Billy Ritchie (musician)
Encyclopedia
William Edward Ritchie is a British keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of The Satellites, The Premiers, 1-2-3, and Clouds
. He is generally acknowledged as being the first keyboard player in rock music to stand and take a leading role, thereby providing a model for others such as Keith Emerson
and Rick Wakeman
. He is also credited as being responsible for rewriting standard songs and arranging music in a style that later became fashionable as progressive rock
.
In 1964, a band called The Premiers, based in Edinburgh, whose members were Ian Ellis (vocals), James ‘Shammy’ Lafferty (rhythm guitar), Derek Stark (lead guitar), Bill Lawrence (bass), and Harry Hughes(drums), decided to recruit an organist to augment their sound, and Ritchie joined. The addition prompted more changes than was intended, and despite an early success in being recorded at Radio Luxembourg
in London
by Cyril Stapleton
, the band quickly fragmented. Derek Stark left because he felt that the organ had supplanted his role as lead musician; Bill Lawrence left following a dispute with Ian Ellis; James ‘Shammy’ Lafferty left because of family problems. The three remaining members, Ian Ellis, Harry Hughes, and Billy Ritchie decided to take the music in a radically new direction, and renamed the band 1-2-3.
1-2-3 was one of the earliest bands to play a form of inventive rock music that became a blueprint for what would later be called progressive rock
. The band's set consisted of standard pop and blues songs, but in Ritchie’s hands, these pieces were studiously reshaped and rewritten, to become, in essence, new. There was nothing remotely like it around. The set included early rewritten versions of songs by David Bowie
(I Dig Everything
) and Paul Simon
(America, The Sounds of Silence), both completely unknown at that time.
Some months after their debut at La Bamba club in Falkirk
, 1-2-3 decided that the band would have more chance of success in London
, where they arrived in February 1967. A ‘legendary’ residency at the Marquee club quickly followed, and the band were signed to Brian Epstein
and NEMS
management. Following Epsein’s death however, manager Robert Stigwood
failed to capitalise on the momentum of the Marquee performances, and the band left NEMS late in 1967.
1-2-3 was then signed to The Ellis-Wright Agency, which would soon be called Chrysalis
, and the most commercially successful part of the band’s career began, under the new name of Clouds
. Several major tours and three albums and several single releases followed, but real success proved elusive, and the band broke up in October 1971.
Clavinet
, which he mounted on stilts so he could stand and play, rather than sit as was the norm. Unfortunately, this arrangement caused much merriment, as the clavinet looked like a spider with its spindly legs. Bemused audience members would ask why Ritchie was standing at a table while the band played. When Ritchie joined The Premiers, the band prevailed upon him to buy a Vox
organ, much more de rigueur for the times, and this became his instrument of choice until supplanted by a Hammond
M102 in 1966 then a Hammond C3 in 1969.
An early feature of Ritchie’s playing was his innovative use of two hands playing solos in unison or harmony, which gave his sound a double strength. Most keyboard players of the early era, especially those using a single keyboard, tended to focus on the use of right hand, supplemented by chord stabs or supportive left-hand work. More often than not, keyboard player’s left hands would be in use mainly for changing drawbar sounds or settings rather than playing. In the case of Ritchie, the playing would consist of almost two right hands, each with equal strength and speed, resulting in an especially dynamic sound and approach that was difficult for anyone else to emulate or copy.
Ritchie was one of the first players to use the Hammond organ to create a dramatic effect when, often at the end of a particular song, he would throw the M102 to the stage floor, thereby causing the internal reverb unit to create an explosion of sound to shock the audience. During solos, by pushing the Hammond upwards and forwards with his right thigh, he would raise it at an angle, displaying the keyboards to the audience, tilting and moving the instrument as he played. However, these flashes of showmanship were limited to occasional rather than frequent displays. Ritchie was, in the main, a fairly introvert and undemonstrative player in terms of showmanship, and this left a gap for the concept to be taken to its logical conclusion some time later by the more extrovert Keith Emerson
, who, thanks to his supreme showmanship as well as his fine playing, would become, in the public mind at least, the epitome of a Rock organist.
and others, would Billy Ritchie be properly credited for the pioneering role he played in the development of electric keyboards in popular music.
Similarly belated credit was given to the pioneering role of 1-2-3 and Ritchie’s innovative arrangements. The band’s distinctive guitar-less organ-driven sound is now viewed as a definitive precursor to the progressive rock movement. Billy Ritchie was described as ‘a genius’.
, see Clouds Discography
.
