SLASH...The Cat in the Hat

The VERY first riff that Slash EVER played within earshot of me was the opening to Sweet Child O Mine and to say that I was won over virtually straight away is an understatement...sadly Axl ruined my love for Guns n Roses BUT my love for the OTHER greatest Top Hat, Noddy Holder being the first,  in rock n roll has not wavered, hell, even if you dont like Slashes tunes, you got to admit his got an interesting charisma about him..his definatly got a vibe going on.

I've got a goodly percentage of his stuff ..all three solo albums ( if they can truly be called solo albums, the first one maybe, but the last two with Myles and the lads, their band albums for sure, anyway, have to admit Snakepit didnt do a whole lot for me and the Velvet Revolver stuff onlyn had its moments (Dirty little thing for instance)...it was when Slasher decided to do get stuck in and go truly solo, that I truly dug it,  the resulting album [Slash RnfnR] has lived on the mp3 gizmo ever since.

As the lead guitarist for Guns N' Roses, Slash established himself as one of hard rock's finest and most soulful soloists during the late '80s, technically adept yet always firmly grounded in the gritty Aerosmith and Stones licks he loved. Slash was born Saul Hudson on July 23, 1965, in Stoke-on-Trent, England, his mom was a clothing designer who worked on David Bowie's film The Man Who Fell to Earth, and his dad drew album art for such artists as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. The family eventually moved to Hollywood, where Hudson attended junior high, received his first guitar, and met future GNR drummer Steven Adler.

With Hudson adopting the nickname Slash, given to him by a family friend, the two formed a band called Road Crew; although it proved unsuccessful, it was the vehicle through which they met and eventually joined up with the other members of Guns N' Roses

Slash has received critical acclaim as a guitarist. Time named him runner-up on their list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009, while Rolling Stone placed him at No. 65 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in 2011. Guitar World ranked his solo in "November Rain" No. 6 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos" in 2008, and Total Guitar placed his riff in "Sweet Child o' Mine" at No. 1 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Riffs" in 2004.  In 2012, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with other members of Guns N' Roses.

The Gunners debuted in June 1985, and even before Appetite for Destruction was released in 1987, the bandmembers acquired a reputation as notorious alcohol and drug abusers. As their popularity soared, the reserved Slash established himself as an important part of the band's visual image, with a top hat and a mound of shaggy black hair covering his face as he typically staggered around the stage with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. .In 1992, Slash courted controversy again with a product endorsement for Black Death vodka. Later that year, he was married to actress and model Renee Sorum, a union that lasted five years.

Meanwhile, in spite of controversy and personnel turnovers, Guns N' Roses had actually continued to record music. After the Use Your Illusion sets of 1991 and the 1993 punk covers album The Spaghetti Incident?, the band went on hiatus. Slash formed a side project called Slash's Snakepit, which consisted of fellow Gunners Matt Sorum (drums) and Gilby Clarke (guitar), plus bassist Mike Inez and vocalist Eric Dover.

 The group released an album in 1995 titled It's Five O'Clock Somewhere; Slash hit the road with a slightly different touring lineup, with Brian Tichy and James LoMenzo signing on as the rhythm section. In 1996, Slash put together a different band to play at a blues festival in Budapest, an endeavor that evolved into Slash's Blues Ball. 

Featuring vocalist/harmonica player Teddy Andreadis, rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck, saxophonist Dave McClarem, bassist Johnny Griparic, and drummer Alvino Bennet, Slash's Blues Ball devoted themselves primarily to a repertoire of classic blues covers, plus occasional GNR and Snakepit material.

In October 1996 it was confirmed that Slash was no longer a member of the band, its said he split due to Axl sudden fondness for electronic and industrial music, this went against his Keef and Joe fkn Perry influences so he split

He gigged off and on with the Blues Ball into 1998, although a rumored live album never materialized. Instead, Slash decided to re-form the Snakepit in 1999 with an entirely different lineup (the original members were by this time involved in other projects, and the Blues Ball was more suited to touring than developing original material). Raspy-voiced singer Rod Jackson and ex-Venice drummer Matt Laug came on board, along with Blues Ball bassist Griparic (now Johnny Blackout) and Teddy Andreadis, who contributed keyboard and harmonica work. After trying out ex-Alice Cooper guitarist Ryan Roxie, Slash settled on rhythm guitarist Kerry Kelly, who had previously worked with Warrant and Ratt.

