Neil Murray (British musician)

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Neil was born Philip Neil Murray on 27 August 1950 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Originally a drummer, Neil formed his first band with school friends in 1967 (Slap Happy and the Dum-Dums), and his musical tastes were heavily influenced by the mid-60s 'blues boom' bands and musicians, especially Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce, and later by Motown legend James Jamerson and Tim Bogert of Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and Beck, Bogert & Appice. He moved to bass shortly before studying graphic design at the London College of Printing.


Contents

[edit] Early career

During 1973 Neil briefly played in Gilgamesh, a jazz-fusion band led by Alan Gowen. At that time many musicians were leaning towards a jazz-rock direction.

After his departure from Gilgamesh, Neil found himself touring the USA with a Jimi Hendrix wannabe called Junior Hanson, following a recommendation from Jeff Beck’s bass player Clive Chaman. Hanson later became a member of Bob Marley & The Wailers under the name Junior Marvin. Neil spent early 1974 supporting the album he recorded with them: “Magic Dragon”.

Murray's next gig came again through a recommendation from Clive Chaman, touring with Cozy Powell’s Hammer in 1974 and 1975. The line-up included Don Airey (Rainbow, Deep Purple, Ozzy Osbourne) and Bernie Marsden (Whitesnake).

After Cozy Powell decided to fold Hammer, Neil and Don Airey joined a revamped version of the legendary British jazz rock band Colosseum -named Colosseum II. The band’s leader, drummer Jon Hiseman, had evolved the band's sound by eliminating the saxophone in preference for a rockier sound courtesy by Gary Moore’s guitar.

The band lasted for one album only (“Strange New Flesh”) (trivia lovers please note that Neil came up with the title!). “Strange New Flesh” was a little less intellectual than most of the jazz rock coming out of the U.K. It did not have the blackness of bands like Weather Report, but offered more accessible melodies and rock power than the more “intellectual” Canterbury fusion scene presented at the time. Following months of touring Europe and the UK, Neil and vocalist Mike Starrs were fired, due to pressure from the record label Bronze, who soon after dropped Colosseum II altogether.

After Colosseum II in 1976 Neil teamed up again with ex-Gilgamesh keyboardist Alan Gowen in National Health with whom he recorded a self-titled album in 1977. Prior to recording that album the band toured using legendary drummer Bill Bruford of Yes/King Crimson fame, who was followed by ex-Hatfield & the North drummer Pip Pyle. Neil got the chance to work with Bruford again, playing on the rehearsals for Bruford's 'Feels Good To Me' album, standing in for Jeff Berlin who was the actual bassist with the band. Neil also deputised for Jeff on Bruford's Old Grey Whistle Test appearance in 1978.

National Health’s complex music and the lack of commercial success, due prompted Neil to investigate other musical avenues planted in the world of bands like Cream, Jeff Beck or John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers. After playing with Bernie Marsden in Cozy Powell's Hammer, Neil had played on a couple of tracks on Babe Ruth's album "Stealing Home", prior to Bernie joining two members of Deep Purple in Paice, Ashton & Lord.


[edit] Whitesnake

In late 1977, ex-Deep Purple singer David Coverdale was auditioning drummers for his new band Whitesnake, and which featured guitarists Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden. Bernie invited Neil to help out with the process which led to him landing the gig together with drummer Dave Dowle.

Despite many other high profile gigs, Neil’s stint with Whitesnake remain the most popular parts of his career. Deep Purple's Jon Lord joined in the summer of 1978, and after recording "Lovehunter" in 1979, joined by Ian Paice.

From 1978 until March 1982, Neil helped make Whitesnake one of the most popular bands in Europe and Japan. He recorded 7 albums (“Snakebite”, “Trouble”, “Love Hunter”, “Ready An' Willing”, “Live In The Heart of The City”, “Come An' Get It” and “Saints An' Sinners”) during what many fans consider the band’s most prolific and exciting period. Neil's melodic basslines, influenced by Jack Bruce, Andy Fraser and even Jaco Pastorius, stand out from the rock bass-playing of the time.

He did numerous tours in the UK, Europe, Japan and played at Reading Festival in 1980 and the Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donington in 1981. However, tours of the US opening for Jethro Tull in 1980 and Judas Priest in 1981 were not enough to match the band's success elsewhere.

