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{{Short description|British band}}{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}{{Use British English|date=May 2014}}

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1963–19692006–2020}}Fontana Records>Island Records>United Artists}}Blind FaithTraffic (band)>Traffic|Muff Winwood}}spencer-davis-group.com}}Europe:Spencer Davis>Miller Anderson (musician)>Colin HodgkinsonUnited States:Ed TreeJim Blazer|Tom Fillman}}Steve WinwoodMuff Winwood>Pete YorkEddie Hardin>Phil SawyerRay Fenwick>Dee MurrayNigel OlssonCharlie McCracken}}}}The Spencer Davis Group were a British blues and R&B influenced rock bandWEB,weblink The Spencer Davis Group Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More, AllMusic, formed in Birmingham in 1963 by Spencer Davis (guitar), brothers Steve Winwood (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and Muff Winwood (bass guitar), and Pete York (drums). Their best known songs include the UK No. 1 hits "Keep on Running" and "Somebody Help Me" and the UK and US Top 10 hits "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm a Man".WEB, {{AllMusic, artist, p4031, yes, |title=allmusic ((( The Spencer Davis Group > Overview ))) |website=AllMusic|access-date=2010-01-29}}Steve Winwood left in 1967 to form rock band Traffic.BOOK, David, Roberts, 2006, British Hit Singles & Albums, 19th, Guinness World Records Limited, London, 143, 1-904994-10-5, After releasing a few more singles, the band ceased to be active in 1969. Davis revived the group on two more occasions, without the involvement of the Winwood brothers, first in 1973–1974 for two more albums, and again from 2006, since when they had primarily been a touring act. Davis died on 19 October 2020, effectively ending the band.

History

Formation

The Spencer Davis Group was formed in 1963 in Birmingham after the Welsh guitarist Spencer Davis encountered vocalist and organist Steve Winwood (then aged 14 and still at school),WEB, It's 'About Time' for Steve Winwood, BBC,weblink 19 August 2007, and his bass playing brother Muff Winwood performing at a pub, the Golden Eagle, as the Muff Woody Jazz Band. He recruited them and Pete York on drumsWEB, {{AllMusic, artist, p4031, yes, |title=allmusic ((( The Spencer Davis Group > Overview ))) |website=AllMusic|access-date=2010-01-29 }} to form the Rhythm and Blues Quartette, which performed regularly in the city.WEB,weblink Spencer Davis Group, Brumbeat.net, 2010-01-29, In 1964, they signed their first recording contract after Chris Blackwell of Island Records saw them at an appearance in a local club; Blackwell also became their producer.BOOK, Back in the High Life, Alan, Clayson, 1988, 0-283-99640-4, Sidgewick and Jackson, (Island was then a small independent label with UK Fontana contracted for distribution.) Muff Winwood came up with the band's name, reasoning, "Spencer was the only one who enjoyed doing interviews, so I pointed out that if we called it the Spencer Davis Group, the rest of us could stay in bed and let him do them."Black, Johnny (May 1997). Feature: Steve Winwood {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928165937weblink |date=28 September 2011 }}, Mojo.

Breakthrough success

The group's first professional recording was a cover version of "Dimples", released as a single in 1964. In late 1965, they gained their first No. 1 single with "Keep On Running", written by reggae musician Jackie Edwards.BOOK, Encyclopedia of Popular Music, The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Colin, Larkin, Colin Larkin (writer), Virgin Books, 1997, Concise, 1-85227-745-9, 348, In 1966, they followed this with another Jackie Edwards-written No. 1 hit "Somebody Help Me" and the Top 20 hit "When I Come Home", this song a collaboration between Edwards and Steve Winwood. "Keep On Running" and "Somebody Help Me" were issued as singles in the US on Atco during 1966, but due to lack of promotion, neither of them gained airplay or entered the American charts.For the German market, the group released a medley of "Det war in Schöneberg, im Monat Mai" and "Mädel ruck ruck ruck an meine grüne Seite" (the first is from a 1913 Berlin operetta, the second is a Swabian traditional) as a tribute single for that audience, Davis having studied in West Berlin in the early 1960s.During late 1966 and early 1967, the group achieved two more hits with "Gimme Some Lovin'", which went Top 5, and "I'm a Man", which went Top 10. Both of them sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold record status. "Gimme Some Lovin'" was written by Davis and the Winwood brothers, while "I'm a Man" was written by Steve Winwood and the group's producer Jimmy Miller.BOOK, Joseph, Murrells, 1978, The Book of Golden Discs, 2nd, Barrie and Jenkins Ltd, London, 203 & 219, 0-214-20512-6, registration,weblink These tracks proved to be their breakthrough in the US, where they were now signed to United Artists Records, both going Top 10 there.In 1966, the group starred in The Ghost Goes Gear, a British musical comedy film, directed by Hugh Gladwish, and also featuring Sheila White and Nicholas Parsons.WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090116062733weblink">weblink dead, 2009-01-16, BFI | Film & TV Database | The GHOST GOES GEAR (1966), Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk, 2009-04-16, 2011-09-13, It was not well received and Winwood later considered it a career mistake.WEB,weblink "Steve Winwood: English Soul", BBC4, broadcast 25 February 2011, bbc.co.uk, 2011-09-13,