The new Snakepit played some gigs together and in the spring of 2000 completed a new album, which was originally slated to be released on Interscope/Geffen. However, feeling that a more traditional guitar rock album would get lost in the promotional shuffle, Slash moved over to Koch, which finally released Ain't Life Grand in October 2000. 

A few years later, Slash teamed up again with McKagan, Matt Sorum, and Stone Temple Pilots lead singer Scott Weiland to form the supergroup Velvet Revolver, who released their first album in 2004. Velvet Revolver released a second album called Contraband in 2007 and fell apart not long afterward. Slash regrouped by releasing his memoir in 2007 and cutting his eponymous first solo album, drafting a bunch of friends -- including Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Cornell, Kid Rock, and Fergie -- to sing lead vocals.

 For the supporting tour, Slash had Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy sing lead. This union proved strong, as Kennedy was the only singer on Slash's second album, 2012's Apocalyptic Love, which hit number four in the American album charts upon release. Two years later, Slash released World on Fire, his second album with Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators; it debuted at number ten on the U.S. charts upon its September 2014 release.

On October 10, 1992, Slash married model-actress Renée Suran in Marina del Rey, California. They divorced in late 1997 after five years of marriage. Slash married Perla Ferrar on October 15, 2001 in Hawaii. They have two sons, London Emilio (born August 28, 2002) and Cash Anthony (born June 23, 2004)  In August 2010, Slash filed for divorce from Ferrar, but the couple reconciled two months later. The family lives in Los Angeles, California.

In an article published by Us Weekly, Slash called himself a "proud dual citizen" of the United Kingdom and the United States. A British national since his London birth, he has resided in Los Angeles since 1971 but did not acquire American citizenship until 1996. He said in an interview for The Telegraph in 2010 'I do consider myself British. I have very strong feelings about my British heritage. My first years were there, I went to school there, and I have seemingly endless family on that side of the pond. So I’ve always felt most comfortable in England.’

In 2001, at the age of 35, Slash was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a form of congestive heart failure caused by his many years of alcohol and drug abuse. Originally given between six days and six weeks to live, he survived through physical therapy and the implantation of a defibrillator.Slash has been clean and sober since 2005, which he credits to his wife Perla. In 2009, following his mother's death from lung cancer, he quit smoking.

With Guns N' Roses

Appetite for Destruction (1987)

G N' R Lies (1988)

Use Your Illusion I (1991)

Use Your Illusion II (1991)

"The Spaghetti Incident?" (1993)

With Slash's Snakepit

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere (1995)

Ain't Life Grand (2000)

With Velvet Revolver

Contraband (2004)

Libertad (2007)

Solo

Slash (2010)

Featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators

Apocalyptic Love (2012)

World on Fire (2014)

A Knights [and Blackmore] Tale

G'day, time for a blogaroo about a fairly recent discovery which has become a firm favourite roaring through the headphones


Musically,, I've been a BIG fan of Ritchie Blackmore since the famous live album Made in Japan was released by Purple in the early 70's..philosophically, I wasnt a fan, Blackmore had a bit of a crappy attitiude if you ask me and it carried on through the Rainbow days and into the Deep Purple reunion for the "Perfect Strangers" album....

Then he vanished off my radar for many a year and in the meantime while he was away Ritchie shifted his musical focus away from hard rock in the late 1990s and started concentrating on his love of Renaissance-era music. He formed Blackmore's Night with his fiancee, vocalist/lyricist Candice Night, and recruited other musicians from around the world to combine elements of world music, Renaissance, new age, folk, and rock & roll. 

