Streetwalkers were an English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

formed in late 1973 by two former members of rock band

Family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

, vocalist

Roger Chapman Roger Maxwell Chapman (born 8 April 1942 in Leicester), also known as Chappo, is an English rock vocalist. He is best known as a member of the progressive rock band Family, which he joined along with Charlie Whitney, in 1966 and also the roc ...

and guitarist

John "Charlie" Whitney Richard John Whitney (born 24 June 1944), also known as John "Charlie" Whitney, John Whitney and Charlie Whitney, is an English rock guitarist and a founder member of the rock bands Family, Streetwalkers and Axis Point. Career Whitney ...

. They were a five piece band which evolved from the Chapman Whitney Band. The band was managed by Michael Alphandary and

Harvey Goldsmith Harvey Goldsmith (born 4 March 1946 in Edgware, Middlesex) is an English performing arts promoter. He is best known as a promoter of rock concerts, charity concerts, television broadcasts for the Prince's Trust and more recently the Teenage ...

and were best known for their live performances and their album ''Red Card'' (1976). By 1977 their potential to become more important in UK rock history was diminished by changing musical taste, due to the growing influence of punk rock and

new wave music New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. La ...

European culture The culture of Europe is rooted in its art, architecture, film, different types of music, economics, literature, and philosophy. European culture is largely rooted in what is often referred to as its "common cultural heritage". Definition T ...

. The band had success in the United States and Europe, particularly Germany.

History

1973 ''Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers'' the album

Chapman and Whitney signed to the

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any rep ...

label in 1973 and recorded '' Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers'' (1974) with a lineup including other members of

(co-founder

Ric Grech Richard Roman Grechko (1 November 1945 – 17 March 1990), better known as Ric Grech, was a British rock musician. He is best known for playing bass guitar and violin with rock band Family as well as in the supergroups Blind Faith and Traffi ...

on bass, former bassists

John Wetton John Kenneth Wetton (12 June 1949 – 31 January 2017) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. Known for his dexterous bass playing and booming baritone voice, Wetton first gained fame in the early 1970s. Wetton was the singer and p ...

and

Jim Cregan James Cregan (born 9 March 1946) is an English rock guitarist and bassist, best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her as a ...

providing bass and backing vocals and backing vocals respectively) and

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experiment ...

(Wetton, plus saxophonist

Mel Collins Melvyn Desmond Collins (born 5 September 1947, Isle of Man) is a British saxophonist, flautist and session musician. Collins has played in several progressive rock groups, having been a member of King Crimson on two occasions (the first from ...

and drummers Ian Wallace and

Michael Giles Michael Rex Giles (born 1 March 1942) is an English drummer, percussionist, and vocalist, best known as one of the co-founders of King Crimson in 1969. Prior to the formation of King Crimson, he was part of the eccentric pop trio Giles, Giles a ...

). When writing about the album for Allmusic, Patrick Little commented: During this period keyboard player

Blue Weaver Derek John "Blue" Weaver (born 11 March 1947) is a Welsh rock keyboardist, session musician, songwriter and record producer. Career Weaver's career as a musician began as a co-founding member of 1960s Welsh rock band Amen Corner and its succ ...

appeared with them at concerts, such as the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

in the summer of 1974.

Bobby Tench Robert Tench (born 21 September 1944) is a British vocalist, guitarist, sideman, songwriter and arranger. Tench is best known for his work with Freddie King and Van Morrison, as well as being a member of The Jeff Beck Group, Humble Pie, Street ...

from

The Jeff Beck Group The Jeff Beck Group was a British rock band formed in London in January 1967 by former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck. Their innovative approach to heavy-sounding blues, rhythm and blues and rock was a major influence on popular music. Firs ...

and

Hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

was also featured in their fluid, informal touring band line up and appeared at concerts such as in

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a Grade I-listed major park in Westminster, Greater London, the largest of the four Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance to Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Green P ...

