Peter Bramall (born 10 November 1950 in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

), better known by his stage name Bram Tchaikovsky, is a British

vocalist 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 witho ...

and

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 ...

. He first came to prominence as a member of UK punk/

pub rock Pub rock is a rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particu ...

band The Motors, whom he joined in 1977. After he left them, he led an eponymous

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ...

band, with Micky Broadbent (bass, keyboards) and Keith Boyce (drums). He scored a US Top 40 hit single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1979, with "Girl of My Dreams" (released February in UK, June in USA). In the Netherlands, "Sarah Smiles" was a minor hit, reaching number 32 in April 1979. Nick Garvey, Keith Line and Denis Forbes were also involved in later band lineups. In 1979 he played guitar for the Skids hit 'Into The Valley' on the BBC. After disappointing sales, the band split up in 1981 and Tchaikovsky left the music industry. Tchaikovsky was also credited with co writing "Solid Ball of Rock", from the 1991

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country ( Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the No ...

album of the same name.

Re-releases

In 1998, as part of a "British Rock" reissue series, WEA Japan rereleased both ''Strange Man, Changed Man'' and ''The Russians Are Coming'' albums on CD, using original master tapes and artwork. In addition to the original artwork and liner notes, each CD contained extensive historical information, song lyrics and musical commentary (albeit in Japanese). These CDs were only available in Japan and are now out of production. ''Strange Man, Changed Man'' had been expanded to 21 tracks and included rare B-sides and live cuts. It is only available on the web. ''Strange Man, Changed Man'' included newly remastered tracks, featuring the hit single "Girl of My Dreams", the track "Lonely Dancer" (which were both written by Heavy Metal Kid Ronnie Thomas), and ten bonus tracks. The bonus tracks included hard-to-find singles, B-sides, and live tracks. Be wary of this release as all tracks are taken from vinyl LPs and some tracks have considerable needle noise - very low-fi sound quality. In December 2007, ''Strange Man, Changed Man'' was issued in the US on the Hip-O Select label (ASIN: B000ZIZ0ZC) in digital sound and with full artwork. This CD release used the original master tapes sequenced for the original US release; the track running order is therefore different from the original UK album, and different from the 1998 Japanese CD version. In February 2012, a live recording, ''Live at the Lochem Festival, 1979'', appeared on Tiger Eye with the songs "Sarah Smiles", "Robber", "Nobody Knows", "Turn on the Lights" and "Girl of My Dreams". In April 2018, Cherry Red Records released ''Bram Tchaikovsky: Strange Men, Changed Men: The Complete Recordings 1978 – 1981'', a 3CD Boxset fully endorsed by Bram Tchaikovsky.

Album discography

Singles

References

External links

The Mod Pop Punk Archives: Bram Tchaikovsky
- Heavy Metal Kids website {{DEFAULTSORT:Tchaikovsky, Bram 1950 births Living people English rock guitarists English male singers Radar Records artists Polydor Records artists Arista Records artists The Motors members English male guitarists