For other uses, see Roy Wood (disambiguation).
| Roy Wood |
Roy
Wood in 1973
|
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Roy Adrian Wood |
| Born |
8 November 1946 |
| Origin |
 , Birmingham,
Warwickshire,
England |
| Genre(s) |
Rock music
Pop
Progressive Rock
Glam
rock |
| Occupation(s) |
Singer, Songwriter,
Multi-instrumentalist |
| Instrument(s) |
Guitar
Vocals
Piano
Cello
Synthesizer
Bass
Guitar
Drums
Bagpipes
woodwind |
| Years active |
1964–present |
Associated
acts |
The Move
Electric Light Orchestra
Wizzard
Wizzo
Band |
| Website |
http://www.roywood.co.uk/ |
Roy Adrian Wood (sometimes erroneously
thought to be born as Ulysses Adrian Wood, from an offhand interview
comment in the 1960s),
born 8
November 1946
in Birmingham,
Warwickshire,
England,
is a songwriter,
guitarist
and multi-instrumentalist.
|
Contents
- 1 Career
- 2 Discography
- 2.1 Albums
- 2.2 Singles
- 2.3 Collaboration
singles
- 3 References
- 4 External
links
|
Career
Born in Kitts Green, Birmingham, he was
particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The
Move, Electric Light Orchestra
and Wizzard.
As a songwriter, he contributed a huge number of hits
to the repertoire of these groups. Wood was not only known for
playing guitar, but also many other instruments, both in the studio
and on the stage. On some of his albums he has played
every instrument himself.
His first group in Birmingham in the early 1960s was Gerry
Levene and the Avengers. Then he went on with Mike Sheridan and
the Nightriders (the band later to become The
Idle Race, in which his musical partner Jeff
Lynne made his first steps). From this, and a variety of
other Birmingham-based groups, the most talented musicians formed The
Move, and Wood became their musical leader. The Move quickly
entered the charts, and were famous for spectacular stage shows. After
the departure of The Move's singer Carl Wayne, Wood was pushed into the
front position. He acquired a wild image wearing some sort of Indian
disguise. Since The Move's members could not agree on the musical
direction, and perhaps also because of their weird stage shows, the
musical potential of the group was underestimated. Wood therefore
developed plans to realise his ambitions in separate projects.
The Move are also notable because their track "Flowers in the
Rain" was the first track to be played on Radio 1 when it was launched
in 1967.
He loved sound experiments, and complex arrangements, and was
in this respect one of the most progressive musicians of his time. He
was a proponent of combining rock'n'roll music with other styles,
such as classical music, or the big band
sound. In his bands, string and brass players were integrated members.
When The Move was still on tour, he founded, together with his band
colleagues Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan,
the Electric Light Orchestra
(ELO), which was later led to big commercial success by Lynne. ELO
broadened the basis of a rock band by adding a string section.
ELO's early live performances were chaotic, and after
increasing musical and personal differences with Lynne, Wood left and
formed a new group, Wizzard, which assembled cellists,
brass players and a bigger rhythm section, with several drummers and percussionists.
In parallel, he also released several solo albums, exploring further
musical directions. His 1973 album, Boulders,
was an almost entirely solo effort, right down to the sleeve artwork. A
second solo album Mustard
(1975), including contributions by Phil Everly and Annie
Haslam, was less successful.
The line-up of albums was always fascinating, because of the
large number of instruments Wood, and his band members, were playing.
Wood himself is mentioned as singer as well as player of guitars, bass
guitar, sitar,
cello, double
bass, saxophones,
clarinet,
trombone,
tuba, recorders, oboe, French
horn, banjo,
mandolin,
bassoon,
drums, percussion,
vibraphone,
bagpipes
and keyboards.
By the late 1970s,
Wood was appearing less in public; commercial success faded away, and
his musical experiments did not always match popular taste, but he
remained productive in the studio as musician, producer
and songwriter. He was a big Elvis fan, but he never succeeded in
getting 'The King' to adopt one of his compositions. However, he was
untiring as a producer for other acts, most successfully doo-wop
revivalists Darts. In 1976, Wood recorded
Beatles
cover songs "Lovely Rita" and "Polythene
Pam" for the ill-fated musical documentary All This and World War II.
In 1977 he formed the Wizzo Band, a jazz-rock ensemble, whose
only live performance was a BBC simultaneous TV and radio broadcast in stereo, and who
split early the following year, after cancelling a nationwide tour.
There is an initiative to release the Sight and Sound Wizzo Band
concert along with a remastered CD of the Wizzo album, and a petition
exists at the Roy Wood website.
In the early 1980s he released a few singles under his own
name and also as The Helicopters, and played some live dates under this
name. The release of one of these singles, "Aerial Pictures", backed
with "Airborne", was cancelled owing to the lack of chart success for
its predecessors, but both sides appeared for the first time in 2006 on
a compilation CD, Roy Wood - The Wizzard!. "Aerial
Pictures", using the original backing track, subsequently became a solo
single for former Move vocalist Carl Wayne.
