Hello (band)
| Hello | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Glam rock |
| founding | 1972 |
| resolution | 1978 |
| Website | www.helloband.co.uk |
| Founding members | |
| Bob Bradbury | |
| Keith Marshall | |
| Jeffrey Allen | |
| Vic Faulkner | |
Hello was a British glam rock band from the 1970s that was one of the most important exponents of the genre.
Band history
As early as the late 1960s, teenagers Bob Bradbury (vocals, guitar), Keith Marshall (guitar), Jeffrey Allen (drums) and Vic Faulkner (electric bass) played together under the band name The Age. In 1971 they met David Blaylock, the former road manager of the Zombies , who was a talent scout for Chappell Music. He took over the management of the band and they renamed themselves Hello.
Songwriter and guitarist Russ Ballard , then a member of the band Argent , became aware of the young musicians at a gig at the Rolling Mills Club in Edmonton, London . Soon after, the first recording sessions began, in which the band initially only recorded compositions by Ballard, who also took over the production. The first song, Can't Let You Go , was not released by Hello, but gave pop singer Barry Ryan a small and final hit in the UK in early 1972. The first Hello single to be released on Bell Records was You Move Me in early 1972 , but it flopped, as did its successor C'mon .
After the initial commercial failures, David Blaylock began looking for other song material. In 1973 the team of songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman , who at the time had already had a few hits with The Sweet and New World , offered Hello the song Dyna-Mite . Production was done by Mike Leander , who also worked at Bell Records for Gary Glitter and later The Glitter Band . However, he withdrew the release of the recording in favor of Hello's self-written Another School Day . While the latter was not successful, Dyna-Mite became the first big hit for the glam rock band Mud in late 1973.
It wasn't until the end of 1974 that Hello started again trying to land a hit single. This time the choice fell on Tell Him , a 1960s track by the Exciters , which the Glitter band had already recorded in a glam rock version on their album Hey . With Tell Him , Hello landed their first top 10 hit in England, and the single also made it into the charts in Germany. The follow-up single Game's Up at the beginning of 1975, this time originally from the glitter band, even surpassed the success of Tell Him in Germany. Hello's most successful song is the Russ Ballard composition New York Groove , with which they had a top ten hit in the UK, Germany and other European countries in autumn 1975.
Hello had a particularly large number of fans in Germany, where the group was able to place itself in the charts with a total of nine singles, including Star Studded Sham - also written by Russ Ballard - and Love Stealer penned by Richard Myhill and Phil Wainman, the producers of all of them Hit singles from The Sweet, who was now also the producer of Hello. In Mal Sondock's “Discothek im WDR”, at the time the biggest radio hit parade in Germany, they were guests several times and in the 1975 year-end evaluation No. 1 with New York Groove . They appeared on television a. at Ilja Richter's disco : on December 6th, 1975 with New York Groove and on October 9th, 1976 with Love Stealer as the top act at the end. After the release of their last single in Germany Feel This Thing in 1978 on Polydor, which no longer made it into the German charts, the band split.
Afterlife
Guitarist Keith Marshall was again successful as a solo artist with Only Crying in 1981 , after he had celebrated initial successes with Remember Me (1979), Dear John , It's Over and the cover version of Crimson and Clover . In Belgium he was with Only Crying in the summer of 1981 for three weeks at the top of the charts. Drummer Jeff Allen, brother of Ultravox member Chris Cross, landed a flop with his single Good Times in 1982.
Occasionally Hello appear in Germany at oldie concerts; the only original member is singer Bob Bradbury.
In 2007 the CDs Keeps Us Off the Streets and Hello Again were released, each with eight bonus tracks. In 2016, a 4 CD compilation with some previously unreleased songs and versions of their big hits was released as Hello - The Albums .
Discography
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Albums
- Keeps Us Off the Streets - Bell 1975
- Shine on Silver Light - 1977 (Japan)
- Hello Again - Polydor 1978 (Germany)
Singles
- You Move Me - Bell 1972
- C'mon - Bell 1972
- Dyna-Mite - 1973 ( unreleased )
- Another School Day - Bell 1973
- Tell Him - Bell 1974
- Game's Up - Bell 1975 (often written Games Up )
- Bend Me, Shape Me - Bell 1975
- New York Groove - Bell 1975
- Star Studded Sham - Bell 1976
- Teenage Revolution - Bell 1976 (withdrawn)
- Love Stealer - Bell 1976
- Seven Rainy Days - Arista 1976
- Let It Rock - Arista 1977
- Good Old USA - Arista 1977
- Slow Motion - Arista 1977
- Hi Ho Silver Lining - Polydor 1978
- Feel This Thing - Polydor 1979
Web links
- Hello site (English)