Blackmore didn't exactly retire his Fender Stratocaster, but he plays acoustic guitar almost exclusively in Blackmore's Night. His acoustic guitar melodies and Night's clear, wonderful voice blend with a host of instruments such as mandolins, keyboards, pennywhistles, violins, tambourines, military drums, and hurdy-gurdies. Blackmore once described the band's sound as "Mike Oldfield meets Enya." 

Blackmore and Night met in about 1989 when Deep Purple played soccer against employees of a Long Island radio station where she worked. Night, a former model, studied communications at the New York Institute of Technology and had her own radio show. Blackmore and Night discovered they shared a love of Renaissance culture and quickly became a couple. The formation of Blackmore's Night is tied to the efforts of his previous two bands. Blackmore left Deep Purple -- again -- after 1993's musically disappointing The Battle Rages On... album. Blackmore then revived Rainbow -- technically under the original Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow moniker -- with largely unknown musicians for 1995's Stranger in Us All, during the reformed Rainbow's recording of the album Stranger in Us All in 1995, on which Night contributed some of the lyrics and backing harmony vocals, the duo were already gearing up their debut album. Night's personality and singing ability made her the natural choice as frontwoman. In 1997 the project started as being a pun of their own names, which would consist of themselves plus session musicians.

Blackmore didn't really want to call it a Rainbow project, but record company executives insisted the name recognition would make it easier to market the album. After Stranger in Us All, Blackmore decided to actually record Renaissance-inspired music. He'd loved the style for years, but he never really played it himself. Once he began playing the music at home, Night would casually start singing along. This innocent, informal practice germinated in Blackmore's Night. The debut album, Shadow of the Moon, was released domestically in 1998. Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson contributes flute on "Play Minstrel Play." Under a Violet Moon followed in 1999, and since a full tour was planned, Blackmore consciously wrote more upbeat, stage-friendly music. The duo continued to release albums throughout the noughties, including 2003's Ghost of a Rose, 2006's The Village Lanterne, and 2008's Secret Voyage. In 2010, Blackmore and Night released their eighth studio album Autumn Sky. Dedicated to their newly born daughter, the album went on to reach the number 15 spot on the German album charts. Dancer and the Moon, their ninth release, appeared in 2013.

Their debut album Shadow of the Moon was a musical success and featured Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull on flute for the song "Play Minstrel Play". In subsequent albums, particularly gorgeous Fires at Midnight, there was an increased incorporation of rock guitar into the music, whilst maintaining a folk rock direction. Over time, Night has increasingly participated instrumentally as well as singing the vocals, and is competent in a wide variety of Renaissance instruments.

The group performs at Renaissance fairs and Renaissance Festivals, as well as in stand-alone concert tours in appropriate venues including 'castle tours' of Europe, where they perform in historic surroundings for an audience dressed largely in period costume. The duo has been successful enough to inspire a number of international tribute bands including: Renaissance Night, the Italian Morning Star and the Midnight.

In 2006, Night performed a duet with Andi Deris on Helloween's "Light the Universe", which was released as a single in certain countries and is available on their album Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy, released in the same year.

On June 27, 2008, the duo released its seventh studio album called Secret Voyage, a mix of medieval-sounding tracks and some contemporary ones. In addition to some covers of some traditional folk music (“Locked Within the Crystal Ball" is from the fourteenth century) and some originals, Blackmore’s Night also performed a cover of a Rainbow song (“Rainbow Eyes”) and an Elvis Presley cover ("Can't Help Falling in Love").

On October 5, 2008, Night and Blackmore were married after 19 years together. This is the fourth marriage for Blackmore.....Autumn Esmerelda Blackmore was born on May 27, 2010. A new album titled Autumn Sky was released soon afterwards. Their son Rory Dartanyan was born on February 7, 2012.