Wood also made a one-off rock'n'roll medley single
with Phil
Lynott, Chas Hodges and John Coughlan, credited to The Rockers,
"We Are The Boys", which made the Top 100 in late 1983, and played a
leading role in the Birmingham Heartbeat children's charity concert, on
15 March 1986. As well as designing the logo, Wood stole the show
in a line-up which also included the Electric Light Orchestra and the Moody
Blues.
After an extended period of hibernation, following the release
of the album Starting Up
(1987), a cover version of the Len Barry hit "1-2-3", and a guest vocal
appearance on one track on Rick Wakeman's Time
Machine album, he went on the road with 'Roy Wood's Army'.
Rumours of a new live album, and an album of new studio work,
provisionally called "Electric Age", did not materialise. He is also
believed to have recorded a couple of tracks with Jeff Lynne around
this time, which likewise never saw the light of day.
Altogether he had more than 20 singles in the UK Top 40
under various guises, including several number one hits. His most
regularly performed and broadcast oldie is the seasonal Wizzard single
"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday". In 1995 he released a new live
version as the 'Roy Wood Big Band', which charted at No. 59, and in
2000 he joined forces with Mike Batt and The
Wombles, for a re-recording of the song and the Wombles' hit "Wombling
Merry Christmas", which reached No. 22.
Most recently, he has formed 'Roy Wood's Rock and Roll Band'
for occasional live dates and TV performances in the UK.
Fans
of Wood are a loyal bunch, and in 2007 a group of them launched the
website Release Roy! lobbying Warner
Brothers Records to release two of Wood's 1970s albums (Super
Active Wizzo and On The Road Again) that
have never been released on CD before.
Roy Wood is not to be confused with Ron Wood,
guitarist with The Jeff Beck Group, The
Faces and The Rolling Stones.
Discography
Albums
- Boulders
(1973) - No. 15
- The London Bo Diddley
Sessions (1973) - with Roy Wood playing bass.
- Mustard
(1975)
- On The Road Again (1979) - not released
in the UK
- Starting Up
(1987)
- Super Active Wizzo (2007) - Wounded Bird
Records CD release.
Singles
- "When Gran'ma Plays the Banjo" (1972)
- "Dear Elaine" (1973) - No. 18
- "Forever" (1973) - No. 8
- "Goin' Down The Road" (1974) - No. 13
- "Oh What A Shame" (1975) - No. 13
- "Look Thru' The Eyes Of a Fool" (1975)
- "Any Old Time Will Do" (1976)
- "Keep Your Hands On The Wheel" (1978)
- "(We're) On The Road Again" (1979)
- "Rock City" - Helicopters (1980)
- "Sing Out The Old, Ring In The New" (1980)
- "Green Glass Windows" - Roy Wood Helicopters (1981)
- "Down To Zero" (1981)
- "It's Not Easy" (1982)
- "O.T.T." (1982)
- "We Are The Boys (Who Make All The Noise)" - The Rockers
(1983)
- "Under Fire" (1985)
- "Sing Out The Old, Ring In The New" - new recording (1985)
- "Raining In The City" (1986)
- "1-2-3" (1987)
Collaboration singles
- "Dance Around the Maypole" -
Acid Gallery (1969)
- "I Never Believed In Love" - Annie Haslam and Roy Wood
(1977)
- "Waterloo" (1986) - Doctor
& The Medics Featuring Roy Wood (1986) - No. 45
- "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" - Roy Wood Big Band
(1995) - No. 59
- "I Wish It Could Be A Wombling Merry Christmas Everyday" -
Wombles With Roy Wood (2000) - No. 22
References
- Guinness Book
of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN
0-85112-190-X
- Guinness Book of British Hit Albums - 7th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-619-7
External links
| The Move |
| Members:
Roy Wood
| Carl
Wayne | Bev
Bevan | Jeff
Lynne | Trevor Burton | Ace Kefford | Rick Price |
| Discography |
| Studio albums:
Move |
Looking On |
Message From the Country |
| Live albums:
Something Else From The
Move | Shazam |
| Singles:
"Night
of Fear" | "I Can Hear the Grass Grow"
| "Flowers in the Rain" |
"Wild
Tiger Woman" | "Blackberry
Way" | "Curly" | "Brontosaurus" |
"When Alice Comes
Back to the Farm! | "Tonight"
| "Chinatown" | "California
Man" | "Do Ya" |
| v • d • e Electric
Light Orchestra
|
Founding members: Jeff Lynne • Roy Wood •
Bev Bevan
Other members in Electric
Light Orchestra
Discography
Studio albums: The Electric
Light Orchestra/No Answer • ELO 2
• On
the Third Day • Eldorado
• Face the Music
• A
New World Record • Out
of the Blue • Discovery
• Xanadu
• Time
• Secret
Messages • Balance of Power
• Zoom
Live albums: The
Night the Light Went On (In Long Beach) •
Live at Winterland '76
• Live
at Wembley '78 • Live at
the BBC
Compilation
albums: Showdown
• Olé ELO
• The
Light Shines On • The Light Shines On Vol 2
• ELO's
Greatest Hits • ELO's Greatest Hits Vol. 2
• Strange
Magic • Flashback
• The Essential
Electric Light Orchestra • All
Over the World
|
