Home > Music > Artist Info > Ten Years After > Biography

Biography

Ten Years After is an English blues-rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition they had twelve albums enter the US Billboard 200, and are best known for tracks like "I'm Going Home", "Hear Me Calling", "Rock'n Roll Music to the World", "I'd Love to Change the World" and "Love Like a Man".

History

The band's core formed in late 1960 as Ivan Jay and the Jaycats. After several years of local success in the Nottingham/Mansfield, known since 1962 as the Jaybirds and later as Ivan Jay and the Jaymen, Alvin Lee and Leo Lyons founded Ten Years After. Ivan Jay sang lead vocals from late 1960 to 1962 and was joined by Ric Lee in August 1965, replacing drummer Dave Quickmire, who had replaced Pete Evans in 1962.

In 1966 The Jaybirds moved to London, where Chick Churchill joined the group. That November the quartet signed a manager, Chris Wright, and changed its name to Blues Trip, Blues Yard (they played a show at the Marquee Club supporting the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band). Finally, in November 1966, they changed the name to Ten Years After—in honor of Elvis Presley, an idol of Lee's. (This was ten years after Presley's enormous successful year, 1956.)

The group was the first act booked by the soon-to-be Chrysalis Agency. It secured a residency at the Marquee, and was invited to play at the Windsor Jazz Festival in 1967. That performance led to a contract with Deram, a subsidiary of Decca—the first band Deram signed without a hit single. In October, its 1967 they released the self-titled debut album, Ten Years After.

In 1968, after touring Scandinavia and the United States, Ten Years After released a second album, the live Undead, with the noteworthy song I'm Going Home. They followed this in February 1969 by the studio issue Stonedhenge, a British hit that included another well-known track, "Hear Me Calling" (it was released also as a single, and covered in 1972 by the British glam rock rising stars, Slade). In July 1969, the group appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival, in the first event rock bands were invited to. On August 17th, the band performed a breakthrough American appearance at Woodstock; their rendition of "I'm Going Home" featuring Alvin Lee as lead singer, was featured in both the subsequent film and soundtrack album and catapulted them to star status.

In 1970, Ten Years After released "Love Like a Man", the group's only hit in the UK Singles Chart. It was the first record issued with a different playing speed on each side: a three-minute edit at 45rpm, and a nearly eight-minute live version at 33rpm. This song was on the band's fifth album, Cricklewood Green. The name of the album comes from a friend of the group who lived in Cricklewood, London. He grew a sort of plant said to have hallucinogenic effects. The band did not know the name of this plant, so the members called their album Cricklewood Green. In August 1970, Ten Years After played the Strawberry Fields Festival near Toronto, and the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.

In 1971, the band switched labels to Columbia Records and released the hit album A Space in Time, which marked a move toward more commercial material. It featured the group's biggest hit, "I'd Love to Change the World". In late 1972, the group issued their second Columbia album Rock & Roll Music to the World and in 1973, the live double album Ten Years After Recorded Live. The band subsequently broke up after their final 1974 Columbia album Positive Vibrations. The members reunited in 1983 to play the Reading Festival, and this performance was later released on CD as The Friday Rock Show Sessions - Live At Reading '83' . In 1988, the members reunited for a few concerts and recorded the album About Time (1989). In 1994, they participated in the Eurowoodstock festival in Budapest.

Alvin Lee mostly played and recorded under his own name following his split from the band. He died from complications during a routine medical procedure on March 6, 2013.

In 2003, the other band members replaced him with Joe Gooch, and recorded the album, Now. Material from the following tour was used for the 2005 double album, Roadworks. Ric Lee is currently in a band called The Breakers, along with Ian Ellis (ex-Clouds).

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilations

Double Deluxe (1970)
Ten Years After (1971)
Alvin Lee and Company (Deram, 1972)
Goin' Home (Deram, 1975)
Classic Performances of (Columbia, 1976)
London Collector – Greatest Hits (London, 1977)
Profile (1979)
Ten Years After (1980)
Timewarps (1983)
The Collection (1985)
At Their Peak (1987)
Universal (1987) (Chrysalis Records)
Portfolio: A History (1988)
The Collection (1991)
Essential (1991)
Pure Blues (1995)
I'm Going Home (1996)
Premium Gold Collection (1998)
The Best of (2000)
Very Best Ten Years After Album Ever (2001)
Ten Years After Anthology (2002)

Bibliography

The New Musical Express Book of Rock, Star Books, 1975. ISBN 0-352-30074-4.
Paytress, Mark (January 1997). "Ten Years After". Record Collector (221): 84–89.
Alvin Lee and Ten Years After–Visual History - Herb Staehr, Free Street Press, [1]

This biography is from Wikipedia, the free collaborative encyclopedia. Used under licence and subject to disclaimers. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors, and recent changes might not appear just yet. See the latest version of the article.