Disbandment

(File:Spencer Davis Group 1974.JPG|thumb|The Spencer Davis Group in 1974)Steve Winwood left the group in April 1967 to form Traffic; his brother, Muff, moved into the music industry working in artists and repertoire (A&R) at Island Records. In the same period, both the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic featured on the soundtrack of the film Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush released in that year. After the Winwoods' departures, the Spencer Davis Group continued with the addition of guitarist Phil Sawyer (ex-Les Fleur de Lys) and keyboardist/vocalist Eddie Hardin (ex-A Wild Uncertainty). This line-up recorded several tunes for Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush and released the psychedelia-sounding "Time Seller" single in July 1967; the b-side, "Don't Want You No More", also received radio airplay.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}This was followed by "Mr. Second-Class" in late 1967, which received heavy airplay on Radio Caroline (a pirate radio ship off the British coast), and the album With Their New Face On in 1968. At that time Ray Fenwick had replaced Phil Sawyer. The group's last minor hit, "After Tea", was released at the same time by the German band The Rattles, providing competition that led finally to a temporary stop to all activities of the band. The song was originally recorded by the Dutch group After Tea, which included guitarist/singer Fenwick among its members.After one further single ("Short Change"), Eddie Hardin and Pete York left to form the duo Hardin & York. They were replaced by future Elton John band member Dee Murray on bass and Dave Hynes on drums. Nigel Olsson, another future Elton John band member, replaced Hynes, and this line-up produced the album Funky in 1969 (only released in the USA on Date Records, a subsidiary of CBS, in 1970) before splintering. Fenwick wrote all the songs and his 1971 solo album Keep America Beautiful, Get a Haircut also featured Murray and Olsson.The group broke up on 19 July 1969.Dick Clark's Rock, Roll & Remember, 19 July 2003.

Solo work and reunions

The group reunited in 1973 with Davis, Fenwick, Hardin and York, and newcomer Charlie McCracken on bass. The group released the albums Gluggo (1973) and Living in a Back Street (1974) before once again disbanding.Davis continued working, however, producing some jazz-oriented albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s.The band re-formed in 2006, although only Davis and Hardin remained from the 1960s group line-ups. The Spencer Davis Group continued to tour the US and Europe, but with two differing line-ups; only Spencer Davis himself was present in both formations of the band.WEB,weblink The Spencer Davis Group UK, Spencer-davis-group.com, 2011-09-13, WEB,weblink The Spencer Davis Group U.S, Spencer-davis-group.com, 2011-09-13, Hardin remained with the UK version of the band until his death in 2015.WEB,weblink Former Spencer Davis Group and Axis Point Member Eddie Hardin Dies at 66, Ultimate Classic Rock, 24 July 2015, 26 October 2017, Davis died in California on 19 October 2020, at the age of 81, while being treated for pneumonia.NEWS,weblink Spencer Davis, one of rock's elder statesmen, dies aged 81, Mark, Savage, BBC News, 20 October 2020,

Cover versions of songs

The Spencer Davis Group – particularly its incarnation with Steve Winwood – proved to be influential, with many of the band's songs being recorded by other artists over the years. Among these are Chicago's cover of "I'm a Man"; The Allman Brothers Band's version of Davis and Hardin's "Don't Want You No More" (both 1969); Three Dog Night's recording of "Can't Get Enough of It" (1970); and The Blues Brothers' "Gimme Some Lovin'" (1980). The Grateful Dead also covered Spencer Davis Group material in live performance on occasion, and Spencer Davis himself performed "I'm a Man" with the Grateful Dead in a 1989 performance at Los Angeles' Great Western Forum.

Band members

Final membersEurope

• Miller Anderson
• Colin Hodgkinson
• Steff Porzel

US

• Ed Tree
• Taras Prodaniuk
• Jim Blazer
• Tom Fillman

Former members{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Spencer Davis
• Steve Winwood
• Muff Winwood
• Pete York
• Chris Wood
• Eddie Hardin
• Phil Sawyer
• Ray Fenwick
• Dee Murray
• Dave Hynes
• Nigel Olsson
• John Hitchcock
• Charlie McCracken
• Jim Blair

{{div col end}}

Timeline

{{#tag:timeline|ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20PlotArea = left:100 bottom:80 top:10 right:10Alignbars = justifyDateFormat = dd/mm/yyyyPeriod = from:01/01/1963 till:01/09/1974TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyLegend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:1963ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1963Colors = BackgroundColors = bars:barsLineData = BarData = PlotData = }}

Discography

• Their First LP (1965)
• The Second Album (1966)
• Autumn '66 (1966)
• With Their New Face On (1968)
• Funky (1970)
• Gluggo (1973)
• Living in a Back Street (1974)
• Vibrate (1986)

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• {{Official websiteweblink}}

{{Spencer Davis Group}}{{Steve Winwood}}{{Authority control}}