In early 1982, after tense “Saints An' Sinners” recording sessions, David Coverdale decided on a complete shake-up of the band, management, publishing and recording contracts.There was a period of uncertainty as to who would be in the 'new' Whitesnake, though Cozy Powell was definitely coming in to replace Ian Paice. Around this time, Ian and Neil had recorded Gary Moore's "Corridors Of Power" album, and Ian had decided to join Gary. Neil followed suit, and was replaced by Colin Hodgkinson. Coverdale reshuffled the band as Bernie Marsden departed, replaced by Mel Galley, but Micky Moody and Jon Lord returned to the fold after initial uncertainty.

Soon after his departure, Neil briefly formed an outfit called Badlands behind Uriah Heep’s John Sloman on vocals and future Thin Lizzy’s John Sykes on guitars. The band recorded some demos, played London's Marquee Club and shopped for a record deal, unfortunately to no avail. The band’s music was high quality hard rock perfectly fitted the gap between a melodic band like Thin Lizzy, a blues influenced outfit like Whitesnake and a more straight-ahead AC/DC.

In 1982, Neil Murray and Ian Paice were regarded, and rightly so, as one of the hottest rock rhythm sections (at least in the U.K.). They both joined Gary Moore for a very successful 2 years . Gary Moore was about to become one of the most popular hard rock guitarist of the era. Neil and Paice recorded three albums with the Irishman "Corridors Of Power" , “Victims of The Future” and “Rocking Every Night - Live In Japan”.

The period 1979 – 1982 also saw Neil participating in a number of solo albums from Bernie Marsden, Graham Bonnet, Cozy Powell, Forcefield and Jon Lord, sometimes playing with drummer Simon Phillips, which led in 1981 to Neil playing with a trio of superstars – Jeff Beck, Sting and Eric Clapton – at two of the Secret Policeman's Other Ball series of four concerts at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. This event was filmed and recorded; Neil is to be heard on "Crossroads" with Jeff, Eric and Simon Phillips even though the album sleeve does not contain any individual credits.

In late 1983, Whitesnake went through one of its many line-ups changes. Micky Moody and Colin Hodgkinson were no longer part of the band. They already had recorded a new album “Slide It In”. At that time, Coverdale hooked up with A&R guru John Kalodner and signed with the powerful major Geffen Records.

After failed attempts at hiring Adrian Vandenberg and Mama’s Boys’ Pat McManus, Coverdale welcomed John Sykes (Tygers of Pan Tang, Thin Lizzy) to the band. Sykes brought a lot of fresh ideas, technical ability and, just as important an appropriate image to project the band on MTV.

Neil was asked back and he and Sykes re-recorded a lot of the guitar and all of the bass parts for “Slide It In”, resulting in two available vinyl versions : one for Europe featuring Moody and Hodgkinson and a US remix version with Sykes and Murray. The US version was remixed by Keith Olsen (Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Sammy Hagar, Pat Benatar) to give it a more radio friendly sound.

1984 was occupied with touring, headlining in the UK and Europe; however Mel Galley semi-permanently injured his arm resulting in him having to leave the band and John Sykes taking care of all guitar duties on the road after a couple of months. In the summer, Jon Lord left the band for the Deep Purple reunion thus making Whitesnake a four-piece outfit (Coverdale, Murray, Sykes, Powell) with off-stage keyboard player Richard Bailey (ex Magnum). Support slots in the USA with Dio then Quiet Riot (at the height of their brief success) helped to bring Whitesnake to a much wider audience.

The album and tour, culminating with an appearance at the 1985 Rock In Rio Festival in front of 500,000 people, marked the end of an era for the band. Disagreements over financial matters led to Cozy Powell leaving the band, for a reformed ELP. Aynsley Dunbar (Journey, Jefferson Starship) was in place for the recording of what was to be Whitesnake's most successful album.

The making of "Whitesnake 1987”, was fraught with delays, illness and difficulties. Murray's status as an official member of Whitesnake was unclear and although Coverdale had given all members permission to get involved in other projects, there wasn't enough money to keep Murray and Dunbar on a retainer until the album was completed.

Neil continued doing sessions for several artists (Phenomena (band) amongst others) and recorded with a band project put together by music impressario Jonathan King called Gogmagog, featuring former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno, future Iron Maiden guitar player Janick Gers (ex- Ian Gillan), ex- Def Leppard’s Pete Willis and another ex-Iron Maiden member Clive Burr on drums. The band released an EP “I Will Be There” to general apathy.

