Roy Wood

Roy Wood biography

Roy Adrian Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.

Career

Wood was born in Kitts Green, Birmingham, England. His first group in Birmingham in the early 1960s was The Falcons, which he left in 1963 to join Gerry Levene and the Avengers. He then moved to Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders (the band later became The Idle Race). During this period, Wood attended the Moseley College of Art, from which he was expelled in 1964.

From this basis, and other Birmingham-based groups, was formed The Move, and they quickly entered the UK Singles Chart. Their single "Night of Fear" climbed to #2 in early 1967. Their third hit, "Flowers in the Rain", was the first song played at the launch of BBC Radio 1 in 1967, and the band evolved over a three year period. After the departure of The Move's lead singer Carl Wayne, Wood's influence became more prominent. In 1967 Wood (and fellow Move member Trevor Burton) supplied backing vocals on the track, "You Got Me Floatin'", on The Jimi Hendrix Experience's album, Axis: Bold as Love.

Wood was keen on musical experimentation and was in this respect one of the most progressive musicians of his time, taking the 'pop group' into new areas. He was an early proponent of combining rock and roll and pop music with other styles, such as classical music, or the big band sound, and introduced classically-styled string and brass sections into the pop record. In early 1972, Wood's composition Songs Of Praise was shortlisted by the BBC as one of six possible choices for the UK entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1972. When performed by The New Seekers on the Cliff Richard vehicle It's Cliff Richard!, the song finished in last place with 3,842 votes. The group included the track on their album We'd Like To Teach The World To Sing. Wood recorded his own version of Songs of Praise, releasing it on the B-Side of his 1973 single, Dear Elaine.

When The Move was still on tour, he founded, together with his band colleagues Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan, the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was later to gain major commercial success. The original intention was to continue with both The Move and ELO, but the former soon ceased to exist.

ELO's early live performances were chaotic, and after increasing tensions, Wood left in July 1972 and formed a new group, Wizzard, which assembled cellists, brass players and a bigger rhythm section, with several drummers and percussionists. Wood emulated the wall of sound production style of Phil Spector while successfully and affectionately pastiching the rock and roll style of the early 1960s. Meanwhile, he released several solo albums, exploring further musical directions. His 1973 album Boulders was an almost entirely solo effort, right down to the sleeve artwork, with Wood playing a wide variety of musical instruments. A second solo album, Mustard, released in 1975, included contributions by Phil Everly and Annie Haslam, was less successful.

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