, the same year

Concert billing, Rockpalast, Streetwalkers formation and Downtown Flyers

After recording the album ''Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers'', Chapman and Whitney changed the name of their band to Streetwalkers and Tench joined them as an official band member, when they signed to

Phonogram Inc. Phonogram Incorporated was started in 1970 as a successor to Philips Phonographic Industries, a unit of the Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG), a joint venture of Philips N.V. of the Netherlands and Siemens A.G. of Germany. Phonogram was the name ...

in 1975. Tench was joined by drummer

Nicko McBrain Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain (born 5 June 1952) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden since 1982. Having played in small pub bands since 1966 from the age of 14, McBrain paid his bills after grad ...

(who would later join

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harris ...

) and bass player Jon Plotel. They had previously appeared on a European broadcast for the German TV show

Rockpalast ''Rockpalast'' (''Rock Palace'') is a German music television show that broadcasts live on German television station Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). ''Rockpalast'' started in 1974 and continues to this day. Hundreds of rock, heavy metal and jazz ...

with Chapman and Whitney earlier the same year, billed as The Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers. The band's first album, ''Downtown Flyers'' (1975) was released in both USA and Europe but did not achieve the anticipated success in USA, although interest in Europe was more encouraging.

Red Card, stadium concerts

Their second studio album, the

groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station * ...

heavy album ''Red Card'' (1976) reached #16 in UK album charts and remains a much respected album. The band performed at a series of concerts entitled Who Put The Boot In appearing at UK Football stadiums, during May and June 1976, supporting The Who. The billing for these concerts included The

Sensational Alex Harvey Band The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1972. Fronted by Alex Harvey accompanied by Zal Cleminson on guitar, bassist Chris Glen, keyboard player Hugh McKenna (1949–2019) and drummer Ted McKenna, th ...

Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles. George disbanded the group because of creative differences shortly before his death in 1979. Surviving ...

, Outlaws, Widowmaker (UK) and Streetwalkers were the second act to appear. The band also toured the U.S as support to others such as Wings, 10cc and Joe Cocker.

John Peel sessions, final Rockpalast appearance

On 12 June 1976 they made their first appearance for

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

on his "Peel Sessions" recorded by

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

radio, with the line-up of Chapman, Whitney, Tench, Plotel and McBrain and were featured by Peel once more as a "Peel session", on 14 March 1977. On 19 April the same year, they made their final appearance on ''

'', with a line-up which included Chapman, Whitney, Tench, keyboardist Brian Johnstone, bassist Mickey Feat and drummer David Dowle who later joined

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entit ...

Vicious But Fair and breakup of band

By the time their third and final studio album ''Vicious But Fair'' (1977) was released,

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

had shifted their commercial emphasis to the musical trends of punk rock and

. The euphoria surrounding the band began to diminish and the potential of becoming more established in Europe evaporated. ''Streetwalkers Live'' (1977) was their final album and included a rough and ready compilation of poorly recorded tracks, probably released to comply with contractual obligations. In his review of this album for Allmusic, John Dougan mentions the poor quality of the recording and states that: "Chapman tears off a few soulful moments and it can rock". By now the band had broken up and Tench moved on to work with Van Morrisson, along with Feat.

Band members

Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers musicians 1973-1974

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

and

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music ( arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Charlie Whitney -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six string instrument, strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or Plucked string instrument, plucking the strings with the dominant hand, w ...

and

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

- guitar, vocals, percussion, keyboards *

Max Middleton David Maxwell Middleton (born 4 August 1946) is an English composer and keyboardist who was originally a docker on the London docks. Middleton is known for his work on the Fender Rhodes Electric piano, the Minimoog synthesiser and his percussiv ...