THE BAND 

Ritchie Blackmore - 

guitars, mandolin, domra, hurdy gurdy

Candice Night - 

vocals, chanter, cornamuse, shawm, rauschpfeife, tambourine

Current additional personnel

Bard David of Larchmont (David Baranowski) - keyboards (May 2003–Present)

Earl Grey of Chimay (Mike Clemente) - bass, mandolin, rhythm guitar (Feb 2008–Present)

Troubadour of Aberdeen (David Keith) - drums, percussion (2012–Present)

Lady Kelly De Winter (Kelly Morris) - French horn, harmony vocals (2012–Present)

Scarlet Fiddler (Claire Smith) - violin (2012–Present)

Former additional personnel

Scott Hazell - harmony & backing vocals (Jan 1997-Mar 2001)

Mick Cervino - bass (Jul 1997-Aug 2000)

John O'Reilly - drums, percussion (Jul 1997-Dec 1997)

Joseph James - keyboards (Jul 1997-Dec 1997)

Jessie Haynes - guitars, recorder, backing vocals (Jul 1997-Oct 1998)

Sue Goehringer - backing vocals (1998-Mar 2001)

Adam Forgione - keyboards (Sep 1998-Jan 2000)

Alex Alexander - drums, percussion (Sep 1998-Jan 2000)

Rachel Birkin - violin (Sep 1998-Oct 1998)

Marci Geller - keyboards, backing vocals (Jun 1999-May 2001)

Jim Hurley - violin (Jun 1999-May 2000)

Carmine Giglio - keyboards (Apr 2000-Aug 2002)

Lady Rraine (Lorraine Ferro) - harmony vocals (Apr 2002-May 2002, Oct 2007)

Mike Sorrentino - percussion (Apr 2000-Aug 2001)

Chris Devine - violin, flute, guitar (Jul 2000-May 2002)

Sir Robert of Normandie (Robert Curiano) - bass, guitars (Oct 2000-2007)

Vita Gasparro (Lady Vita) - guitar, vocals (Jul 2001-Dec 2001)

Squire Malcolm of Lumley (Malcolm Dick) - drums, percussionist (Aug 2001–2011)

Lady Madeline (Madeline Posner) - backing vocals (Jul 2002-2007)

Lady Nancy (Nancy Posner) - backing vocals (Jul 2002-2007)

Lord Marnen of Wolfhurst (Marnen Laibow-Koser) - violin, flute, recorder (Jul 2002-Dec 2003)

Tudor Rose (Tina Chancey) - violin, flute (May 2004–2007)

Baron St James - bass (Apr 2007-Mar 2008)

Gypsy Rose (Elizabeth Cary) - violin (Oct 2007–2011)

Studio musicians

Pat Regan - various string instruments (1997–2008)

Kevin Dunne - drums (1998–1999)

DISCOGRAPHY

Shadow of the Moon (1997)

Under a Violet Moon (1999)

Fires at Midnight (2001)

Ghost of a Rose (2003)

The Village Lanterne (2006)

Winter Carols (2006)

Secret Voyage (2008)

Autumn Sky (2010)

Dancer and the Moon (2013)

SMOKIE...They play their rock and roll to us

G'day, howzitgoing

Lets start with a question shall we...who, out there cant think of one single Smokie song ?...that person would indeed, be a rare individual....I have to admit that they werent my cup of tea initially, I lumped them in with Racey, Major Matchbox and The Rollers.....I was a bit busy grooving  to Zeppelin, Grand Funk and Purple at the time.

Then after a while I turned my head around and became quite the fan of Chris Norman and his pile of lyrical master piece's...yes, I said master pieces...well, they are....since Chris Normans departure, I kept listening out for Smokie albums and got a few through import stores around Sydney, and to be fair, their pretty damn good

And so please allow me to tell the tale of Smokie ....

Originally called "The Yen", then "The Sphynx", and later "Essence", the band was formed in 1965 after a chance meeting between Ron Kelly and Alan Silson in Moore's Music Shop, North Parade, Bradford, in October 1963. Two days after that meeting they were joined by Chris Norman for rehearsals, but without finding a suitable bass player, just practiced together for a year. The addition of Terry Uttley on bass guitar at the beginning of 1965 completed the line up and The Yen's first gig was at Birkenshaw School in February 1965. It was composed of Chris Norman (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Terry Uttley (bass/vocals), Alan Silson (lead guitar/vocals) and Ron Kelly[2](drums). As Essence, they toured small clubs in Bradford and the surrounding communities before they split in 1966.

