Roy Wood

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Roy Wood
Roy Wood in 1973
Roy Wood in 1973
Background information
Birth name Roy Adrian Wood
Born 8 November 1946
Origin England, Birmingham, England
Genre(s) Rock and Roll
Pop
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, England), is a songwriter, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist.

Contents

[edit] 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 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 Move's singer Carl Wayne, Wood was pushed into the front position. He acquired a wild image wearing some sort of Indian disguise. Since Move 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 realize his ambitions in separate projects.

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.

As of the late 1970s, Wood appeared less active in public, commercial success faded away, and his musical experiments did not always match the popular taste. However, he remained productive in his studio work 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.

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 due 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 [citation needed] 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.

Roy Wood is not to be confused with Ron Wood, guitarist with The Jeff Beck Group, The Faces and The Rolling Stones.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] 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)

[edit] Collaboration singles

  • "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

[edit] References

[edit] External links


See also: The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, Wizzard, Wizzo Band

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