Ten Years After are a British rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Billboard'' 200. They are best known for tracks such as "I'm Going Home", "Hear Me Calling", " I'd Love to Change the World" and " Love Like a Man". Their style is considered

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

and

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

History

Formation: 1962–1966

Blues Festival Suwałki 2009 - Ten Years After 02

The band's core formed in late 1960 as Ivan Jay and the Jaycats. After several years of local success in the

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market to ...

area, they changed their name to the Jaybirds in 1962 and later to Ivan Jay and the Jaymen. Ivan Jay (born Ivan Joseph Harrison, 1939,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

; died April 2009, USA) sang lead vocals from late 1960 to 1962 and was joined by Ric Lee in August 1965, replacing drummer Dave Quickmire (born David Quickmire, 1940,

), who had replaced Pete Evans (born Peter Evans, 1940,

) in 1962. Roy Cooper (born 11 November 1943, Huthwaite,

) played rhythm guitar, and did vocals from 1960 to 1962. The Jaybirds moved to London to back the Ivy League in 1966. In the same year,

Chick Churchill Michael George "Chick" Churchill (born 2 January 1946) is an English keyboard player of the late 1960s to 1970s blues rock band Ten Years After. Career Churchill began playing the piano at the age of six and studied classical music until he was ...

joined the group as keyboard player. That November, the quartet signed a manager, Chris Wright, and changed their name to Blues Trip. Using the name Blues Yard they played one show at the

Marquee Club The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed ...

supporting the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Alvin Lee and Leo Lyons again changed their name in 1966 to Ten Years After – in honour of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

, one of Lee's idols. (This was ten years after Presley's successful year, 1956). Some sources claim that the name was pulled by Leo Lyons from a magazine, advertising a book, ''Suez Ten Years After'' (referring to the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

Ten Years After: 1967–1974

The group was the first act booked by the soon-to-be Chrysalis Agency. It secured a residency at the Marquee, and was invited to play at the Windsor Jazz Festival in 1967. That performance led to a contract with Deram, a subsidiary of

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...

— the first band Deram signed without a

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

single. In October 1967 they released the self-titled debut album, '' Ten Years After''. In 1968, after touring Scandinavia and the United States, Ten Years After released a second album, the live ''

Undead The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive. Most commonly the term refers to corporeal forms of formerly-alive humans, such as mummies, vampires, and zombies, who have been reanimated b ...

'', with a first version of the noteworthy song, "I'm Going Home". They followed this in February 1969 by the studio issue ''

Stonedhenge ''Stonedhenge'' is the second studio album released by the English blues rock band Ten Years After, released in 1969. Track listing ;Side one #"Going to Try" (Alvin Lee) – 4:52 #"I Can't Live Without Lydia" (Chick Churchill) – 1:23 #"Wom ...

'', a British hit that included another well-known track, "Hear Me Calling", which was also released as a single. (In 1972, this song was

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 ...

by the 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 ...

rising stars, Slade.) In July 1969, the group appeared at the

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hir ...

, in the first event rock bands were invited to. Between 26 and 27 July 1969, they appeared at the Seattle Pop Festival held at Gold Creek Park. On 17 August, the band performed a breakthrough American appearance at

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

; their rendition of "I'm Going Home" featuring Alvin Lee as lead singer/lead guitar, was featured in both the subsequent film and soundtrack album and catapulted them to star status. In 1970, Ten Years After released " Love Like a Man", the group's only hit 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 ...

, where it peaked at #10. It was the first record issued with a different playing speed on each side: a three-minute edit at 45 rpm, and a nearly eight-minute live version at 33 rpm. The full studio version song appeared on the band's fifth album, their most successful in Britain, ''

Cricklewood Green ''Cricklewood Green'' is the fourth studio album by blues rock band Ten Years After, released in 1970. Reception Allmusic gave ''Cricklewood Green'' a firmly positive retrospective review, praising each individual track and summarizing that " ...

''. In August 1970, they played the Strawberry Fields Festival near Toronto, and the

Isle of Wight Festival 1970 The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 was a music festival held between 26 and 31 August 1970 at Afton Down, an area on the western side of the Isle of Wight in England. It was the last of three consecutive music festivals to take place on the islan ...

. In 1971, the band switched labels to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

(US) and

Chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...

(UK) and released the hit album '' A Space in Time,'' which marked a move toward more commercial material. It featured the group's biggest hit, "I'd Love to Change the World". In late 1972, the group issued their second Columbia album '' Rock & Roll Music to the World'' and, in 1973, the live double album ''Ten Years After Recorded Live''. The band subsequently broke up after their final 1974 Columbia album, '' Positive Vibrations''.

Break up and reformation

In the second half of the 1970s and early 1980s, Alvin actively toured with a new band he called Ten Years Later. The original Ten Years After reunited in 1983 to play 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 ...

, and this performance was later released on CD as ''The Friday Rock Show Sessions – Live at Reading '83' ''.