 The Black Cats were already a working band when Ron Kelly joined them at Dewsbury College, in September 1966. The Black Cats at this time were Peter Eastwood on guitar/vocals and Arthur Higgins on bass. Kelly replaced the drummer they had at the time. Alan Silson joined the band initially alongside Pete Eastwood, but the latter soon left and was replaced by Chris Norman. In November 1967 the band changed their name to "The Four Corners".

In April 1968 the group found a manager in Mark Jordan, who advised them to rename themselves "The Elizabethans". The group now became fully professional, and the members garnered higher salaries. In June 1968 Terry Uttley joined the group as replacement for Arthur Higgins, who had left the band in order to carry on his education. 9 December 1968 saw the group having their first TV appearance on Yorkshire Television's news and magazine show Calendar. In August 1969 the four performed two songs for the BBC show High Jinx. Enthused with this successful performance, Jordan had them record their first demo tape. In January 1970 RCA showed an interest in the band and suggested a name change to "Kindness". A single was recorded and the double A-side "Light of Love"/"Lindy Lou" was released on 3 April 1970. 300 copies were sold, but no other tracks were released, and RCA subsequently terminated the record contract.

An arrangement was made with Ronnie Storm (no connection to Rory Storm) to back him on the single release "My Desire", and it was released under the pseudonym "Fuzzy and The Barnets" due to contractual difficulties encountered by Storm. At the same time Steve Rowland, of Family Dogg fame, heard the band playing live on Radio One Club and offered to sign them to his production company. He arranged for Albert Hammond, who was also in Family Dogg, to write a number for the band, which Hammond duly did. This track was entitled "It Never Rains In Southern California", but before it could be released, he decided that he wanted to record it for himself. Kelly was later asked by Steve Rowland to play drums on it. Accordingly, Hammond wrote a few other songs for the band, and a single "You Ring a Bell/Have You Met Angela" was recorded and prepared for release, but due to various problems in Rowland's organisation, it was never released. In late 1971 the band's management was taken over by Dave Eager, the Radio One DJ, and Norman suffered a serious infection that affected his vocal cords. After his recovery, his voice sounded much rougher, which the other group members considered an interesting addition to their sound. Eager introduced them to Decca, which resulted in recordings in February 1972, their first single being "Oh Julie/I Love You Carolina". Shortly thereafter, their next single was released. "Let the Good Times Roll" was well liked by the media and was selected as the show's opening theme for Emperor Rosco's Radio One Saturday show, but this popularity did not translate into record sales. The last single on Decca was "Make it Better"/"Lonely Long Lady", which flopped and led to Decca terminating their contracts.

Rise to fame
During the band's Decca contract, Eager used his contacts with the Manchester based agency Kennedy Street Enterprises, to gain the band an audition to be Peter Noone's (of Herman's Hermits fame) backing band. The band were immediately asked to become his permanent band after their audition at Noone's House in Denham (Bucks) and soon they embarked on a nationwide tour with him. Noone didn't bring the boys any luck, but during the tour Bill Hurley offered to manage them. Hurley convinced Eager to release the boys from the contract with him. Ron Kelly left Kindness on 8 August 1973 and the band recruited an old school friend, Pete Spencer (drums/vocals), who had played in various groups, to drum for them (ex The Chevrons, The Common Bond, The Collection, Dave and Dee Dees Playground, London Fog, Sugar and Spice, Brenda and The Collection). This line-up performed on a sightseeing boat in Frankfurt, Germany. Hurley introduced the band to composers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman (aka Chinnichap), who also wrote songs for glam rock contemporaries Sweet, Mud and Suzi Quatro, as well as for Hot Chocolate. At first "Chinnichap" turned them down, but Hurley's tenacity eventually convinced the composers/producers to give the young group a chance. Hurley and Chinnichap started working intensely with the band, and suggested yet another name change, to "Smokey". An attempt to dress the band up in leather clothes (similar to Suzi Quatro) was dropped, and the four won acceptance for their jeans outfit.

