Blue are a Scottish

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

band, formed in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in 1973. The band currently consists of Hughie Nicholson, Ian MacMillan and David Nicholson.

Career

Formed and fronted by ex-

Marmalade Marmalade (from the Portuguese ''marmelada'') is a fruit preserves, fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It also has been made from lemons ...

guitarist Hughie Nicholson, Blue signed to

RSO Records RSO Records was a record label formed by rock and roll and musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood and record executive Al Coury in 1973. The letters "RSO" stood for the Robert Stigwood Organisation. RSO managed the careers of several ma ...

and released their eponymous debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

the same year. Nicholson was a member of Marmalade between 1971 and 1973, writing fifteen songs to fulfil their

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

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

, including the

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

, "Cousin Norman", "Back On the Road", and "Radancer" before he left to form Blue. He

wrote Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

the majority of Blue's material, including their most recognised

number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

, "Gonna Capture Your Heart". Earlier in his life, he had been a member of the 1960s Scottish

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 Wale ...

outfit,

The Poets The Poets were a Scottish blues, freakbeat and psychedelic pop band, who were managed and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. Some of their singles were released on his label, Immediate Records. Their cover version of " Baby Don't You Do I ...

. Blue's debut

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

"Little Jody" failed to chart. The original album version was recorded before

Jimmy McCulloch James McCulloch (4 June 1953 – 25 September 1979) was a Scottish musician best known for playing lead guitar and bass as a member of Paul McCartney's band Wings from 1974 to 1977. McCulloch was a member of the Glasgow psychedelic band One i ...

joined the band, although the single release featured him. The single version of "Little Jody" appeared on a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

, ''20'' in 2002. They then added another

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

, Robert 'Smiggy' Smith (born 30 March 1946,

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

, Germany) before recording and issuing their second album, ''Life in the Navy''. This revised line-up did not last for long, following a dispute with RSO, only MacMillan and Nicholson remained. The duo then added Charlie Smith (

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

) and David Nicholson (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

), and it was this line-up that signed to

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

's record label named

The Rocket Record Company The Rocket Record Company is a record label founded by Elton John, along with Bernie Taupin, Gus Dudgeon, Steve Brown and others, in 1973. The company was named after John's hit song " Rocket Man". The label was originally distributed in the UK ...

and scored a US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart entry, and UK Singles Chart Top 20 hit, with "Gonna Capture Your Heart". It was their debut release from the ''Another Night Time Flight'' album which was produced by Elton John and Clive Franks. Blue released two other singles from the album which both failed to enter the UK Singles Chart. They released one other album for Rocket; ''Fools' Party'' (1979) before parting company and re-locating to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. They spent three years compiling new material and playing the local clubs such as The Roxy, The Troubadour, The Palomino, Madame Wong's and the Central Club (later The Viper). Unsuccessful in securing a contract with their new material, they returned to the UK in 1983, shortly before which Blue released the single "Don't Wanna Make You Cry" / "Moonlight" on the Zuma label (1982). Nicholson released "Love You Made a Fool of Me" (1984), and whilst continuing to record with MacMillan, also wrote and produced four singles with

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the New wave music, new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two st ...

on lead vocals; "Radio Heart", "London Times" and "All Across the Nation" which were released under the name

Radio Heart "Radio Heart" is the second single from The Futureheads' third album ''This Is Not the World''. It was released on 19 May 2008 in the United Kingdom and reached #65 on the UK Singles Chart and #1 in the UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Sin ...

in 1987, and " Like a Refugee (I Won't Cry)" released under the name Numan & Dadadang in 1994. The first two releases entered the UK chart. In 2003, the remaining personnel Hugh and David Nicholson plus Ian MacMillan took the then high flying

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

to court. It was a high profile High Court case over the use of the band's name, but the judge opined that "it is not difficult to distinguish between the present day pop group, and the original users of the group's title". They subsequently came to an agreement that they could continue to share the name.

Discography

Albums

* ''Blue'' (1973) ( RSO) * ''Life in the Navy'' (1974) (RSO) * ''Another Night Time Flight'' (1977) (

Rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

) * ''Fool's Party'' (1979) (Rocket) * ''Country Blue'' (1999) * ''L.A. Sessions'' (1999) * ''Blue 20'' (Greatest Hits, 2002) * ''Heaven Avenue'' (2003)

Singles

* "Little Jody" (1973) (non-chart debut, re-released in 2002) * "Lonesome" (1974) * "Cookie in a Jar" (1975) * "Round and Round (1975) * "Another Night Time Flight" (1977) * "Gonna Capture Your Heart" (1977) - number 18 UK, number 88 US * "Bring Back the Love" (1977) * "I Understand" (1977) * "Don't Wanna Make You Cry" (1982) * "I Wanna Go To New York" (1984)

Members

;Current members *Hugh Nicholson (born 30 July 1949,

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

Strathclyde Strathclyde ( in Welsh language, Welsh; in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic, meaning 'strath

alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, footpath, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, w ...

of the River Clyde') was one of nine former Local government in Scotland, local government Regions and districts of Scotland, regions of Scotland cre ...

, Scotland) —

guitars The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

/ keyboards (1973–1979, 1983–present) *Ian MacMillan (born 16 October 1947, Paisley, Scotland) —

bass guitars The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

/ vocals (1973–1979, 1983–present) *David Nicholson - bass (1974–present) ;Former members *Timmy Donald (born Bruce Timmy Donald, 29 September 1946,

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England) —

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(1973–1979, 1983–present) (1973-1974) *

- guitars (1973) *Robert Smith - guitars (1974) *Charlie Smith - drums (1974-2003)

References

External links

Hugh Nicholson feature in German
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Scottish pop music groups Scottish rock music groups Musical groups established in 1973 RSO Records artists Scottish soft rock music groups Rocket Records artists