1969 Cover of Scrapbook written by Billy Ritchie recorded by Clodagh Rogers on album Midnight Clodagh RCA SF8071
1969 Cover of Broken Puppet written by Billy Ritchie recorded by New World but unreleased
1981 Produced Jona Lewie
Rearranging the Deckchairs on the Titanic Stiff 131
1981 Cover of Song of the Sea written by Billy Ritchie recorded by Turbo on album You Girl CBS84117
2010 Cover of Mind of a Child written by Clouds
recorded by Rob Clarke & the Wooltones on album A Phase we're Going Through Fruits de Mer volume 11
Clouds (60s rock band)
Clouds were a 1960s Scottish rock band that disbanded in October 1971. The band consisted of Ian Ellis , Harry Hughes and Billy Ritchie .- Early days: The Premiers :...
. He is generally acknowledged as being the first keyboard player in rock music to stand and take a leading role, thereby providing a model for others such as Keith Emerson
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
and Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...
. He is also credited as being responsible for rewriting standard songs and arranging music in a style that later became fashionable as progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
.
Biography
Ritchie grew up in the Scottish village of Forth in Lanarkshire. He began playing harmonica at an early age, and when a neighbour threw out a piano, and Ritchie’s parents took it in, Ritchie, at the age of 8, began playing semi-seriously, but as an almost secret activity. In 1960, Ritchie’s friends, Johnny Moffat (vocals), Robert ‘Flam’ Fleming (guitar), William ‘Big Wull’ Ritchie(guitar, he is also Billy Ritchie’s cousin), Jim Stark (drums), and Duncan Blair (bass), formed a band called The Satellites. When asked what he would play, Ritchie decided to play electric organ, much to the bemusement of his friends. Organs were not in common use in guitar-orientated bands of that time.In 1964, a band called The Premiers, based in Edinburgh, whose members were Ian Ellis (vocals), James ‘Shammy’ Lafferty (rhythm guitar), Derek Stark (lead guitar), Bill Lawrence (bass), and Harry Hughes(drums), decided to recruit an organist to augment their sound, and Ritchie joined. The addition prompted more changes than was intended, and despite an early success in being recorded at Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg may refer to:*Radio Luxembourg , a Long Wave commercial radio station that began broadcasting from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in 1933...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
by Cyril Stapleton
Cyril Stapleton
Cyril Stapleton was an English violinist and jazz bandleader.Born in Mapperley, Nottingham, Stapleton began playing violin at age 7, and played on local radio at the age of 12. He performed on the BBC Radio often in his teenage years, and played in film orchestras accompanying silent films...
, the band quickly fragmented. Derek Stark left because he felt that the organ had supplanted his role as lead musician; Bill Lawrence left following a dispute with Ian Ellis; James ‘Shammy’ Lafferty left because of family problems. The three remaining members, Ian Ellis, Harry Hughes, and Billy Ritchie decided to take the music in a radically new direction, and renamed the band 1-2-3.
1-2-3 was one of the earliest bands to play a form of inventive rock music that became a blueprint for what would later be called progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
. The band's set consisted of standard pop and blues songs, but in Ritchie’s hands, these pieces were studiously reshaped and rewritten, to become, in essence, new. There was nothing remotely like it around. The set included early rewritten versions of songs by David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
(I Dig Everything
I Dig Everything
"I Dig Everything" is a single by David Bowie.Released in 1966, the track was originally demoed with Bowie's touring band, The Buzz, but Tony Hatch was unhappy with their efforts, and replaced them with session players. The song was performed in 1966-67 as a rewritten version by 1-2-3 , which David...
) and Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
(America, The Sounds of Silence), both completely unknown at that time.
Some months after their debut at La Bamba club in Falkirk
Falkirk
Falkirk is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies in the Forth Valley, almost midway between the two most populous cities of Scotland; north-west of Edinburgh and north-east of Glasgow....
, 1-2-3 decided that the band would have more chance of success in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where they arrived in February 1967. A ‘legendary’ residency at the Marquee club quickly followed, and the band were signed to Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
and NEMS
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
management. Following Epsein’s death however, manager Robert Stigwood
Robert Stigwood
Robert Stigwood is an impresario and entertainment entrepreneur who relocated to England in 1954...
failed to capitalise on the momentum of the Marquee performances, and the band left NEMS late in 1967.
1-2-3 was then signed to The Ellis-Wright Agency, which would soon be called Chrysalis
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...
, and the most commercially successful part of the band’s career began, under the new name of Clouds
Clouds (60s rock band)
Clouds were a 1960s Scottish rock band that disbanded in October 1971. The band consisted of Ian Ellis , Harry Hughes and Billy Ritchie .- Early days: The Premiers :...
. Several major tours and three albums and several single releases followed, but real success proved elusive, and the band broke up in October 1971.
