Climax Blues Band

The Climax Blues Band (originally known as the Climax Chicago Blues Band) are a British blues rock band. The band was formed in Stafford, England in 1968 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).
 
In 1972, the group shortened its name to the Climax Blues Band due to pressure from the American band, Chicago Transit Authority. The band has released at least 17 albums and had a Top 10 hit in the UK with &Couldn't Get It Right&. That song and &I Love You& were American hits as well; &Couldn't Get It Right& reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977, and &I Love You& peaked at No. 12 in 1981.
 
Jones left the group in 1969, so Holt switched to bass. They switched to Harvest Records in 1970 and their records had a more rock-oriented feel. John Cuffley replaced Newsome in 1971. In 2006 George Newsome teamed up with Wolverhampton blues rock guitarist Tim Jenks. He has since recorded 2 albums with Jenks, &Tear Down the Walls& in 2008 a collection of original material by Jenks and more recently &Realms of Glory& a collection of both original and traditional Christmas songs. Newsome continues to drum with Jenks on regular basis around Wolverhampton's local pub blues rock scene. When Wood quit in 1972, the group decided to continue as a foursome and dropped &Chicago& from their name.
 
Albums issued in the 1970s include FM/Live (1974) , a double set recorded at a concert in New York, and studio albums Stamp Album (1975), and Gold Plated (1976), featuring the single &Couldn't Get It Right&. In the 1970s, their concerts in the U.S. were attended by up to 20,000 people. By 1981 the band was moving towards a pop-rock sound. Holt and Cuffley left in 1983.
 
Major League Productions (MLP) record label released an until then unknown vault recording of a 1976 live performance, Climax Blues Band/World Tour 1976.
 
When it came time to record 1983's Sample and Hold album on Virgin Records, Pete Haycock, Colin Cooper, George Glover,and Session rhythm section Dave Marquee and Henry Spinetti were holding down the fort. A follow-up album was in the works, but Cooper bowed out, citing personal reasons. Haycock went on to record several solo projects, first of which was an album entitled Total Climax, which was recorded by his band, Pete Haycock's Climax. Pete Haycock's Climax toured extensively in Europe, including Communist East Germany, as well as a well-received tour in Australia. After that, Pete was asked by his former Climax Blues Band manager, Miles Copeland, to record an instrumental album for the I.R.S. No Speak label entitled Guitar and Son, as well as the Night of the Guitars live album (from the tour of the same name) After that tour, Haycock teamed up with fellow guitarist Steve Hunter and former Climax Blues bandmate, Derek Holt, to record an album under the name, H Factor. He was later recruited by Bev Bevan as a member of Electric Light Orchestra Part II when they recorded and toured from 1990 onwards. He also started his film score career at this time by playing the lead on Hans Zimmer's score to Thelma and Louise, as well as performing on the Night Of The Guitars tours which also featured Derek Holt on bass, keys and occasional vocals.
 
The Holt penned &I Love You& was one of the Climax Blues Band's biggest hits. It can be found on the Climax Blues Band double album, 25 Years 1968-1993 which was released by the German record label Repertoire in 1993. &I Love You& still gets over 20,000 radio hits a year in the U.S. and has recently been included in Finn Taylor's 2002 film Cherish, and in Kevin Smith's 2008 film Zach and Miri Make a Porno. Holt released five solo albums - I Love You, After the Climax, Sunflowers, Hear and Now, Paradise Lost and Full Circle.
 
&Couldn't Get It Right& was covered by the Fun Lovin' Criminals on their album Mimosa. Holt revealed in an interview that the song was &about being on the road in America&.
 
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 lineup toured the album in the UK, Europe and America. The new lineup soon became established with Colin Cooper, George Glover, Lester Hunt, Roy Adams and Neil Simpson in the early 1990s, releasing the live album Blues from the Attic in 1993 and Big Blues in 2004.
 
Cooper died of cancer, aged 69, in July 2008. He is survived by his wife and two children. Cooper desired for the band to continue with his wishes, as the other musicians within the band had all been longserving; with George Glover serving since 1980, Roy Adams and Lester Hunt since 1985, and Neil Simpson since 1991, respectively. Cooper was originally replaced by singer, saxophone and harmonica player Johnny Pugh, who retired in 2012, and later by vocalist Graham Dee and saxophone player Chris Aldridge. The band still continues to perform with this latest lineup to the present day.
 
Haycock died on October 30, 2013, of a heart attack aged 62.