Fox (band)
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| Fox | |
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 Fox on the cover of their 1975 self-titled debut album
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| Background information | |
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Genre(s) | Rock |
| Years active | 1974-1977, 1980 |
| Label(s) | GTO |
| Associated acts | Wooden Horse Yellow Dog Noosha Fox |
| Former members | |
| Noosha Fox Kenny Young Herbie Armstrong Jim Gannon Pete Solley Gary Taylor Jim Frank |
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Fox was a British-based rock band popular in the mid-1970s. Led by American songwriter Kenny Young, the band was perhaps best known for its charismatic Australian lead singer Noosha Fox.
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[edit] Band history
The band was founded by songwriter and producer Kenny Young, who had composed the song "Under The Boardwalk" for the Drifters in 1964. Young had worked off and on with Australian singer Susan Traynor for a number of years in the United States.
As an uncredited member of the Charmettes, produced by Young, Traynor had scored a minor hit single with "Please Don't Kiss Me Again" and she had later appeared on Young's album Last Stage For Silverworld, where she was listed as "Amanda". Both Traynor and Young then relocated to England in 1968, after Young had written a song for Reparata and the Delrons called "Captain of Your Ship", which had been a British hit.
He then discovered Northern Irish singer Clodagh Rodgers on a television show, who had recently released a single called "Play The Drama Till The End". The partnership produced three years of hit singles, beginning with "Come Back And Shake Me". With this, Rodgers became something of a blueprint for Fox, as she recorded demos of some of the songs which would eventually surface on the first Fox album in 1975, as well as earlier Young tunes.
Meanwhile, Susan Traynor was in a folk group called Wooden Horse, which released two albums before breaking up. After his success with Rogers, Young founded Fox with Irish singer Herbie Armstrong, recruiting Traynor as lead singer. She adopted the stage name Noosha, a scrambled version of her own name, and a glamorous image inspired by Marlene Dietrich, wearing elegant dresses to contrast with the scruffy looks of the rest of the group.
The band's self-titled debut album was released on GTO Records in 1975 to critical acclaim. The lead single, "Only You Can", was a Top 10 UK single, the follow-up "Imagine Me Imagine You" also reached the top 30 and "He's Got Magic" was a hit in some European countries. Shortly after the release of their first album, the band made a cameo appearance in the film Side By Side.
However, Noosha was relegated to backing vocals for half the songs on the late 1975 follow-up album, Tails Of Illusion, with the other songs sung by Young. The album enjoyed neither the critical nor the sales success of its predecessor; without Noosha's distinctive voice, casual listeners did not associate the songs with the band that had recorded "Only You Can". Roger Taylor of Queen added backing vocals to the song "Survival".
The band returned to the charts in August 1976 when "S-S-S-Single Bed" was a surprise Top 5 UK hit and topped the Australian charts. Again, though, the band failed to capitalize upon its momentum, and the weaker accompanying album Blue Hotel, which was only released the following year, failed to yield any further singles, even though Noosha was reinstated as lead singer on all its tracks.
Noosha Fox left the band after Blue Hotel. Armstrong and Young continued to work together in the band Yellow Dog, while Armstrong went on to work with Van Morrison and Solley later joined Whitesnake. Noosha launched a solo career, and her first single, "Georgina Bailey", written and produced by Young, briefly entered the Top 30 in the UK in 1977. However, its title and subject matter (about a girl whose uncle turns out to be gay) were reminiscent of Rod Stewart's recent single "The Killing of Georgie", and the single's relatively weak chart placement meant that her planned solo album, already partly recorded, was shelved.
In 1979, Noosha Fox tried again to start her solo career with a single, "The Heat Is On", on Chrysalis Records. It flopped, but a cover version by ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog was a big European hit four years later. Noosha recorded several singles in the early 1980s for the Earlobe label but none were successful, and she evidently retired from the music business, but not returning to Australia as many believe.
Fox reformed briefly in 1980, releasing the New Wave-influenced "Electro People", written as the theme music for the Kenny Everett Show. The band considered a reunion in the early 1990s, but the tracks recorded at this time were unreleased until 2004, when they appeared as bonus tracks on the Tails of Illusion CD.
It was reported in 2007 on BBC Radio 4's "The Music Group" that Noosha Fox is recording a solo album of electropop, and has her own website.
[edit] Members
- Noosha Fox (born Susan Traynor, December 8, 1944) - vocals
- Kenny Young - guitar, vocals
- Herbie Armstrong - guitar, vocals
- Jim Gannon - lead guitar, vocals
- Pete Solley - keyboards, vocals
- Mike Lavender - accordion, electric piano
- Gary Taylor - bass, vocals
- Jim Frank - drums, percussion, vocals
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Fox (1975) #7 UK
- Tails of Illusion (1975)
- Blue Hotel (1977)
- Only You Can (CD compilation including unreleased material, 1996)
- The Very Best of Fox (CD compilation, 1998)
[edit] Singles
- "Only You Can" (1975) #3 UK, #2 Germany, #7 Australia, #53 U.S.
- "Imagine Me, Imagine You" (1975) #15 UK, #7 Germany
- "He’s Got Magic" (1975)
- "Strange Ships" (1975)
- "S-S-S-Single Bed" (1976) #4 UK, #1 Australia
- "My Old Man's Away" (1977)
[edit] Noosha Fox solo singles
- "Georgina Bailey" / "Pretty Boy" (1977) #31 UK
- "The Heat Is On" / "Some Enchanted Evening" (1979)
- "Skin Tight" / "Miss You" (1979)
- "Hot as Sun" / "The Cheapest Nights" (1981)
- "More Than Molecules" / "Odd Peculiar Strange" (1981)