Instrumentation and playing style
Ritchie’s first stage keyboard was a HohnerHohner
Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a company specialising in the manufacture of musical instruments. Founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner , Hohner is identified especially with harmonicas and accordions. The Hohner company has invented and produced many different styles, and most of the...
Clavinet
Clavinet
A Clavinet is an electrically amplified keyboard instrument manufactured by the Hohner company. It is essentially an electronically amplified clavichord, analogous to an electric guitar. Its distinctive bright staccato sound has appeared particularly in funk, disco, rock, and reggae songs.Various...
, which he mounted on stilts so he could stand and play, rather than sit as was the norm. Unfortunately, this arrangement caused much merriment, as the clavinet looked like a spider with its spindly legs. Bemused audience members would ask why Ritchie was standing at a table while the band played. When Ritchie joined The Premiers, the band prevailed upon him to buy a Vox
Vox (musical equipment)
Vox is a musical equipment manufacturer which is most famous for making the Vox AC30 guitar amplifier, the Vox Continental electric organ, and a series of innovative but commercially unsuccessful electric guitars and bass guitars...
organ, much more de rigueur for the times, and this became his instrument of choice until supplanted by a Hammond
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
M102 in 1966 then a Hammond C3 in 1969.
An early feature of Ritchie’s playing was his innovative use of two hands playing solos in unison or harmony, which gave his sound a double strength. Most keyboard players of the early era, especially those using a single keyboard, tended to focus on the use of right hand, supplemented by chord stabs or supportive left-hand work. More often than not, keyboard player’s left hands would be in use mainly for changing drawbar sounds or settings rather than playing. In the case of Ritchie, the playing would consist of almost two right hands, each with equal strength and speed, resulting in an especially dynamic sound and approach that was difficult for anyone else to emulate or copy.
Ritchie was one of the first players to use the Hammond organ to create a dramatic effect when, often at the end of a particular song, he would throw the M102 to the stage floor, thereby causing the internal reverb unit to create an explosion of sound to shock the audience. During solos, by pushing the Hammond upwards and forwards with his right thigh, he would raise it at an angle, displaying the keyboards to the audience, tilting and moving the instrument as he played. However, these flashes of showmanship were limited to occasional rather than frequent displays. Ritchie was, in the main, a fairly introvert and undemonstrative player in terms of showmanship, and this left a gap for the concept to be taken to its logical conclusion some time later by the more extrovert Keith Emerson
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
, who, thanks to his supreme showmanship as well as his fine playing, would become, in the public mind at least, the epitome of a Rock organist.
Legacy
Over subsequent years, because of lack of public perception, Ritchie has at times been accused of being influenced by those, who, in reality, were influenced by him. Only some years later, thanks to accolades from David BowieDavid Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and others, would Billy Ritchie be properly credited for the pioneering role he played in the development of electric keyboards in popular music.
Similarly belated credit was given to the pioneering role of 1-2-3 and Ritchie’s innovative arrangements. The band’s distinctive guitar-less organ-driven sound is now viewed as a definitive precursor to the progressive rock movement. Billy Ritchie was described as ‘a genius’.
Discography
For Ritchie's work with CloudsClouds (60s rock band)
Clouds were a 1960s Scottish rock band that disbanded in October 1971. The band consisted of Ian Ellis , Harry Hughes and Billy Ritchie .- Early days: The Premiers :...
, see Clouds Discography
Clouds (60s rock band)
Clouds were a 1960s Scottish rock band that disbanded in October 1971. The band consisted of Ian Ellis , Harry Hughes and Billy Ritchie .- Early days: The Premiers :...
.
1969 Cover of Scrapbook written by Billy Ritchie recorded by Clodagh Rogers on album Midnight Clodagh RCA SF8071
1969 Cover of Broken Puppet written by Billy Ritchie recorded by New World but unreleased
1981 Produced Jona Lewie
Jona Lewie
Jona Lewie is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.-Career:Jona Lewie joined his first group, The Johnston City Jazz Band, while still at school in 1963, and by 1968 had become a blues & boogie singer and piano player...
Rearranging the Deckchairs on the Titanic Stiff 131
1981 Cover of Song of the Sea written by Billy Ritchie recorded by Turbo on album You Girl CBS84117
2010 Cover of Mind of a Child written by Clouds
Clouds (60s rock band)
Clouds were a 1960s Scottish rock band that disbanded in October 1971. The band consisted of Ian Ellis , Harry Hughes and Billy Ritchie .- Early days: The Premiers :...
recorded by Rob Clarke & the Wooltones on album A Phase we're Going Through Fruits de Mer volume 11