Stone the Crows
Encyclopedia
Stone the Crows were a blues
band
formed in Glasgow
in late 1969.
was introduced to Les Harvey
by his elder brother, Alex Harvey
. After playing together in the Kinning Park Ramblers, they rejoined in a band Power, later renamed Stone the Crows (after a British/Australian English exclamation of surprise or shock) by Led Zeppelin
's manager, Peter Grant. The band was co-managed by Grant and Mark London
. London was associated with Lulu
as the co-writer of her signature song
, "To Sir With Love" and was also married to Lulu's manager, Marion Massey
. London had also managed the predecessor band Cartoone
, which featured Les Harvey on guitar, and in which Peter Grant had a financial interest.
The band's first two album
s were recorded
by the above line-up, with Bell's vocals "reminiscent of Janis Joplin
".
and Steve Thompson. Dewar went on to have a successful career with Robin Trower as both bassist and lead singer. The death of Harvey (electrocuted by a live microphone
on stage at Swansea
's Top Rank Suite in May 1972) almost led to the breakup of the band. The band brought in ex-Thunderclap Newman
prodigy Jimmy McCulloch
as lead guitarist.
Stone the Crows broke up in June 1973. Bell recorded two albums
in the early 1970s, Queen of the Night and Suicide Sal and joined Rod Stewart
on Every Picture Tells a Story
. Meanwhile, McCulloch joined Paul McCartney's
group, Wings
, the following year in Nashville, Tennessee.
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...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
formed in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in late 1969.
History
The band were formed after Maggie BellMaggie Bell
Maggie Bell is a Scottish rock and blues-rock singer, regarded by some as Britain's answer to Janis Joplin.-Career:...
was introduced to Les Harvey
Leslie Harvey
Leslie Cameron "Les" Harvey was a guitarist in several Scottish bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s, most notably Stone the Crows....
by his elder brother, Alex Harvey
Alex Harvey (musician)
Alex Harvey was a Scottish rock musician. With The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, he built a reputation as an exciting live performer during the 1970s glam rock era.-Biography:...
. After playing together in the Kinning Park Ramblers, they rejoined in a band Power, later renamed Stone the Crows (after a British/Australian English exclamation of surprise or shock) by Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
's manager, Peter Grant. The band was co-managed by Grant and Mark London
Mark London
Mark London is a soundtrack composer, songwriter and producer. He is particularly notable as the co-writer of the song "To Sir With Love".-History:...
. London was associated with Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
as the co-writer of her signature song
Signature song
A signature song is the one song that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs...
, "To Sir With Love" and was also married to Lulu's manager, Marion Massey
Marion Massey
Marion Massey is most notable as one of the early female managers of music artists. In particular, Marion Massey is the person who discovered singer Lulu, at the age of fourteen, and who managed her for twenty-five years thereafter.-History:...
. London had also managed the predecessor band Cartoone
Cartoone
Cartoone were a Scottish band formed in 1967. Their debut album featured Jimmy Page as guest musician.-History:Cartoone were formed in 1967 from a band called The Chevlons. Cartoone toured all over Scotland in support of other acts such as The Tremeloes, The Merseybeats and The Hollies.In 1968,...
, which featured Les Harvey on guitar, and in which Peter Grant had a financial interest.
Original line-up
- Maggie BellMaggie BellMaggie Bell is a Scottish rock and blues-rock singer, regarded by some as Britain's answer to Janis Joplin.-Career:...
, vocalsSingingSinging 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...
(born Margaret Bell, 12 January 1945, MaryhillMaryhillMaryhill is an area of the City of Glasgow in Scotland. Maryhill is a former burgh. The population of Maryhill is about 52,000. Maryhill stretches over along Maryhill Road...
, Glasgow, StrathclydeStrathclyderight|thumb|the former Strathclyde regionStrathclyde was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created by the Local Government Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc Act 1994...
, ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
). - Les HarveyLeslie HarveyLeslie Cameron "Les" Harvey was a guitarist in several Scottish bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s, most notably Stone the Crows....
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
(born Leslie Harvey, 13 September 1944, GovanGovanGovan is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick....
