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10cc was a British Pop Band that achieved its greatest commercial success during the 1970s . The band initially comprised four members, Graham Gouldman , Eric Stewart , Kevin Godley and Lol Creme , who had written and recorded together for about three years before taking on the name of 10cc in 1972. The lineup featured two strong songwriting teams who injected their songs with sharp wit and lyrical dexterity. The more "commercial" team of Stewart and Gouldman were generally fairly straightforward "pop" songwriters, who created some of the group's most accessible material. The experimental half of 10cc was Godley and Creme, who brought a distinctive "art school" sensibility and a more "cinematic" writing style to the group. All four members were skilled multi-instrumentalists, vocalists, writers and producers and each could perform convincingly as lead singers. Interview with Graham Gouldman The original lineup recorded four albums and a string of Top 10 singles. The band suffered a split in 1976, when Godley and Creme left to form Godley & Creme , leaving Gouldman and Stewart to continue touring and recording as 10cc with a variety of musicians including Rick Fenn , Stuart Tosh , Andrew Gold and Paul McCartney enlisted for each album. The band experienced a 9 year hiatus from 1983, before releasing two more albums. There have been no albums since 1995, although in 2004 Gouldman began touring with several peripheral band members, billing themselves as "10cc featuring Graham Gouldman and Friends". HISTORY First collaborations, 1964-1971 Links between three of the band's founding members began in childhood in Manchester , where they grew up. Godley and Creme knew each other as children and Gouldman and Godley went on to attend the same secondary school. Their shared passion for music meant the three would often be playing at their local Jewish Lads' Brigade in their teens. The Whirlwinds, The Sabres, The Mockingbirds, The Yellow Bellow Boom Room, Frabjoy and Runcible Spoon (1964-1969) The first collaboration on record of future 10cc members occurred in 1964, when Graham Gouldman's beat-group band The Whirlwinds recorded a Lol Creme composition, "Baby Not Like You", as the B-side of their only single. The Whirlwinds then changed both their line-up and name, becoming a quartet known as The Mockingbirds, with Gouldman on vocals and guitar and Kevin Godley – who had been in The Sabres with Lol Creme – recruited as drummer. The Mockingbirds issued five non-charting singles in 1965 and '66 before dissolving. Complete Mockingbirds discography at 10cc fan club website In June 1967 Godley and Creme reunited and issued a single as The Yellow Bellow Boom Room ("Seeing Things Green" b/w "Still Life" on UK CBS). In 1969 Gouldman took Godley and Creme to a Marmalade label recording session. Label boss Giorgio Gomelsky was sufficiently impressed by Godley's falsetto to offer him and Creme a recording deal. Godley & Creme recorded a number of basic tracks at Strawberry Studios in September 1969 with Stewart on guitar and Gouldman on bass. "10cc : A Pure Injection Of Pop," chapter 4, by Dave Thompson, "Goldmine" magazine, April 11, 1997 One song, "I'm Beside Myself" b/w "Animal Song", was released as a single credited to Frabjoy and Runcible Spoon. Gomelsky, a former manager of The Yardbirds , planned to market the team as a duo in the vein of Simon And Garfunkel .Liner notes to '' Strawberry Bubblegum '' CD, written by David Wells, June 2003 Plans for an album by Frabjoy and Runcible Spoon faltered, however, when Marmalade ran out of funds. Before Marmalade went under, both Godley and Gouldman placed solo tracks on ''100 Proof'', a 1969 sampler album issued by the label. These solo tracks both involved Stewart and Creme. Gouldman, meanwhile, was making a name for himself as a hit songwriter, penning "Heart Full of Soul" and "For Your Love" for The Yardbirds , "Look Through Any Window" and "Bus Stop"' for The Hollies and "No Milk Today", "East West" and "Listen People" for Herman's Hermits . The Mindbenders (1965-1968) Meanwhile, the fourth future member of 10cc was also tasting significant pop music success: guitarist Eric Stewart was a member of Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders , a group that hit #1 with "The Game Of Love", and had scored a number of other mid-1960s hits. When Fontana left the band in 1965 , the group became known simply as The Mindbenders , and Stewart became their lead vocalist. The first Mindbenders single was the hit "A Groovy Kind Of Love"; follow-up singles were either minor hits or did not chart, although they did maintain a high enough