Blue Mink were a British six-piece pop group that existed from 1969 to 1977. Over that period they had six

Top 20 A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

s in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and released five studio based albums. According to

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

: "they have been immortalised on a string of

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

s, each recounting the string of effervescent hits that established them among Britain's best-loved pop groups of the early 1970s."

Career

Roger Coulam Roger Keith Coulam, (born 21 August 1940, Blackburn, Lancashire, England, died October 2005), was a British keyboard session musician, who formed Blue Mink in the autumn of 1969, with Madeline Bell (vocalist), Roger Cook (vocalist), Alan Parker ( ...

(keyboards) formed the band in the autumn of 1969, with American-born

Madeline Bell Madeline Bell (born July 23, 1942) is an American soul singer, who became famous as a performer in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s with pop group Blue Mink, having arrived from America in the gospel show ''Black Nativity'' in 1962, with the ...

(vocalist), Roger Cook (vocalist),

Alan Parker Sir Alan William Parker (14 February 1944 – 31 July 2020) was an English filmmaker. His early career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television advertisements. After about ten years of filming adverts ...

(guitarist),

Herbie Flowers Brian Keith "Herbie" Flowers (born 19 May 1938) is an English musician specialising in electric bass, double bass and tuba. He is noted as a member of Blue Mink, T. Rex and Sky. Flowers has contributed to recordings by Elton John (''Tumblewe ...

(bassist), and Barry Morgan (drummer). Most of the songs were written by Cook and

Roger Greenaway Roger John Reginald Greenaway, (born 23 August 1938) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer, best known for his collaborations with Roger Cook. His compositions have included "You've Got Your Troubles" and the transatlantic mill ...

. Flowers, Morgan and Parker all worked with Coulam at London's

Morgan Studios Morgan Studios (founded as Morgan Sound Studios) was an independent recording studio in Willesden in northwest London. Founded in 1967, the studio was the location for recordings by such notable artists as Jethro Tull, the Kinks, Paul McCartney, ...

. The four of them recorded several backing tracks, with which Coulam approached Bell and Greenaway, (who had been half of

David and Jonathan David and Jonathan were, according to the Hebrew Bible's Books of Samuel, heroic figures of the Kingdom of Israel, who formed a covenant, taking a mutual oath. Jonathan was the son of Saul, king of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and David ...

), as vocalists. Greenaway declined, but put forward Cook (the other half of David and Jonathan). The band's debut single "

Melting Pot The melting pot is a monocultural metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" with a common culture; an alternative being a homogeneous society becoming more heterogeneous throu ...

", written by Cook and Greenaway, was recorded with this line-up and released on 31 October 1969 on the

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

label (catalogue BF1818), with the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

"Blue Mink" (penned by Alan Parker); it peaked at No. 3 in the

. An American

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

entitled "People Are Together" by soul singer Mickey Murray proved too radical for American radio and failed to get any meaningful airplay. An album of the same name was released early in 1970, at the same time as the second single, " Good Morning Freedom", which reached No. 10 in the chart. The track did not feature on the first release of the LP, but was added to subsequent pressings. The members continued with their session work despite the success of the band. In March 1970, Cook, Bell, Parker and Morgan appeared on

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

's eponymous second solo album; Elton John

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of copy ...

"Good Morning Freedom" (written by Albert Hammond) anonymously on the Deacon Records budget

''Pick of the Pops''. In April, Cook and Greenaway played briefly in Currant Kraze, and together they continued to write songs such as "

You've Got Your Troubles "You've Got Your Troubles" became the inaugural composition by the prolific songwriting team of Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway in 1964. "You've Got Your Troubles" became a number 2 UK hit for the Fortunes in the United Kingdom in August 1965, a ...

", "I've Got You on My Mind" and " I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing". Other side projects included: involvement with Parker's band The Congregation; Herbie Flowers' contributions to

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...

