Lieutenant Pigeon
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Lieutenant Pigeon is a British pop group from Coventry that enjoyed brief fame, particularly in the early 1970s, with their number one hit, Moldy Old Dough .
Band history
Stavely Makepeace
Rob Woodward ( keyboard ) and Nigel Fletcher ( drums ) were school friends and had been making music together as early as the early 1960s. When they met again in 1968, they decided to set up a recording studio for demo tapes together. Rob's mother Hilda, a trained pianist and piano teacher, made a room available in her semi-detached house in Coventry. A couple of friends joined and the band Stavely Makepeace was formed.
In 1969 the group released their debut single I Wanna Love You Like a Mad Dog on the Pyramid Records label. The line-up at the time: Woodward, Fletcher as well as Don Ker ( guitar ) and Pete Fisher ( electric bass ). The song was played on the radio, but not a hit, but known to have the shortest B-side to date, Greasy Haired Woman , which was only 32 seconds long .
Musical experiments
In 1970 guitarist Steve Tayton joined the band, who also played woodwind instruments . Bassist Steve Johnson replaced Pete Fisher. The five continued the musical experiments with the demo recording studio in Hilda's house. In the spring they released the single Edna on Concord Records - again not an official chart hit; But Edna brought Staveley Makepeace first time on TV (at Top of the Pops ), reaching in the hit parade of the Melody Maker was followed by No. 46 Two more singles in Concord that left few traces.
One of the B-sides was an instrumental piece. Woodward and Fletcher came up with the idea of adding more. This was done with two pianos, bass and drums. But these instrumental pieces should not appear under the band name - the pseudonym Lieutenant Pigeon was invented. The second female piano player in the band was Rob's mother Hilda.
The number one hit
Woodward / Fletcher turned to Decca Records with the recordings . There they liked the idea and the record company chose Moldy Old Dough as their first single release. The title (in German: “Gammliger old dough”) was completely irrelevant, just an acoustic association with the “vo-dee-o-do” vocal harmonies of jazz numbers from the 1920s and 1930s. ( Dough can, however, also stand for “dough” in the sense of money - so the title could also have been coined for the then current changeover of the British pound currency to the decimal system .) In spring 1972 the single came on the market and initially found no appeal. The actions of the main band Staveley Makepeace continued in parallel, but their new single was again unsuccessful.
But since the spring of 1972 a Belgian television station had used Moldy Old Dough as a theme song . Thousands of people wanted this music, the single hit stores in Belgium and climbed into the top ten on the local charts in the summer. The single has now been re-released in the UK. In September she was in the top 20 and on October 10, 1972 she climbed the top of the chart, where she stayed for four weeks.
Lieutenant Pigeon also hit the charts in Germany , Denmark , Switzerland , the Netherlands , Spain , Japan , Australia , Canada , Hong Kong and a few more countries. In total, more than 2,000,000 copies were sold; in Great Britain, Moldy Old Dough was the second best-selling single of 1972 after Amazing Grace by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards . Rob Woodward and Nigel Fletcher received the Ivor Novello Award for songwriting for the piece they wrote .
Back to normal
The band did not want to expose Hilda, who is now almost 60 years old, to any tour stress, so that live performances were rather well dosed. The follow-up single , Desperate Dan , nevertheless reached number 17 in the British charts. But that was the end of it; other recordings, such as a remarkable rendition of I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen , which became number 2 in Australia, did not make it into the charts at home. However, the band had loyal fans in the years that followed , especially in the Benelux countries and Australia.
In 1978 the last original single Bye Bye Blackbird was released and Lieutenant Pigeon gave the last concert in Luxembourg in September 1978 . Stavely Makepeace, too, repeatedly released records until 1983 without achieving any further success. Fletcher and Rob Woodward then devoted themselves to studio productions for commercial radio .
Hilda Woodward died on February 22, 1999 at the age of 85.
Steve Johnson brought the Lieutenant Pigeon name back to life with new musicians in 1989. Although Johnson then left the band, a group of the same name (without one of the original members) toured all over the world to perform the old songs. 2001 Woodward rejoined this band. In 2006 he toured with Chris Allen (formerly The Animals , Denny Laine Band), Simon Van Downham (ex- Mindbenders , Thin Lizzy ) and Geoff Hammond (ex- Easybeats , Denny Laine Band). Occasionally Pete Barton (ex-Mindbenders) also takes part, 2006 singer of Animals.
Band members
1972
- Rob (ert) Woodward - keyboards
- Steve Johnson - bass
- Nigel Fletcher - drums
- Hilda Woodward - keyboards
2006
- Rob (ert) Woodward - keyboards
- Chris Allen - bass
- Simon Van Downham - guitar
- Geoff Hammond - drums
Discography
Albums
- 1973: Moldy Old Music
- 1973: ll Take You Home Again Kathleen
- 1973: Pigeon Pie
- 1974: Pigeon Party
- 1998: Moldy Old Dough (compilation)
- 2001: The Best of Lieutenant Pigeon (compilation)
- 2004: The Scrap Iron Rhythm Revue (as Stavely Makepeace)
Singles
- 1972: Moldy Old Dough
- 1972: Desperate Dan
- 1973: … And the Fun Goes On
- 1973: Creativity
- 1973: Oxford Bags
- 1974: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
- 1974: You Are My Heart's Delight
- 1974: Yours is all my heart
- 1974: The Blue Danube
- 1975: Rockabilly Hot Pot
- 1976: Good-Bye (From the White Horse Inn)
- 1976: The Grandfather Clock
- 1976: I'll Sail My Ship Alone
- 1977: Spangles
- 1978: Disco Bells
- 1978: Bye Bye Blackbird
- 1981: Bobbing Up and Down Like This
As Stavely Makepeace
- 1969: (I Wanna Love You Like A) Mad Dog
- 1969: Reggae Denny
- 1970: Edna (Let Me Sing My Beautiful Song)
- 1970: Smokey Mountain Rhythm Revue
- 1971: Give Me That Pistol
- 1972: Walking Through the Blue Grass
- 1972: Slippery Rock 70's'
- 1973: Prima Donna
- 1973: Cajun Band
- 1974: Runaround Sue
- 1977: Baby Blue Eyes
- 1978: No Regrets
- 1979: Coconut Shuffle
- 1980: Songs of Yesterday
- 1983: Just Tell Her Fred Said Goodbye
literature
- Frank Laufenberg: Rock & Pop Lexicon 1, ISBN 3-612-26206-8 .
- Rice, Rice, Gambaccini, Read: Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits, ISBN 0-85112-250-7 .
- Gambaccini, Rice, Rice: Guinness Book of Number One Hits, 1988, ISBN 0-85112-893-9 .
- Nigel Fletcher and Rob Woodward: When Show Business is No Business, 2001, Makepeace Distribution, Coventry.
Individual evidence
Web links
- The story of Lieutenant Pigeon and Stavely Makepeace
- Lieutenant Pigeon at Allmusic (English)
- Lieutenant Pigeon at Discogs (English)
- Stavely Makepeace at Allmusic (English)
- Stavely Makepeace at Discogs (English)