profile to merit an appearance in the 1967 film '' To Sir, With Love ''. In mid-1968, Graham Gouldman had joined Stewart in The Mindbenders, playing on some tour dates and writing and playing on the band's final two singles, "Schoolgirl" (written by Gouldman) and "Uncle Joe the Ice Cream Man". Those singles did not chart and The Mindbenders broke up. The birth of Strawberry Studios; the bubblegum era (1968-1970) In the dying days of The Mindbenders, Stewart began recording demos of new material at Inner City Studios, a Stockport studio then owned by Peter Tattersall. In July 1968 Stewart joined Tattersall as a partner in the studio, where he could further hone his skills as a recording engineer. Eric Stewart comment on his website In October 1968, the studio was relocated to bigger premises and renamed Strawberry Studios, after The Beatles ' " Strawberry Fields Forever ". Eric Stewart comment on his website In 1969 Gouldman, who had become much more in demand as a songwriter than as a performer, also began using Strawberry to record demos of songs he was writing for Marmalade. By the end of the year he, too, was a financial partner in the studios. By 1969, all four members of the original 10cc line-up were working together regularly at Strawberry Studios. Around the same time, noted American Bubblegum Pop writer-producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz of Super K Productions came to England and commissioned Gouldman to write and produce formula bubblegum songs. Many of these songs were recorded at Strawberry Studios, and were either augmented or performed entirely by varying combinations of the future 10cc lineup. Among the recordings from this period was "Sausalito", a #86 US hit credited to Ohio Express , and released in July 1969. In reality, the song featured Gouldman on lead vocal, and vocal and instrumental backing by the other three future 10cc members. In December 1969 Kasenetz and Katz agreed to a proposal by Gouldman that he work solely at Strawberry, rather than moving constantly between Stockport, London and New York. Gouldman convinced the pair that these throwaway two-minute songs could all be written, performed and produced by him and his three colleagues, Stewart, Godley and Creme, at a fraction of the price of hiring outside session musicians. Kasenetz and Katz booked the studio for three months. Kevin Godley recalled: "Zigzag" magazine, January 1975 The three-month project resulted in a number of tracks that appeared under various band names owned by Kasenetz-Katz, including "There Ain't No Umbopo" by Crazy Elephant , "When He Comes" by Fighter Squadron and "Come On Plane" by Silver Fleet (all three with lead vocals by Godley), and the million-selling "Susan's Tuba" by Freddie And The Dreamers (which featured lead vocals by Freddie Garrity , despite claims by some that it was Gouldman). Lol Creme remembered: Hotlegs, Doctor Father, The New Wave Band (1970-1971) When the three-month production deal with Kasenetz-Katz ended, Gouldman returned to New York to work as a staff songwriter for Super K Productions while the remaining three continued to dabble in the studio. With Gouldman absent, Godley, Creme and Stewart continued recording singles. The first, "Neanderthal Man", released under the name Hotlegs , began life as a test of drum layering at the new Strawberry Studios mixing desk, but when released as a single by Fontana Records in July 1970, climbed to No.2 in the UK Charts and became a worldwide hit, selling more than two million copies. Around the same time, the trio released "Umbopo" under the name of Doctor Father . The song, a slower, longer and more melancholic version of the track earlier released under the name of Crazy Elephant, failed to chart. Reverting to the successful band name Hotlegs, in early 1971 Godley, Creme and Stewart recorded the lone Hotlegs album '''', which included "Neanderthal Man". They then recalled Gouldman for a tour as Hotlegs, supporting The Moody Blues , recorded an obscure follow-up single "Lady Sadie" b/w "The Loser". Philips reworked their sole album, removed "Neantherthal Man" and added 'Today" and issued it as "Songs". Stewart, Creme and Godley released another single in February 1971 under yet another pseudonym, The New Wave Band, this time with former Herman's Hermits member Derek "Lek" Leckenby on guitar. The song, a cover version of Paul Simon 's " Cecilia ", was one of the few tracks the band released that they had not written. It also failed to chart. "Manchester Beat" website The band also continued outside production work at Strawberry, working with Dave Berry , Wayne Fontana , Peter Cowap and Herman's Hermits . In 1971 they produced