Whilst still waiting for things to move in the Whitesnake camp, Neil teamed up with his friend Bernie Marsden and Mel Galley in the short-lived MGM. The band did some live dates (of which the Reading Festival in 1987), but never really took off. A year after recording the backing tracks for "1987", with work proceeding at a very slow and expensive pace on the album, Neil took the opportunity to redo some of the bass parts, but disagreements over leadership led to John Sykes quitting the band 16 months after recording had begun.

In early 1987, David Coverdale put together a completely new version of the band in Los Angeles, and Neil was no longer part of the band. Neil had to hire lawyers to get his financial due from the huge success of "1987". The album that went on to sell well over 10 million copies worldwide. Neil Murray remains the only member of Whitesnake, apart from Coverdale, who appears on every single album from 1978 until 1987.


[edit] Vow Wow

In 1987, Neil took up an offer to work with Japanese band Vow Wow, whilst continuing to tour from time to time with MGM. Very well known in their native country, the band was trying to break through in Europe. Neil wrote the lyrics to the majority of new songs recorded on the two albums with them between 1987 and 1989 (“V” and “Helter Skelter”). He toured the UK, Europe and Japan with with the band and even lived in Tokyo for a few months in 1988.

[edit] Black Sabbath

By 1989, with Geezer Butler’s refusal to join the latest Black Sabbath line-up, Neil was asked by Cozy Powell to try out. He joined soon after the release of “Headless Cross” and toured with the band in support of the album. Neil stayed with the band until late 1990, recording the excellent “Tyr” album and once again touring. Live, Neil was able to showcase various bass styles that hadn't been able to flourish in Whitesnake, ranging from Jack Bruce-type improvising to heavy metal soloing to delicate false harmonics.

After Black Sabbath reformed their "Mob Rules" lineup in 1991 with Dio, Butler and Appice for ”Dehumanizer”, Cozy and Neil started a band project and recorded songs with singer John West (Artension, Royal Hunt). Nothing came out of it until 1998 when those songs resurfaced on a tribute album released after Cozy’s tragic death in April 1998.

In 1992, Neil played with Powell and Black Sabbath’s Tony Martin in a new version of Cozy Powell’s Hammer that was short lived. He also recorded most of Martin’s first solo album “Back Where I Belong” and played at a series of concerts at Expo' 92 in Seville, Spain backing Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Brian May. He also reunited with his ex-Whitesnake pals, guitarists Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody, for some dates in the UK with their Moody Marsden Band.

In 1992, Queen’s Brian May was ready to go on the road for the first time as a solo artist. Neil and Cozy had done sessions for May’s solo album “Back To The Light” and they were a natural choice for the touring band. For two years, the band toured the world, notably supporting Guns & Roses and releasing the excellent “Live At Brixton Academy” in 1993.

The core of the Brian May Band (Neil, Cozy, Spike Edney and Jamie Moses) became the basis of the SAS Band (Spike's All Stars), which continues to this day, playing sporadic live gigs with many famous guest vocalists, including Paul Rodgers, Brian May, Roger Taylor, Chaka Khan, Arthur Brown, Lionel Richie, Bob Geldof and many others. After the first year, Steve Stroud became their main bassist, but Neil returns to play with the band every couple of years.

With 1994 came the time for Cozy and Neil to return to Black Sabbath. They recorded “Forbidden”, and toured the US & Canada in 1995, although the tour of the UK, Europe and the Far East saw the return of Bobby Rondinelli on drums when Cozy departed.

1996 and 1997 saw Neil and Cozy helping to kickstart the return of the legendary Peter Green(John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Fleetwood Mac) in his Splinter Group. Neil recorded three albums with Green and toured the UK with occasional European dates.

In 1998, Brian May released his third solo album, “Another World”, which Neil and Cozy had once again played on, but the sad death of Cozy meant that the difficult decision had to be made to tour without him with the excellent Eric Singer (KISS, Alice Cooper, Lita Ford, Black Sabbath).

In 1999 Neil started working again with Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody, who had been working with Norwegian Whitesnake tribute band The Snakes. When Marsden and Moody eventually parted ways with their Norwegian colleagues, they changed the band name to Company of Snakes with the excellent vocalist Robert Hart (The Jones Gang, Bad Company, The Distance, solo artist/songwriter) joined them, together with Don Airey on keyboards.