- keyboards *

- drums * Ian Wallace - drums *

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

- bass and vocals * Poli Palmer -

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

and background vocals *

- keyboards *

Tim Hinkley Timothy Alan Hinkley (born 25 May 1946) is an English singer-songwriter, keyboard player and record producer. Born in London, Hinkley started playing in youth club bands in the early 1960s, with bands including the Copains, Boys and the Freeman ...

- keyboards and vocals *

Neil Hubbard Neil Terrence Hubbard (born 24 February 1948) is a British guitarist who has performed with Juicy Lucy, The Grease Band, Bluesology, Joe Cocker, Roxy Music, Kokomo, Alvin Lee, B.B. King, Kevin Rowland and Tony O'Malley, and played on the ...

- guitar *

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to ...

, clarinet, bass clarinet *

Boz Burrell Raymond "Boz" Burrell (1 August 1946 – 21 September 2006) was an English musician. Originally a vocalist and guitarist, Burrell is best known for his singing with King Crimson (1971–1972) and bass playing in Bad Company (1973–1982, 1998� ...

- vocals *

Linda Lewis Linda Ann Fredericks (born 27 September 1950), better known as Linda Lewis, is an English vocalist, songwriter and guitarist. She is the eldest of six children, three of whom also had singing careers. She is best known for the singles " Rock-a ...

- background vocals *Godfrey McLean - percussion

Streetwalkers musicians 1975-1977

- harmonica, percussion and vocals * Charlie Whitney - guitar, keyboards,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

- guitar, vocals, percussion, keyboards * Jon Plotel - bass and background vocals * Micky Feate - bass *

- percussion and drums * David Dowle - drums *Brian Johnson - keyboards

Albums

* '' Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers'' Reprise K 54017UK/Mercury USA (May 1974)< * '' Downtown Flyers'' Vertigo 6360 123 (October 1975) * '' Red Card'' Vertigo 9102 010 UK/Mercury USA (May 1976). Reached #16 in UK album chart * ''In Concert BBC'' (1975) * '' Vicious But Fair'' Vertigo 9102 012UK/Mercury USA (January 1977) * ''Live Streetwalkers'' Vertigo 6641 703 (December 1977) * ''Best of Streetwalkers'' Vertigo 846 661 2(1991)

Re-issues

* ''Red Card'' Repertoire REP 4147-WP CD (2002) * ''Downtown Flyers'' BGO (2002) * ''Vicious but Fair'' See for Miles SEECD 352(1994) * ''Live at the BBC'' Windsong 61 (1994) * ''Streetwalkers Live'' BGO (2004)

Compilations

* ''Red Card/Vicious but Fair'' BGO BGOCD 606 (2005)

Singles

* "Roxianna"/"Crack" Reprise K14357 (1974) taken from Chapman-Whitney Streetwalkers album * "Raingame"/"Miller" Vertigo 6059 130 (1975) taken from Downtown Flyers album * "Daddy Rolling Stone"/"Hole In Your Pocket"'' Vertigo 6059 144 (1976) taken from Red Card album * "Chilli Con Carne"/"But You're Beautiful"'' Vertigo Europe from Vicious but Fair album

Notes

References

*Joynson, Vernon. ''The Tapestry of Delights - The Comprehensive Guide to British Music of the Beat, R&B, Psychedelic and Progressive Eras 1963-1976''. Borderline (2006). Reprinted 2008. *Roberts, David. ''British Hit Singles & Albums (19th edition)''. London: Guinness World Records Limited(2006). .

External links

Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers
and Streetwalkers at Rockpalast WDR Studio-L Köln 1975 and 1977 *

Streetwalkers Streetwalkers were an English rock band formed in late 1973 by two former members of rock band Family, vocalist Roger Chapman and guitarist John "Charlie" Whitney. They were a five piece band which evolved from the Chapman Whitney Band. The ...

discography at Allmusic
Streetwalkers
Crawfish. Live at Rockpalast March 25, 1975 at NME.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Streetwalkers English rock music groups Vertigo Records artists Mercury Records artists Reprise Records artists