The Move

The Move biography

The Move, from Birmingham, England, were one of the leading British rock bands of the 1960s. They scored nine Top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any success in the United States.

Although bassist-vocalist Chris "Ace" Kefford was the original leader, for most of their career The Move was led by guitarist, singer and songwriter Roy Wood. He composed all the group's UK singles and, from 1968, also sang lead vocals on many songs, although Carl Wayne was the main lead singer up to 1970. Initially the band had 4 main vocalists (Wayne, Wood, Trevor Burton and Kefford).

The group evolved from several mid 1960s Birmingham based groups, including Carl Wayne and the Vikings, the Nightriders and the Mayfair Set. The group's name referred to the move various members of these bands made to form the group. Beside Wood, the original five-piece line-up of The Move in 1965 was drummer Bev Bevan, bassist Kefford, vocalist Carl Wayne and guitarist Trevor Burton. The final line-up of 1972 was the trio of Wood, Bevan and Jeff Lynne, who transitioned the group into the Electric Light Orchestra. Since 2007, Burton and Bevan have been performing as 'The Move featuring Bev Bevan and Trevor Burton'.

History

Formation and early career

The Move was formed in December 1965 and played their first shows in early 1966. The original intentions of Burton, Kefford, and Wood, were to start a group from among Birmingham's best musicians, along similar lines to The Who. The three played together at jam sessions at Birmingham's Cedar Club, and invited Wayne and Bevan to join their new group. After a debut at the Bell Hotel in Stourbridge and further bookings around the Birmingham area, Moody Blues manager Tony Secunda offered to manage them. At the time, the Move mainly played covers of American west coast groups such as The Byrds together with Motown and rock 'n' roll songs. Although Carl Wayne handled most of the lead vocals, all the band members shared harmonies and each were allowed at least one lead vocal per show.

Secunda got them a weekly residency at London's Marquee Club in 1966, where they appeared dressed in gangster regalia. Their early career was marked by a series of publicity stunts, high-profile media events and outrageous stage antics masterminded by Secunda; these included Wayne taking an axe to television sets, Cadillacs, busts of Adolf Hitler and Rhodesian leader Ian Smith. Eventually, Secunda also managed to persuade Wood to begin writing songs for the band on his time off.

They secured a production contract with independent record producer Denny Cordell, but this was turned into a media event by Secunda, who arranged for the band to sign their contracts on the back of Liz Wilson, a topless female model. Wood wrote their first single, "Night of Fear", a #2 hit in the UK Singles Chart in January 1967, which began the Move's practice of musical quotation (in this case, the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky). Their second single, "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", was another major hit, reaching #5 in the UK.

Biography from , the free encyclopedia.
It may not have been reviewed by a professional editor, and recent changes may not show up straight away. See the latest version of this article. Used under licence. Subject to disclaimers.