, Glasgow — died 2 May 1972). - Colin AllenColin AllenColin Allen is an English blues drummer and songwriter.-Career:Allen took up drums at the age of 18, playing initially with local jazz musician in Dorset...
, drumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s (born 9 May 1938, BournemouthBournemouthBournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, DorsetDorsetDorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
) (ex-Zoot Money's Big Roll BandZoot Money's Big Roll BandZoot Money's Big Roll Band was a British rhythm and blues, soul and jazz group formed in England in early autumn 1961.-History:An early line-up had Zoot Money as vocalist and Al Kirtley on piano but in the band's best-known form Money himself played Hammond organ. Bassist/vocalist Paul Williams...
and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers) - James DewarJames Dewar (rock vocalist)James Dewar was a Scottish bassist and vocalist for the Robin Trower Band and Stone The Crows, the latter having its beginnings as the resident band at the legendary Burns Howff in Glasgow.-Biography:...
, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
(born James Dewer, 12 October 1942 Glasgow; died 16 May 2002). (Later with Robin TrowerRobin TrowerRobin Leonard Trower , known professionally as Robin Trower, is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum during the 1960s, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio.-Biography:...
) - John McGinnis, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
The band's first two album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s were recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
by the above line-up, with Bell's vocals "reminiscent of Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
".
Second line-up
McGinnis and Dewar left in 1971, to be replaced by Ronnie LeahyRonnie Leahy
Ronald 'Ronnie' Leahy is a keyboard player best known for his work with Jack Bruce, Jon Anderson, and Nazareth . He first gained recognition as keyboardist in the second line-up of Scottish band Stone the Crows. He also played in White Trash...
and Steve Thompson. Dewar went on to have a successful career with Robin Trower as both bassist and lead singer. The death of Harvey (electrocuted by a live microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
on stage at Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
's Top Rank Suite in May 1972) almost led to the breakup of the band. The band brought in ex-Thunderclap Newman
Thunderclap Newman
Thunderclap Newman were a British one-hit wonder band that Pete Townshend of The Who and Kit Lambert had formed circa December 1968 - January 1969 in a bid to showcase the talents of John "Speedy" Keen, Andy "Thunderclap" Newman and Jimmy McCulloch....
prodigy Jimmy McCulloch
Jimmy McCulloch
James 'Jimmy' McCulloch was a Scottish musician and songwriter, born in Dumbarton and raised in Clydebank and Cumbernauld, Scotland, who was best known for playing lead guitar in Paul McCartney's Wings from 1974 to 1977...
as lead guitarist.
Stone the Crows broke up in June 1973. Bell recorded two albums
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
in the early 1970s, Queen of the Night and Suicide Sal and joined Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
on Every Picture Tells a Story
Every Picture Tells a Story
Every Picture Tells a Story is the third album by Rod Stewart, released in the middle of 1971. It went to number one on both the UK and U.S. charts and finished third in the Pazz & Jop critics' poll for best album of 1971...
. Meanwhile, McCulloch joined Paul McCartney's
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
group, Wings
Wings (band)
Wings were a British-American rock group formed in 1971 by Paul McCartney, Denny Laine and Linda McCartney that remained active until 1981....
, the following year in Nashville, Tennessee.
Discography
- Stone the CrowsStone the Crows (album)-Personnel:Stone the Crows*Colin Allen – Drums, percussion*Maggie Bell – Vocals*Jimmy Dewar – Bass guitar, Vocals*Les Harvey – Acoustic, Electric Guitars*John McGinnis – Organ, Piano, KeyboardsAdditional personnel...
(1970) - Ode to John Law (1970)
- Teenage Licks (1971)
- Ontinuous Performance (1972) - UKUK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
Number 33
External links
- Stone the Crows biography from linernotes by Chris WelchChris WelchChris Welch is a music journalist, reviewer and critic with Melody Maker, famous during the 1960s and 1970s for reporting on the rise of such bands as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, If, Cream and Jeff Beck. During that time he also reported on the UK jazz scene.- Career...
at Alex Gitlin's website