks proved to be their two most well-known successes, especially in their biggest market, the U.S.Behind the scenes, their record company tried to put together a supergroup around the talents of the very young Steve Winwood. Steve (vocals), and his brother Muff Winwood (bass guitar) both left, with Steve forming Traffic. In a so-called joint venture, the movie soundtrack "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" featured both bands.
Traffic took off in May 1967 with "Paper Sun". Despite the Winwoods' departure, Spencer Davis continued on and released more singles, but they were only minor hits, such as "Time Seller" in July 1967, although the B-side, called "Don't Want You No More" was given some airplay.
This was followed by "Mr. Second Class" in late 1967 which was heavily played on Radio Caroline (at that time one of the two remaining radio ships off the British coast) and—as their last minor hit—"After Tea" in 1968. The song was released at the same time by the German band The Rattles, and provided competition which led finally to a temporary stop of all activities of the band. However, Spencer Davis never gave up. He produced during the late 1970s and early 1980s some commercially unsuccessful jazz-oriented albums.
In their heyday, the group consisted of Steve Winwood on vocals; Steve's brother Muff Winwood played bass; Pete York handled the drums; plus founder, lead guitarist and co-singer, Spencer Davis. Their main producer was the late Jimmy Miller.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.