Free (band)
| Free | |
|---|---|
 The Free sit with Traffic band boss Steve Winwood (Amsterdam, July 1970). V. l. From right: Stevie Winwood , Andy Fraser , Paul Rodgers , Simon Kirke , Paul Kossoff |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Blues rock , hard rock |
| founding | 1968 |
| resolution | 1973 |
| Founding members | |
| Paul Rodgers | |
| Paul Kossoff († 1976) | |
| Simon Kirke | |
| Andy Fraser (until 1972, † 2015) | |
| Last occupation | |
Singing, piano |
Paul Rodgers |
Electric guitar |
Paul Kossoff † |
| John "Rabbit" Bundrick (since 1972) | |
Drums |
Simon Kirke |
Electric bass |
Tetsu Yamauchi (since mid-1972) |
Free were a British rock band formed in London in 1968 . Her most famous hit is All Right Now from 1970.
history
Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke previously played with the band Black Cat Bones . Kossoff and Kirke saw Paul Rodgers during his time at Brown Sugar and decided with him and, on Alexis Korner's advice, to start a band with Andy Fraser . Alexis Korner gave the band the name "Free" after a performance in the Nags Head Pub in Battersea . Korner's choice met with approval, as a formation of Jack Bruce , Graham Bond and Ginger Baker was called "Free at Last" and the band members liked this name.
With their first and biggest hit All Right Now and the album Fire And Water , an "indispensable mix of blues and provocation", Free made their breakthrough in the spring of 1970. In 1969 and 1970 they played as one of the main groups at the Isle of Wight Festival . Internal conflicts led to the dissolution of the band in 1971. A few months later Rodgers, Fraser, Kossoff and Kirke got together again and landed another hit, at least in Great Britain , with Little Bit Of Love . But the harmony did not last long. Fraser left in 1972, the band had to be reshuffled. In 1973 Free created Wishing Well, their second rock classic alongside All Right Now , which was later often covered. The sixth album Heartbreaker sold well. Nevertheless, the band broke up again in the same year, this time for good.
Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke (drums) founded Bad Company in the fall of 1973 . Paul Kossoff founded the band "Back Street Crawler" with some unknown musicians in 1974/75, with whom he toured and released two albums. He died of heart failure in 1976 at the age of 25 - presumably as a result of his drug addiction ( Mandrax ). Andy Fraser (bass guitar), who had left the band in 1972, first joined "The Sharks", released three solo albums in the 1970s and 1980s , worked a. a. as a composer for Frankie Miller and was active as a musician until his death in March 2015. Paul Rodgers later worked as a solo artist, also with Jimmy Page on The Firm and with Kenney Jones on The Law . From 2005 to 2009 he was the singer of Queen + Paul Rodgers , on whose world tours the free hits All Right Now, Fire and Water, Little Bit of Love and Wishing Well could be heard.
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1969 | Tons of Sobs | - | - | - | - |
US197 (2 weeks) US |
|
| 1970 | Fire and Water |
DE30 (20 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK2 (18 weeks) UK |
US17 (27 weeks) US |
|
| Highway |
DE43 (4 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK41 (2 weeks) UK |
US190 (2 weeks) US |
||
| 1971 | Free Live! |
DE45 (4 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK4 (12 weeks) UK |
US89 (8 weeks) US |
Live album
|
| 1972 | Free at Last | - | - | - |
UK9 (9 weeks) UK |
US69 (16 weeks) US |
|
| 1973 | Heartbreaker | - | - | - |
UK9 (7 weeks) UK |
US47 (16 weeks) US |
|
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
More albums
- 1969: Free
- 2006: Live at the BBC (2 CDs)
- 2014: BBC Sessions 1968–1971 (2 LPs)
Compilations
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1974 | The Free Story | - | - | - |
UK4th  (6 weeks)UK |
- | |
| 1975 | Best of Free | - | - | - | - |
US120 (7 weeks) US |
|
| 1991 | The Best of Free - All Right Now | - | - | - |
UK9 (9 weeks)UK |
- | |
| 2006 | Chronicles - The Very Best Of | - | - | - |
UK42 (2 weeks) UK |
- |
Double CD
|
| 2010 | The Very Best of Free & Bad Company Featuring Paul Rodgers |
- | - | - |
UK10  (14 weeks)UK |
- |
with Bad Company and Paul Rodgers
|
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
More compilations
|
|
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1970 | All Right Now Fire and Water |
DE5 (20 weeks) DE |
AT6 (17 weeks) AT |
CH4 (13 weeks) CH |
UK2 (44 weeks)UK |
US4 (16 weeks) US |
Authors: Andy Fraser , Paul Rodgers
|
| The Stealer Highway |
DE37 (1 week) DE |
AT16 (4 weeks) AT |
- | - |
US49 (8 weeks) US |
Authors: Andy Fraser, Paul Kossoff , Paul Rodgers
|
|
| 1971 | My Brother Jake Free Live! |
- | - | - |
UK4 (11 weeks) UK |
- |
Authors: Andy Fraser, Paul Rodgers
|
| 1972 | Little Bit of Love Free at Last |
- | - | - |
UK13 (10 weeks) UK |
- |
Authors: Free
|
| 1973 | Wishing Well Heartbreaker |
DE47 (1 week) DE |
- | - |
UK7 (10 weeks) UK |
- |
Authors: John Bundrick , Paul Kossoff, Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke , Tetsu Yamauchi
|
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
More singles
- 1969: Broad Daylight
- 1969: I'll Be Creepin '
- 1971: The Highway Song
- 1973: Travellin 'in Style
- 1976: The Hunter
- 1991: My Brother Jake / Wishing Well (Remixes by Bob Clearmountain)
Video albums
- 1991: The Best of Free
- 2005: Rock Review - A Critical Retrospective
- 2005: Critical Review 1968–1972
- 2005: Rock Review
- 2006: Total Rock Review
- 2006: Forever (UK:gold)
literature
- Steven Rosen: Free at Last - The Study of Free and Bad Company. SAF, London 2001, ISBN 0-946719-37-3 .
swell
- ↑ Free biography on Andy Fraser's website ( memento of the original from October 18, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Buckley, Jonathan / Ellingham, Mark: Rock Rough Guide. Stuttgart 1998, p. 280
- ↑ a b c Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
- ↑ a b The Billboard album by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
- ↑ a b c UK gold / platinum database
