Line-ups that make (or break) the band

Not that I can find it now, but I recall reading back when The Charlatans (UK) came out that Tim Burgess “auditioned” for the band by wandering up to them after a gig and insisting that they fire then-vocalist Baz Ketley and hire him instead. Burgess was never much of a singer, but he was good-looking with a lot of stage presence: the teenage girls loved him.

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were staff writers for ABC Records in 1971 when they assembled a band – Steely Dan – with other young musicians. Though their debut album Can’t Buy A Thrill (1972) was successful, they sacked singer David Palmer the following year, and gradually shed the other members: being “a band” didn’t suit Steely Dan.

Fagen and Becker operated Steely Dan as a duo with a succession of session musicians, releasing six more acclaimed albums before their popularity waned in the 80s.

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by Princess Stomper

Princess Stomper is a former magazine contributor and music researcher, who now works in a marketing department for an academic organisation. She lives in the English countryside and runs the Reinspired blog.

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