and played on ''Space Hymns'', an album by New Age musician Ramases ; in 1972 and 1973 they co-produced two Neil Sedaka albums, ''Solitaire'' and ''The Tra La La Days Are Over'', also playing on all tracks. The experience of working on ''Solitaire'', which became a success for Sedaka, was enough to prompt the band to seek recognition on their own merits. In an interview Graham Gouldman interview, "Record Collector", 1984 in 1984, Gouldman – who by 1972 was back at Strawberry Studios – said: Once again a four-piece, the group recorded a Stewart/Gouldman song, "Waterfall", in early 1972. Stewart offered the acetate to Apple Records . He waited months before receiving a note from the label saying the song was not commercial enough to release as a single. 10cc: The original lineup, 1972-76 Undeterred by Apple's rejection, the group decided to plug another song which had been written as a possible B-side to "Waterfall", a Godley/Creme composition entitled "Donna". The song was a ." Stewart called King, a flamboyant entrepreneur, producer and recording artist, who drove to Strawberry, listened to the track and "fell about laughing", declaring: "It's fabulous, it's a hit." King signed the band to his UK Records label in July 1972 and dubbed them 10cc. By his own account, King chose the name after having a dream in which he was standing in front of the Hammersmith Odeon in London where the boarding read "10cc The Best Band in the World". A widely-repeated claim, disputed by King Snopes.com, "10cc" and Godley, Interview with Kevin Godley, Rock N Roll Universe online interview, April 2007 but confirmed in a 1988 interview by Creme, Godley & Creme interviewed in "Pulse" magazine, April 1988 is that the band name represented a volume of semen that was more than the average amount ejaculated by men, thus emphasising their potency or prowess. "Donna", released as the first 10cc single, reached No.2 in the UK in September 1972. Although their second single, a similarly '50s-influenced song called "Johnny Don't Do It", was not a major chart success, " Rubber Bullets ", a catchy satirical take on the "Jailhouse Rock" concept, became a hit internationally and gave 10cc their first British No.1 single in May 1973. They consolidated their success a few months later with "The Dean And I", which peaked at No.10 in August. They released two singles, "Headline Hustler" (in the US) and the self-mocking "The Worst Band In The World" (in the UK) and launched a UK tour on August 26, 1973 before returning to Strawberry Studios in November to record the remainder of their second LP, '' Sheet Music '' (1973), which included "The Worst Band In The World" along with other hits "The Wall Street Shuffle" (No.10, 1974) and "Silly Love" (No.24, 1974). "Sheet Music" became the band's breakthrough album, remaining on the UK charts for six months and paving the way for a US tour in February 1974. In February 1975 the band announced they had signed with Mercury Records for US$1 million. The catalyst for the deal was one song – " I'm Not In Love ". Stewart recalled: Eric Stewart interview, Radio Wales, "I Write the Songs" ''. Its melody can also be heard in the overture to Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical "Phantom of the Opera". Although it bore an unlikely title (picked up from a radio talk show), the jaunty single "Life Is A Minestrone" (1975) was another UK Top 10 placing, peaking at No.7. Their biggest success came with the dreamy " I'm Not In Love ", which gave the band their second UK No.1 in May 1975. The song also provided them with their first US chart success when the song reached No.2. A collaborative effort built around a title by Stewart, "I'm Not in Love" is notable for its innovative production, especially its richly overdubbed choral backing. 10cc would also do some production work for Justin Hayward during this time on his single "Blue Guitar" for his "Blue Jays" project with John Lodge . Their fourth LP, '' How Dare You! '' (1976), featuring another Hipgnosis cover, furnished two more UK Top Ten hits – the witty "Art For Art's Sake" (No.5 in December 1975) and "I'm Mandy, Fly Me" (No.7, April 1976). But by this time the once close personal and working relationships between the four members had begun to fray, and it was the last album with the original lineup. 