After of few years of gigging mainly in the UK and Europe, Hart decided to leave to concentrate on his solo/songwriting career. The only available recording of this line-up (with Don Airey on keys and John Lingwood on drums) is on Micky Moody’s solo album “I Eat Them For Breakfast”. In 2001 Swedish singer Stefan Berggren was recruited and COS released two albums “Here We Go Again Live” (NB : the gig was recorded in Germany with temporary ex-MSG singer Gary Barden, but his vocals were erased and Stefan overdubbed) and “Burst The Bubble”, which featured songs written by most of the band.

Despite success on the touring front, COS called it a day in early 2002, with the band being transformed into M3 Classic Whitesnake, dropping recent original material in favour of a purely Whitesnake set. Ex-Sabbath frontman Tony Martin was their singer initially, before being replaced by Stefan Berggren. The band has released one live album (with Tony Martin on vocals) and one live DVD (with Berggren and Rainbow/Yngwie Malmsteen/Cornerstone singer Dougie White) featuring songs from the classic Whitesnake era 1978-1982. Neil is a also a member of German heavy rock band Empire with whom he has recorded three albums. The band is the brain child of guitarist Rolf Munkes and featured ex-Black Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin on the “Trading Souls” and “The Raven Ride” albums.

Since April 2002 Neil has been in the band of the highly successful London musical “We Will Rock You”. he also performed at 2007's 'Classics In Rock' concert in Rotterdam and the first London Rock 'n Roll Fantasy Camp.


[edit] Trivia

  • Neil demoed all songs on The Scorpions’ hugely successful album “Love At First Sting” (1984) *He helped Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan auditioning musicians in 1991 as well as Ozzy finding a drummer.
  • Coverdale once said “Neil Murray is the most melodic bass player since McCartney”.
  • Neil Murray now has a lucrative sideline as a football agent. Among his clients are Alan Lee (Ipswich) and Iain Dowie (new manager of Coventry City)

[edit] Discography

[edit] With Whitesnake

[edit] With Badlands

Badlands demo (1982)

[edit] With Gogmagog

I Will Be There EP (1985)

[edit] With Vow Wow

  • V (1987)
  • Helter Skelter (1988)

[edit] With Black Sabbath

With Fastway On Targer (1988) With Peter Green Splinter Group Self-titled 91997) The Robert Johnson Songbook (1998) With Mona Lisa Overdrie Selt-titled (1988) With Gary Moore Corridors of Power (1982) Victims of The Future (1983) Rocking Every Night - Live In Japan (1986) With Phenomena Phenomana (1985) II - Dream Runner (1987) With Vow Wow V (1987) Helter Skelter (1989) With Company of Snakes Here We Go Again (2001) Burst The Bubble (2002) With Empire Hypnotica (2001) Trading Souls (2002) The Raven Ride (2006)

[edit] With Rondinelli

Our Cross, Our Sins (2002)

[edit] With Bernie Marsden

It's About Time (1979) Look At Me Now (1981) With Jon Lord Before I Forget (1982) With Hanson Self-titled (1974) With Colosseum II Strange New Flesh (1976) With National Health Self-titled (1977) With Micky Moody I Eat Them For Breakfast (2000) With Queen & Ben Eton We Will Rock You - The Rock Theatrical (Original Cast) (2002) With Brian May Back To The Light (1992) Live At Brixton Academy (1993) Another World (1998)

[edit] With Cozy Powell

Tilt (1981) The Drums Are Back (1992) Especially For You (1998)

[edit] With Graham Bonnet

Line-Up (1981)

Whitesnake
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Members
David Coverdale - Doug Aldrich - Reb Beach - Uriah Duffy - Tommy Aldridge - Timothy Drury
Former members: Jon Lord - Dave Dowle - Ian Paice - Cozy Powell - Denny Carmassi - Aynsley Dunbar - Neil Murray - Rudy Sarzo
Bernie Marsden - Mel Galley - Micky Moody - John Sykes - Adrian Vandenberg - Vivian Campbell - Steve Vai - Warren DeMartini - Marco Mendoza
Discography

Studio albums: Snakebite - Trouble - Lovehunter - Ready an' Willing - Come an' Get It - Saints & Sinners - Slide It In - Whitesnake - Slip of the Tongue - Restless Heart -

Live albums: Live at Hammersmith - Live...In the Heart of the City - Starkers in Tokyo - Live: In The Shadow Of The Blues
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