's ''

Transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

'' album; and the involvement of Flowers, Morgan and Parker in sessions with Pete Atkin in March 1971, that later appeared on his ''Driving Through Mythical America'' album. The band's second album and their third single released on Philips in September 1970 were entitled ''Our World'' (the album was released as ''Real Mink'' in the US). The band's next single release was "The Banner Man" on

Regal Zonophone Regal may refer to: Companies * Regal Beloit, usually referred to as Regal, an American manufacturer of electric motors * Regal Cinema (disambiguation), several cinemas of that name * Regal Cinemas, a major American theater chain * Regal Cinem ...

in the spring of 1971. It reached No. 3 in the UK chart, equalling the success of the debut single and notable for its use of a brass band. Reviewing ''Real Mink'' years later in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981),

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

said Bell and Cook's collaboration is "solid white soul, marred by a couple of automatic instrumentals but graced by a charming self-consciousness as well as a few top commercial songs—oh yes, and a black singer." The members' other projects now took priority until January 1972 when Blue Mink played two weeks at The Talk of the Town nightclub in London. Recordings from this engagement were released that March as the album ''Live at the Talk of the Town'' simultaneously with the studio album ''A Time of Change'' (renamed from ''Harvest'' to avoid confusion with

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fu ...

's new LP).

Ray Cooper Raymond Cooper (born 19 September 1947) is an English musician who has worked as a session and road-tour percussionist. During his career, Cooper has worked and toured with numerous musically diverse bands and artists including Elton John (as ...

(drums) and Ann Odell (keyboards) joined the band that summer and played on the single "Stay With Me" co-written by

, which charted at No. 11 in November 1972. By the time of Blue Mink's fourth album, ''Only When I Laugh'',

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

was supplanting the lighter pop sound of the previous few years. The associated single, "By The Devil (I Was Tempted)", written by Guy Fletcher and Doug Flett, only reached No. 26 and the Top 10 single "Randy" in June 1973 was their last success. Their final album, ''Fruity'', (January 1974) and the singles "Quackers" (January 1974) and "Get Up" (July 1974) failed, and the band split up that autumn after a farewell tour of the United States. Elton John was among the celebrities present to say goodbye, introducing the band onstage at The Troubadour in Los Angeles.

Reunions

The band reformed in 1976 featuring Mike Moran. They recorded a few singles on the Target Records label that was owned by Cook and Greenaway. The best known of their three releases was "Where Were You Today", written by Greenaway and Dundas, previously "Come and C&A", a television and radio commercial jingle theme for the department store C&A. When

Capital Radio Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...

, one of the UK's first two independent local radio stations took to the air in London in 1973, the station's identity

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

s were written by Cook and Greenaway, performed by Blue Mink and orchestrated by

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the ...

. Madeline Bell had also sung the original jingles for

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. ...

, the offshore

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

station that first went on-air in 1964, in the end successfully challenging the BBC's monopoly of British

radio broadcasting Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

. Since the band's demise, each of the members maintained a presence in the world of

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

ship and songwriting. The Rimshots

Blue Mink's "Get Up", retitled as the

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...

single "7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (Blow Your Whistle)" in 1976, and had a hit. In 1994, Cook, Bell and Flowers were re-united for a television rendition of their hit "

" on the

Michael Barrymore Michael Ciaran Parker (born 4 May 1952), known by his stage name Michael Barrymore, is an English actor, comedian and television presenter of game shows and light entertainment programmes on British television in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s ...

show.

Legacy

The 1971 song "The Banner Man" (originally by the 004's) is used for the opening sequence of the 1999 British film '' East is East,'' which is set in 1971

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

. Their 1970 hit "Good Morning Freedom" was featured prominently in the season 2 ''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited h ...

'' episode "

4 Days Out "4 Days Out" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American television drama series ''Breaking Bad''. It was written by Sam Catlin and directed by Michelle MacLaren. Plot Walter White arrives at the hospital with his family to learn ho ...

." "By the Devil (I Was Tempted)" was a minor hit for Claude François in 1973, with French lyrics by Eddie Marnay, under the title "À part ça, la vie est belle".

Discography

Albums

*''Blue Mink'' (reissued as ''Melting Pot'') (1969) *''Our World'' (1970) *''Real Mink'' (US album) *''A Time of Change'' (1972) *''Live at the Talk of the Town'' (1972) *'' Only When I Laugh'' (1973) *''The Best Of Blue Mink'' - compilation (1973) *''Fruity'' (1974) (produced by Mackay) *''Attention'' - compilation (1975) *''Collection: Blue Mink'' – compilation (1978) *''Good Morning Freedom: The Anthology'' - compilation (2002) Note: The UK and US "Melting Pot" albums contained different track listings.

Singles

References

Other sources

*''The Guinness Who's Who of Seventies Music'', (London: Guinness)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Mink British pop music groups Musical groups established in 1969 Musical groups disestablished in 1974