Reunion, split with Alvin Lee and Leo Lyons: 1988–present

In 1988, the members reunited for a few concerts and recorded the album '' About Time'' (1989) with producer

Terry Manning Terry Manning is an American photographer, composer, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, audio engineer, and visual artist. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he has worked with Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, ...

in Memphis. They stayed together for their longest continuous period, until 2003, however without releasing new material. In 1994, they participated in the Eurowoodstock festival in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

. In 2003, the other band members replaced Alvin Lee with Joe Gooch, and recorded the album, '' Now''. Material from the following tour was used for the 2005 double album, ''Roadworks''. Alvin Lee mostly played and recorded under his own name following his split from the band. He died from complications during a routine medical procedure on 6 March 2013. Ric Lee is also currently in a band called Ric Lee's Natural Born Swingers, along with Bob Hall. In January 2014, it was announced that both Gooch and Lyons had left Ten Years After. Two months later, veteran bass player Colin Hodgkinson and singer/guitarist

Marcus Bonfanti Marcus Bonfanti is a British blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has released three albums and one EP, and works both as a solo musician and, since 2014, as the frontman for the British blues rock group Ten Years After. His most recent so ...

were announced as their replacements. In October 2017, the band released its most recent studio album, ''A Sting in the Tale''.

Band members

;Current members *

– keyboards (1966–1974, 1983, 1988–present) * Ric Lee – drums (1966–1974, 1983, 1988–present) *

– guitar, vocals (2014–present) * Colin Hodgkinson – bass (2014–present) ;Former members * Alvin Lee – guitar, vocals,

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orc ...

(1966–1974, 1983, 1988–2003; died 2013) * Leo Lyons – bass (1966–1974, 1983, 1988–2014) * Joe Gooch – guitar, vocals (2003–2014)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:90 top:5 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1966 till:24/05/2023 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1967 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1968 Colors = id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar,_vocals id:Keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums id:lines value:black legend:Studio_albums id:lines2 value:gray(0.85) legend:Live_albums BarData = bar:Alvin text:"Alvin Lee" bar:Joe text:"Joe Gooch" bar:Marcus text:"Marcus Bonfanti" bar:Chick text:"Chick Churchill" bar:Leo text:"Leo Lyons" bar:Colin text:"Colin Hodgkinson" bar:Ric text:"Ric Lee" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4) bar:Chick from:01/01/1966 till:31/12/1974 color:Keys bar:Chick from:01/08/1983 till:31/08/1983 color:Keys bar:Chick from:01/01/1988 till:end color:Keys bar:Ric from:01/01/1966 till:31/12/1974 color:Drums bar:Ric from:01/08/1983 till:31/08/1983 color:Drums bar:Ric from:01/01/1988 till:end color:Drums bar:Leo from:01/01/1966 till:31/12/1974 color:Bass bar:Leo from:01/08/1983 till:31/08/1983 color:Bass bar:Leo from:01/01/1988 till:31/12/2013 color:Bass bar:Colin from:01/01/2014 till:end color:Bass bar:Alvin from:01/01/1966 till:31/12/1974 color:Guitar bar:Alvin from:01/08/1983 till:31/08/1983 color:Guitar bar:Alvin from:01/01/1988 till:31/12/2003 color:Guitar bar:Joe from:01/01/2004 till:31/12/2013 color:Guitar bar:Marcus from:01/01/2014 till:end color:Guitar LineData = at:27/10/1967 color:black layer:back at:22/02/1969 color:black layer:back at:01/06/1969 color:black layer:back at:17/04/1970 color:black layer:back at:01/12/1970 color:black layer:back at:01/08/1971 color:black layer:back at:01/10/1972 color:black layer:back at:01/04/1974 color:black layer:back at:22/10/1989 color:black layer:back at:13/07/2004 color:black layer:back at:01/01/2008 color:black layer:back at:20/10/2017 color:black layer:back at:10/09/1968 color:lines2 layer:back at:01/06/1973 color:lines2 layer:back at:01/01/2001 color:lines2 layer:back at:01/01/2003 color:lines2 layer:back at:01/01/2005 color:lines2 layer:back at:01/01/2014 color:lines2 layer:back

Discography

*'' Ten Years After'' (1967) *''

'' (1969) *''

Ssssh ''Ssssh'' is the third studio album by blues rock band Ten Years After, released in 1969. The album charted #20 on the Billboard 200 and #4 on the UK charts. Track listing All songs composed by Alvin Lee, except where noted. Side one #"Bad Sc ...

'' (1969) *''

'' (1970) *''

Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

'' (1970) *'' A Space in Time'' (1971) *'' Rock & Roll Music to the World'' (1972) *'' Positive Vibrations'' (1974) *'' About Time'' (1989) *'' Now'' (2004) *''Evolution '' (2008) *''A Sting in the Tale '' (2017)

Bibliography

* ''The New Musical Express Book of Rock'', Star Books, 1975. . * * ''Alvin Lee and Ten Years After – Visual History'' – Herb Staehr, Free Street Press, 2001.

References

External links

*
The original Ten Years After website
* * {{Authority control 1966 establishments in England Chrysalis Records artists Columbia Records artists Decca Records artists Deram Records artists English blues rock musical groups English hard rock musical groups Musical groups from Nottingham Musical groups disestablished in 1974 Musical groups established in 1966 Musical groups reestablished in 1988