Graham Bell (singer)
Encyclopedia
Graham Thomas Bell was an English
pop
and rock
singer
.
prior to marriage after which she was heavily involved in local music and dance. Graham made a solo single in 1966, and a solo album in 1972 with Tim Hinkley
, Mel Collins
and Ian Wallace
. He was a member of Skip Bifferty
(later Heavy Jelly), and Every Which Way, a band formed by Brian Davison
formerly of the The Nice
. Musical style was jazzy progressive rock
with guitar from John Hedley
(who was later part of Last Exit
with Sting) playing call and response with Bell's blues
shout vocals.
Bell joined his old mates from Skip Bifferty to form Bell & Arc in July 1971, with John Turnbull, Mick Gallagher, Bud Beadle, Kenny Craddock
, Steve Gregory, Tom Duffy and Alan White.
. He then appeared in Tommy
. After this it was reported that Pete Townshend
produced an album for him but it never saw the light of day. He was featured on the front page of Sounds music paper in the late 1970s as a "the man most likely to" but sadly his profile was affected by the rise of punk
and the New Wave
. Bell then moved to America where he toured with Long John Baldry
among others, before returning to his native North East England in the mid 1980s. He also lived for a while in Cumbria
before finally heading for London again and cropping up in Snowy White
's Blues Agency in 1989.
He also played on Carol Grimes
' Warm Blood in 1974, with Tommy Eyre
, Jess Roden
, John 'Rabbit' Bundrick
and
Henry Lowther
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
.
Early career
Bell's father Jimmy, who died in 2010, was a well-known local singer, and his late mother, Leonora Rogers, was in show businessShow business
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....
prior to marriage after which she was heavily involved in local music and dance. Graham made a solo single in 1966, and a solo album in 1972 with Tim Hinkley
Tim Hinkley
Tim Hinkley is an English singer-songwriter, keyboardist and record producer. Hinkley started playing in youth club bands in the early 1960s, including The Copains, Boys, Freeman Five. During this time he turned down an offer to join The Konrads which featured Davy Jones, who later changed his...
, Mel Collins
Mel Collins
Mel Collins is a British saxophonist and flautist and session musician.He has worked in a wide variety of contexts ranging from R&B and blues rock to jazz, but is perhaps known for his work in progressive rock, as with King Crimson, Camel and the Alan Parsons Project.-Career:Collins has worked...
and Ian Wallace
Ian Wallace (drummer)
Ian Russell Wallace was a rock and jazz drummer, most visible as a member of progressive rock band, King Crimson from 1971 to 1972; but known best in the musical community with his contributions as a session musician on his drum kit.-Early years:Wallace formed his first band, The Jaguars, at...
. He was a member of Skip Bifferty
Skip Bifferty
Skip Bifferty was an English psychedelic rock band formed in early 1966. The band featured future members of Ian Dury and The Blockheads.-History:...
(later Heavy Jelly), and Every Which Way, a band formed by Brian Davison
Brian Davison (drummer)
Brian Davison , nicknamed "Blinky", was a British drummer, best known for his work in The Nice. He was born in Leicester and died in Horns Cross, Devon....
formerly of the The Nice
The Nice
The Nice were an English progressive rock band from the 1960s, known for their blend of rock, jazz and classical music. Their debut album, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack was released in 1967 to immediate acclaim. It is often considered the first progressive rock album...
. Musical style was jazzy 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...
with guitar from John Hedley
John Hedley
John Hedley is a guitar player in the North East of England. He came to local prominence playing with Brian Davison, the Newcastle Big Band and the jazz rock group Last Exit...
(who was later part of Last Exit
Last Exit (British band)
Last Exit was a British jazz fusion band formed in Newcastle upon Tyne England in 1974, and is best remembered as the group Sting was in before finding stardom with The Police. The band name came from the book Last Exit to Brooklyn...
with Sting) playing call and response with Bell's blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
shout vocals.
Bell joined his old mates from Skip Bifferty to form Bell & Arc in July 1971, with John Turnbull, Mick Gallagher, Bud Beadle, Kenny Craddock
Kenny Craddock
Kenny Craddock was an instrumentalist, composer and producer. Throughout his career he worked with artists including Ringo Starr, Ginger Baker, Billy Bragg, Gerry Rafferty and Alan White...
, Steve Gregory, Tom Duffy and Alan White.
1970s and America
Bell was tempted away as a solo artist to record an album with Bob Johnson who produced Bob DylanBob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. He then appeared in Tommy
Tommy (rock opera)
Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was...
. After this it was reported that Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
produced an album for him but it never saw the light of day. He was featured on the front page of Sounds music paper in the late 1970s as a "the man most likely to" but sadly his profile was affected by the rise of punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and the New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
. Bell then moved to America where he toured with Long John Baldry
Long John Baldry
John William "Long John" Baldry was an English and Canadian blues singer and a voice actor. He sang with many British musicians, with Rod Stewart and Elton John appearing in bands led by Baldry in the 1960s. He enjoyed pop success in the UK where Let the Heartaches Begin reached No...
among others, before returning to his native North East England in the mid 1980s. He also lived for a while in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
before finally heading for London again and cropping up in Snowy White
Snowy White
Snowy White is an English guitarist, known for having played with Thin Lizzy and with Pink Floyd and, more recently, for Roger Waters'...
's Blues Agency in 1989.
He also played on Carol Grimes
Carol Grimes
Carol Grimes is a smooth jazz and world music singer.Grimes came to prominence in 1969 as a member of Delivery, associated with the Canterbury Scene. During the 1970s she performed regularly on the London blues circuit with her band The London Boogie Band...
' Warm Blood in 1974, with Tommy Eyre
Tommy Eyre
Tommy Eyre was a session keyboardist from Sheffield, England, who appeared on records by Joe Cocker, John Martyn, Alex Harvey, Greg Lake, Michael Schenker, Gary Moore, B.B. King, John Mayall, Tracy Chapman and Wham!...
, Jess Roden
Jess Roden
Jess Roden is an English rock singer and guitarist.-Biography:Roden's first band was The Raiders followed by The Shakedown Sound which also included the guitarist, Kevyn Gammond, and keyboard player August Eadon ....
, John 'Rabbit' Bundrick
John Bundrick
John Douglas "Rabbit" Bundrick is an American rock keyboardist, pianist and organist. He is best known for his work with The Who and associations with others including Eric Burdon, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Roger Waters, Free and Crawler. Bundrick is noted as the principal musician for the cult...
and
Henry Lowther
Henry Lowther (musician)
Henry Lowther is an English jazz trumpeter.Lowther's first experience was on cornet in a Salvation Army band. He studied violin briefly at the Royal Academy of Music but returned to trumpet by 1960 though he sometimes played violin professionally...
.