They purchased new instruments and in late 1974 began recording sessions for their debut album Pass It Around which was released 14 February 1975. The album spawned the title track as a single but failed to gain significant attention from the British audience. In April that year Smokey opened for Pilot on tour.

Height of popularity
On 22 September 1975, Smokey released their second album Changing All the Time. This LP sounded much softer than the debut, contained string arrangements on some songs, and heavily leaned toward acoustic guitar arrangements with close harmony vocals, which became their signature sound. The first single from the new album, "If You Think You Know How to Love Me", quickly became a big hit in many European countries, peaking at No. 3 in Britain, and won Smokey a wider audience. They followed it with "Don't Play Your Rock 'n' Roll to Me".

Around this time the US soul legend Smokey Robinson threatened to file a lawsuit, alleging that the band's name would confuse the audience. In order to avoid legal action, the group changed the spelling to "Smokie" and proceeded to commence their first tour as headline act, after the release of the second album.

The third LP was partly produced in the US, where Nicky Chinn had moved for various reasons (tax being just one of them). Called Midnight Café, it built on the popularity of Changing All the Time and established the group as a new pop phenomenon. The subsequent years yielded a string of successful singles. "Something's Been Making Me Blue", "Wild Wild Angels" and "I'll Meet You At Midnight" gained a faithful following among younger listeners. 

When their single, a cover of Australian band New World's single, "Living Next Door to Alice", was released in November 1976 it quickly became the group's biggest hit, followed by the similarly successful "Lay Back in the Arms of Someone". Smokie now found themselves European superstars with sold-out tours and million-selling albums. The next two albums, 1977's Bright Lights & Back Alleys and The Montreux Album (1978), cemented their status and were both chart successes. From "Bright Lights etc" came two hit singles, the reggae influenced "It's Your Life" and a cover of the 1960s Jackie De Shannon/Searchers song "Needles and Pins".

At the peak of Smokie's success in 1978, Chris Norman teamed up with Suzi Quatro (who had just decided to return to Chinnichap after looking at separation from them) and released a duet single, "Stumblin' In" — another Chinnichap composition. Norman and Quatro were on top of the European charts for some time, and it reached the US Top 10, though no higher than No. 41 in Britain. Smokie's subsequent 45 was "Mexican Girl". Composed by Norman and Spencer, the record saw the group actively distance itself from Chinnichap. Smokie's next act was to produce British football star Kevin Keegan's first single, "Head Over Heels in Love", which charted in many European countries.

In 1979, the album The Other Side of the Road was released, entirely recorded in Australia. It spawned two more hits for the band, "Do to Me" and "Babe It's Up to You", but it became clear that their sales were declining. Only a subsequent non-album single release, the melancholic "Run to Me", became another hit.

Smokie met with a hiatus before Solid Ground was released in 1981. The advance single was neither a Chinnichap composition nor penned by any Smokie member, but a cover of Del Shannon's 1963 hit, "Little Town Flirt" — the last Smokie single to chart.

Decline and Norman's departure
In early 1982 the last album for EMI/BMG was released, Strangers in Paradise, which was almost a complete failure. The departure from Chinnichap became notable, and the four members of Smokie appeared unable to recreate their success using their own material. Shortly after the release of Strangers In Paradise, work began on two parallel albums, one released by Smokie as Midnight Delight, and the other Chris Norman's solo debut, Rock Away Your Teardrops. Neither release sold well.

Though Smokie had begun work on a comeback, in 1986, Norman, by that stage enthused with the relative success of his second solo album, Some Hearts Are Diamonds, announced that he was to leave the band. He was replaced by Alan Barton, formerly of Black Lace, a friend of the band's, who had a vocal style similar to Norman's. Smokie also recruited keyboard player Martin Bullard. Spencer quit and was replaced on drums by Steve Pinnell. The new line-up released All Fired Up! in 1988, which brought some attention and contained a new version of "Rock Away Your Tear Drops", the song that was initially the title track to Norman's debut album.