10cc's success prompted the 1976 re-release of the Hotlegs album under the new title '' You Didn't Like It Because You Didn't Think Of It '' with two additional tracks. The title track was the epic B-side of "Neanderthal Man", a section of which had been reworked as "Fresh Air For My Mama" on the 10cc album. The split, 1976 Soon after the release of ''How Dare You'', Godley and Creme left 10cc to work on a project that eventually evolved into the triple LP set '' Consequences '' (1976), a sprawling concept album that featured contributions from satirist Peter Cook and jazz legend Sarah Vaughan . The first of a series of albums by Godley & Creme , ''Consequences'' began as a demonstration record for the " Gizmotron ", an electric guitar effect they had invented. The device, which fitted over the bridge of an electric guitar, contained six small motor-driven wheels attached to small keys (four wheels for electric basses); when the key was depressed, the Gizmotron wheels bowed the guitar strings, producing notes and Chord s with endless Sustain . First used during the recording of the ''Sheet Music'' track "Old Wild Men", the device was designed to further cut their recording costs: by using it on an electric guitar with studio effects, they could effectively simulate strings and other sounds, enabling them to dispense with expensive orchestral overdubs. In a 2007 interview with the ProgGnosis website, ProgGnosis website interview with Kevin Godley, June 23, 2007 Godley explained: "We left because we no longer liked what Gouldman and Stewart were writing. We left because 10cc was becoming safe and predictable and we felt trapped." But speaking to ''Uncut'' magazine 10 years earlier, Kevin Godley interview, "Uncut", 1997 , he expressed regret about the band breaking up as they embarked on the ''Consequences'' project:
In a BBC Radio Wales interview Stewart gave his side of the split:
Godley & Creme went on to achieve cult success as a songwriting and recording duo, scoring several hits and releasing a string of innovative LPs and singles. Having honed their skills on the equally innovative clips that they made to promote their own singles, they returned to their visual arts roots and became better-known as directors of Music Videos in the 1980s, creating acclaimed videos for chart-topping acts including George Harrison ("When We Was Fab"), The Police ("Every Breath You Take"), Duran Duran ("Girls On Film"), Frankie Goes To Hollywood ("Two Tribes") and Herbie Hancock ("Rockit"). The video for their 1985 single " Cry " is especially notable as one of the first mainstream uses of image Morphing technology. ''For further information see: Godley & Creme '' The New Line Up: 1977-1983 After the departure of Godley and Creme, Stewart and Gouldman opted to continue as 10cc, recruiting drummer Paul Burgess (later of The Icicle Works ) for session work on their next LP, '' Deceptive Bends '' (1977). The album, recorded at the newly-completed Strawberry South Studio in Dorking , Surrey , reached No. 3 in Britain and No. 33 in the US and also yielded two hit singles, "The Things We Do For Love" and "Good Morning Judge". In 1977 10cc embarked on an international tour with guitarist Rick Fenn , keyboardist Tony O'Malley and drummer Stuart Tosh (ex- Pilot ) and recorded a live album, ''Live And Let Live'' (1977), which mixed the hits with material from the previous three LPs. Fenn, Tosh, Burgess and keyboardist Duncan Mackay were now full members of the band and performed on 1978's '' Bloody Tourists '', which provided the band with another UK No. 1 single, the reggae-styled " Dreadlock Holiday ". The band suffered a major setback in 1979 when Stewart was seriously injured in a car crash. He told the BBC: Stewart's BBC Radio Wales interview Gouldman, too, considered the aftermath of Stewart's accident to be a turning point. In a 1995 BBC interview[http://www.minestrone.org/wellabove.htm Graham Gouldman interviewed by Justin Hayward, BBC2, 1995] he said: In early 1980 Gouldman and Stewart both released solo albums and also signed with Warner Bros. Records , producing a new 10cc offering entitled '' Look Hear? '', featuring the single "One Two Five". All three albums featured musicians from 10cc's '' Bloody Tourists '' lineup, and all were released between February and April of 1980. Only ''Look Hear?'' appeared on charts in the UK or US. Gouldman and Stewart subsequently jettisoned the rest of the band before returning to the Mercury label to record '' Ten Out Of 10 '' (1981) as a duo. It failed to make a major impression with audiences. The UK and US versions of the albums differ, with the US version substituting three Gouldman/Stewart tracks for songs recorded with Andrew Gold . Stewart then recorded a 1982 solo album with participation from Gouldman on one track. The duo's next 10cc LP, '' Windows In The Jungle '', (1983) used session heavyweights including drummer Steve Gadd , but the album was dominated by Stewart; Gouldman performed no lead vocals on the record. The hiatus: 1984-1992 After 1983, the band went into recess as Stewart produced recordings for Sad Café and Gouldman produced tracks for The Ramones before teaming up with American Andrew Gold to form the synth-pop group Wax . Stewart also worked on three Paul McCartney albums, co-writing '' Press To Play '' (1986), and also produced the album '' Eyes Of A Woman '' (1985) by Agnetha Fältskog of ABBA . 