Geordie ( ) are a British rock band from

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, most notably active in the 1970s.

History

Formation (1971–1980)

The original (from February 1972) Geordie line-up included: Vic Malcolm (lead guitar), Tom Hill (bass guitar), Brian Gibson (drums) and

Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. He and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Rol ...

(lead vocals). Their first single, "Don't Do That" broke into the Top 40 of 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 ...

in December 1972. In March 1973, Geordie released their debut album, ''Hope You Like It'' on EMI label. Trying to compete with such British

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 ...

outfits as

Slade Slade are an English rock band formed in Wolverhampton in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The ''British Hit Singles ...

and

Sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketone ...

(Geordie supported the former on a UK tour, as well as the latter at a concert at the Rainbow Club, London in March 1973), they achieved UK Top 10 status with "All Because of You" (April 1973) and had a UK Top 20 hit with "Can You Do It" (July 1973). They also had several appearances on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

including 15 appearances on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'', one of which was in November 1972. In the early 1970s, Geordie toured Australia regularly and gained a solid following in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area ...

, due to the "Newcastle" connection and the song "Geordie's Lost his Liggie" gained popularity and airplay in Newcastle. They were one of the regular touring bands to play at the "art deco" Savoy Theatre in Lambton. Their second album, ''Don't Be Fooled By The Name'' (1974), including a

cover 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 ...

of traditional "

House of the Rising Sun A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

", failed to yield a hit. After their 1976 album ''Save the World'', frontman Johnson left for a solo project. The band's album, ''No Good Woman'', in 1978 consisted of three unreleased tracks with Johnson and new material recorded by Malcolm with future

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums and per ...

keyboardist

Alan Clark Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, ...

, vocalist Dave Ditchburn, bassist Frank Gibbon, and drummer George Defty. Johnson had meanwhile begun to perform as Geordie in a new line-up, sometimes also called ''Geordie II'', in which he was the only original member. The band signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

in 1980, but finally folded that spring when Johnson replaced

Bon Scott Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. Born in Forfar in Angus, Scotlan ...

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and heavy metal, but the band calls it ...

Post break-up and Reunion Tour of Geordie II (1980–2018)

After AC/DC's lead singer Bon Scott died in February 1980, AC/DC chose Brian Johnson (whose vocal talent had previously been praised by Scott) to take over lead vocal duties. Johnson first appeared with AC/DC on their 1980 album, ''

Back in Black ''Back in Black'' is the seventh studio album by Australian rock band AC/DC. It was released on 25 July 1980 by Albert Productions and Atlantic Records. It is the band's first album to feature lead singer Brian Johnson, following the death of ...

''. In 1982, the original Geordie, but without Johnson, re-grouped as a quintet and went on to record an album titled ''No Sweat'' in 1983 with new singer Rob Turnbull and additional guitarist David Stephenson. The album was released on heavy metal

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

, Neat Records. Critically acclaimed but with no major success, they disbanded for the second time. They re-grouped in the middle of 1980s, but Malcolm left, and they later changed their name to Powerhouse, to release an eponymous album in 1986, before disbanding indefinitely. At the end of 2001, during an AC/DC hiatus, Johnson had a one-off reunion, for a short UK tour, with Geordie's 1977–80 line-up, performing largely hard rock

cover versions 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 release ...

. They were known as Geordie II. Rob Turnbull (Dr. Rob) is a member of the band Gadji as of 2013. In 2014, Vic Malcolm formed a new band, Dynamite, with Rick Mort and recorded an album, ''Rock 'Til You Drop'', in 2014 on indie label Tabitha Records.

Revival (2018–present)

Two of the original founding members, bassist Tom Hill, and drummer Brian Gibson relaunched Geordie with a new line-up that includes Mark Wright on vocals and Steve Dawson on guitar. The group launched a YouTube channel with an announcement of the band reformation with plans to record new material.

Discography

Studio albums (as Geordie)

*'' Hope You Like It'' (1973) (Red Bus) *'' Don't Be Fooled by the Name'' (1974) (Red Bus) *''

Save the World Save the World may refer to: Music * ''Save the World'' (Geordie album), 1976 * ''Save the World'' (Yolanda Adams album), 1993 * "Save the World" (George Harrison song), 1981 * "Save the World" (Swedish House Mafia song), 2011 *"Save the World", a ...

'' (1976) (Red Bus) *''

No Good Woman ''No Good Woman'' is the fourth studio album by British glam rock band Geordie. It includes tracks that were recorded by the previous line-ups, as well as several new players. It is the band's last album with original lead vocalist Brian Johnson ...

'' (1978) (Red Bus – Landmark) *'' No Sweat'' (1983) (Neat Records)

Studio album (as Powerhouse)

*''Powerhouse'' (1986) (Ambush/EMI)

Compilation albums

*'' Geordie – Masters of Rock'' (1974) (EMI) *''Geordie featuring Brian Johnson'' (1980) (Red Bus) *''Strange Man'' (1982) (compilation) (Red Bus) *''Keep on Rocking'' (1989) (digitally remixed & remastered) (Anchor/DCC) *''Rocking with the Boys'' (1992) (Australian compilation) (Raven) *''A Band from Geordieland'' (1996) (compilation – 24 tracks) (Repertoire) *''The Very Best of Geordie'' (1997) (compilation) (CMC/Play records) *''The Best of Geordie'' (1998) (compilation) (Platinum) *''Can You Do It?'' (1999) (compilation) (Delta) *''The Singles Collection'' (2001) (compilation) (7T's records) *''No Sweat'' (2002) (re-release compiled with 4 live sessions recorded at the BBC) (Castle Records) *''Can You Do It'' (2003) (compilation) (Pickwick – Holland) *''Unreleased Tapes'' (2005) (12 rare tracks) (OVC Media – Russia) *''The Very Best of Geordie – The original versions'' (2009) (compilation) (Spectre/Universal records) *''Keep on Rockin' – The Very Best Of'' (2009) (compilation) (Spectre/Universal records) *''Greatest Hits'' (2012) (compilation) (Zebra Studio records) *''The Albums'' (2016) 5 CD 66 track set of all five albums recorded by Geordie.

Singles

Band members

1972–1977: *

(vocals) * Vic Malcolm (guitar, vocals) (1972-1975, 1976–1977) * Tom Hill (bass) * Brian Gibson (drums) * Micky Bennison (guitar) (1975-1976) 1978: * Dave Ditchburn (vocals) * Vic Malcolm (guitar) *

(keyboards) * Frank Gibbon (bass) * George Defty (drums) Geordie II – 1977–1980, 2001: * Brian Johnson (vocals) * Derek Rootham (guitar) * Dave Robson (bass) * Davy Whittaker (drums) 1982–1985: * Rob Turnbull (vocals) * Vic Malcolm (guitar) * David Stephenson (guitar) * Tom Hill (bass) * Brian Gibson (drums) 1986: * Rob Turnbull (vocals) * Martin Metcalf (guitar) * Tom Hill (bass) * Brian Gibson (drums) 2018–present: * Mark Wright (vocals) * Steve Dawson (guitar) * Tom Hill (bass) * Brian Gibson (drums)

References

External links

*
Angel.dk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geordie English hard rock musical groups Musical groups established in 1972 English glam rock groups Musical groups from Newcastle upon Tyne Musical groups disestablished in 1980 Musical quartets EMI Records artists Neat Records artists