Comeback
Several releases followed over the next years including Boulevard Of Broken Dreams (by Dieter Bohlen), Chasing Shadows and Celebration (1994), which contained old hits in new arrangements accompanied by an orchestra. None had any real success. However, Smokie made a surprise return to the UK singles chart in 1995, with a duet with controversial northern comedian Roy Chubby Brown. Brown knew the band through Steve Pinnel, having taught Pinnel the rudiments of drumming as payment for being his driver in his early club comedy career, on a re-release of "Living Next Door To Alice" which reached #3. The band had noticed that, whilst touring in Ireland, whenever they sang the main line "For 24 years/I've been living next door to Alice" the audience would shout "Alice? Who the fuck is Alice?" The resident DJ in Dutch café Gompie first came up with this phrase and, after a local record producer had noted its popularity and organised a recording, had a number 17-hit with Alice? Who the Fuck is Alice?! in the United Kingdom and in the Netherlands reaching #1. Smokie decided to cover the Gompie-version of their own song and thought that Brown was the ideal man for the job, with Barton singing the song vocals and Brown providing the additional sworn response.

Shortly after the song was recorded Smokie's tour bus careened off of the road during a hailstorm in Germany. Barton, badly injured, died after five days in intensive care. The rest of the band and Brown agreed to donate their royalties from the song to Barton's first wife

1990s–present
The remaining members decided to continue with the band and went about finding their third lead singer. Friend of the band Mike Craft was chosen; allegedly it only took one song to come to a decision. The band released The World and Elsewhere later that year, followed by Light a Candle — The Christmas Album.

Alice with Mike Craft on vocals

In 1996, Alan Silson terminated his membership, saying he intended to pursue a solo career and to work with other acts as well, joining Mickey Finn's T. Rex, and that he also no longer wanted to be on the road all the time. Mick McConnell, one of the band's road crew and their guitar technician replaced him as the group's new lead guitarist, this formation producing the next album, Wild Horses - The Nashville Album (1998), precisely in Nashville, Tennessee. In February 2001, Smokie released two albums, Uncovered and Uncovered Too, which consist entirely of cover versions, with no original new songs added.

In 2004 Smokie recorded a studio album, On the Wire, with eleven of the 14 songs written by the band themselves. In 2006, the band released the album From the Heart. Although mainly a compilation, it did contain three brand new tracks.

2010 has seen Smokie gain new chart success with a CD of brand new material, Take a Minute. Released initially in Denmark in August of that year, it peaked at number three on the Danish albums chart. Releases in the remainder of Scandinavia and Germany took place during October, with the single "Sally's Song" — a continuation of the story of the other character in "Living Next Door to Alice" — also released. UK release dates have yet to be announced for either Take a Minute or "Sally's Song".


SO...there you go, hope you enjoy the vids and stuff....seeya next time

Members 

Current members

Terry Uttley - bass, vocals (1964-1966, 1968-present)

Martin Bullard - keyboards (1986-present)

Steve Pinnell - drums (1986-present)

Mike Craft - lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1995-present)

Mick McConnell - lead guitar (1996-present)

Former members

Alan Silson - lead guitar, vocals (1964-1996)

Chris Norman - lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1964-1986)

Ron Kelly - drums (1964-1973)

Arthur Higgins - bass, vocals (1966-1968)

Pete Spencer - drums (1973-1986)

Alan Barton - lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1986-1995; died 1995)

Discography

Pass It Around (1975)

Changing All the Time (1975)

Smokey (1975)

Midnight Café (1976)

Bright Lights & Back Alleys (1977)

The Montreux Album (1978)

The Other Side of the Road (1979)

Solid Ground (1981)

Strangers in Paradise (1982)

Midnight Delight (1982)

All Fired Up (1988)

Boulevard of Broken Dreams (1989)

Whose Are These Boots? (1990)

Chasing Shadows (1992)

Burnin' Ambition (1993)

The World and Elsewhere (1995)

Light A Candle (1998)

Wild Horses - The Nashville Album (1998)

Uncovered (2000)

Uncovered Too (2001)

On the Wire (2004)

Take a Minute (2010)

so there you go...catch ya