10cc reunited: 1992-1995 In 1992 the original four members reunited to record '' ...Meanwhile '', an album produced by Gary Katz of Steely Dan fame. The album did not spawn any major hits, but was relatively well received in Japan and in Europe. It featured session musicians Jeff Porcaro on drums and Michael Landau on guitars, along with Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) on piano and Andrew Gold on guitar. All the album's songs were written by Stewart and Gouldman, with the exception of one track which was co-written by Stewart, Gouldman, and Paul McCartney . The album was not a "reunion" in the strict sense of the word. Creme and Godley agreed to guest on the album to fulfill their obligation to Polydor -- both had owed Polydor one album when they split in the late '80s. Godley and Creme sang background vocals on several tracks on the album. Godley also sang the lead on one song, "The Stars Didn't Show". Gouldman, in a 1995 interview, was philosophical about the album: "When we finally did come back to record again, it was based on market research that our record company had done, that said a new 10cc album would do really, really well. And, ah, history has proved that wrong." Yet according to Stewart, both he and Gouldman had approached the album positively. "We wrote in a three-month period, 22 songs. Every day we were coming up with new ideas, and they were getting better and better, as far as we were concerned. And they sounded like 10cc songs again." In 1995 the band released '' Mirror Mirror '', produced by Gouldman, Stewart and Adrian Lee of Mike And The Mechanics , and without participation from Godley or Creme. ''Mirror Mirror'' included an acoustic version of " I'm Not In Love " which became a #29 UK hit, but overall the album did not fare very well and has been criticized for appearing to be two solo albums slapped together. The recording of the album appeared to suggest a fractured relationship between Stewart and Gouldman: aside from "I'm Not in Love", Stewart did not appear on any of the tracks Gouldman played or sang on, while Gouldman did not appear on any of Stewart's tracks. After the album's release Stewart and Gouldman parted ways again. Stewart has since commented: Reply to question by Eric Stewart at his website "10cc is well and truly finished as far as I am concerned, but I can't guarantee that GG won't try to squeeze the last drop of blood out of it. It was a great band for most of its life and should be left at that, where it had some real meaning to all of us, fans and musicians alike." Later work In 2001 Graham Gouldman released his third solo album, '' And Another Thing... '' (his first solo outing had been ''The Graham Gouldman Thing'' in 1968). Eric Stewart released a third solo album, '' Do Not Bend '', in 2003. In January 2004 Godley and Gouldman reconvened to write more songs. Godley explained: By May 2007, Godley and Gouldman's website was offering five downloadable tracks, "The Same Road", "Johnny Hurts", "Beautifulloser.com", "Hooligan Crane" and "Son of Man". The songs are the initial "offering" of a group of songs they have been working on over the past two years. In 2006 Lol Creme joined producers Trevor Horn and Stephen Lipson and musicians Chris Braide and Ash Soan to form The Producers . The band began recording its debut album in late 2006 and a single, "Barking Up The Right Tree" (backed with "Freeway") will be released in August 2007. Both tracks, along with an animated video by Lol Creme, have been released on MySpace . A 2006 10cc compilation from Universal , '' Greatest Hits ... And More '', attracted criticism both from fans who complained about one track, "Feel the Benefit", running at a slow speed and from Eric Stewart, who noted the inclusion of a disproportionately high number of Gouldman tracks at the expense of his post-10cc work. Stewart observed: "Anyone initially reading the track list could be forgiven for thinking that it should really have been called "A History of Graham Gouldman's Musical Associations"!" Comments on Eric Stewart website, August 2, 2006 DISCOGRAPHY Singles Studio albums Live albums
Compilation albums
DVDS AND VIDEOS
UK ALBUM SALES CERTIFICATIONS
REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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