Jeremy Spencer

Jeremy Spencer, Chicago 2009

Jeremy Spencer (born July 4, 1948 in Hartlepool ) is one of the founding members of the British rock blues band Fleetwood Mac . He was discovered by Mike Vernon while performing with his band, The Levi Set Blues, in Birmingham.

Although Vernon saw no future for the rest of the band, he was impressed by Spencer's slide guitar playing: "Jeremy really blew me away." Jeremy was rather short, with black curly hair, no different from Peter Green, and played slide with a large semi-acoustic E. -Guitar. Vernon, knowing that Peter Green was looking for a guitarist for his band, arranged for the two to meet. Soon after, they started rehearsing with drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist Bob Brunning . Spencer was only 18 years old when he joined Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac or Fleetwood Mac - as the band later called itself.

Spencer's contribution to the band consisted of covers of old Elmore James songs. He imitated James so perfectly that Mick Fleetwood once said: "Jeremy is like a chameleon, of course in the best sense of the word". Jeremy's ability to imitate rock'n'roll greats like Elvis, Little Richard or Buddy Holly led the band to play parodies of well-known pop songs from the 1950s. Despite his entertaining parodies, Spencer was a musician who didn't necessarily care about writing his own songs, which he had always refused. In January 1970, after the release of the LP " Then Play On ", to which Spencer only contributed a small piano passage (Oh well part 2), he released a solo album with rock'n'roll satire, on which he was from Rockabilly parodied everything from Boogie, Elvis Presley to Pink Floyd . The album was recorded with the other Fleetwood Mac members. There was even a conversation between Peter Green and Spencer about recording an epic religious-themed record together, but that never happened.

After Peter Green left Fleetwood Mac in May 1970, Jeremy recorded one last record, "Kilnhouse," with the band. He was quite dissatisfied with his (and Danny Kirwan's ) job of filling the hole Peter Green had left behind. “All I can play is rock and roll. Peter was a developed musician. I couldn't deliver the material that people now expect from us. "

Two weeks later, on their tour to present the album, Jeremy disappeared in Los Angeles. He had left the hotel at 3:00 PM to go to a bookstore on Hollywood Blvd. to visit. On the way there he was approached on the street by a member of the religious sect " Children of God ". Since he did not show up on the evening of the concert, the police were called in. Five worried days later, Jeremy's trail could be followed to the headquarters of the Children of God, a warehouse in downtown LA. To see Spencer, his manager, Clifford Davis, had to make up a story about a serious illness affecting Jeremy's wife, Fiona. According to a Fleetwood Mac roadie who was there, Spencer was walking around in a daze like a zombie, as if he had been brainwashed. “It hurt inside to see him like that. His head was shaved and he was now answering the biblical name Jonathan. ”Davis and Spencer talked for 3 hours while members of the cult rubbed Jeremy's arms and sang“ Jesus loves you ”repeatedly. Like Peter Green, Jeremy felt unworthy of all the admiration he had received with the band. Ironically, the rest of the band asked Peter Green to fill in for Jeremy, which Jeremy did.

In 1975, when Jeremy returned to London, he formed a new band called "Albatross" with other members of the "Children of God". Of course, their repertoire included "his tireless tributes to Elmore James, this time probably played with a clean conscientiousness." In 1979 he released the album "Flee".

Jeremy is still part of the "family", as the "children of God" are called today, and is still an avid musician.

In March 1995 he played at some concerts in India with the group "Heart to Heart", which also consists of members of the "family". He also performed in Bombay and New Delhi in early 1998. On February 12, 1998, he was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in New York.

In 2006 a new album was released, recorded in Norway with Norwegian musicians.

Works

with Fleetwood Mac:

• Fleetwood Mac (Blue Horizon, 1968)
• Mr. Wonderful (Blue Horizon, 1968)
• English Rose (Epic, 1969, US only)
• The Pious Bird Of Good Omen (Blue Horizon, 1969, UK only)
• Then Play On (Reprise, 1969)
• Fleetwood Mac In Chicago / Blues Jam In Chicago Vol. 1 & 2 (Blue Horizon, 1969)
• Kiln House (reprise, 1970)
• The original Fleetwood Mac (Blue Horizon, 1971; recordings from 1967 and 1968)
• Live At The BBC (Castle 1995, recorded between 1967 and 1971)
• Shrine '69 (Rykodisc 1999, recorded 1969)
• Live at the Boston Tea Party, vols 1-3 (Snapper 1998, recorded 1970)
• Madison Blues - Live & Studio Recordings (Shakedown, 2002; recordings from 1970, without Peter Green and an interview DVD with Jeremy from 2002)

solo:

• Various Artists: British Blues Heroes (CBS, 1969; 2 pieces by Jeremy Spencer)
• Jeremy Spencer (reprise, 1970)
• Jeremy Spencer & the Children (CBS, 1972)
• Jeremy Spencer Band: Flee (Atlantic, 1979)
• In Concert - India 1998 (Polygram India, 1999; download from its website)
• Precious little (Bluesdown, 2006)
• In Session (Secret, 2008)
• Jeremy Spencer with the Dave Herrero Band Live In Chicago (Lineage, 2009)
• Bend In The Road (Propelz, 2012)
• Coventry Blue (Propelz, 2014)