McGuinness Flint was a rock band formed in 1970 by
Tom McGuinness, a bassist and guitarist with
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. They were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann (musician), Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The group had two l ...
, and
Hughie Flint, former drummer with
John Mayall
John Brumwell Mayall (29 November 1933 – 22 July 2024) was an English blues and Rock music, rock musician, songwriter and producer. In the 1960s, he formed John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among its members some of ...
; plus vocalist and keyboard player Dennis Coulson, and multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters
Benny Gallagher
Bernard Joseph "Benny" Gallagher (born 10 June 1945) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, most famous as half of the popular duo Gallagher and Lyle.
Career
The son of Irish parents, Gallagher attended St Michael's Ac ...
and
Graham Lyle.
Career
Their first single "
When I'm Dead and Gone" reached No. 2 on the
UK Singles Chart at the end of 1970, No. 47 on the Billboard pop chart and No.3 5 on the Cashbox pop chart in the U.S., No. 5 in Ireland, and No. 31 in Canada.) The debut album ''McGuinness Flint'' also made the
Top 10 of the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
.
In 1999, it received another outing, in the soundtrack of the film, ''
East is East''.
A follow-up single, "Malt and Barley Blues", was a UK No. 5 hit in 1971 and peaked at No.15 in Ireland,
but the group floundered under the pressures of instant success, being required to record a second album and reproduce their recorded sound adequately on stage, which resulted in disappointing concerts, then a series of illnesses among the band members cancelled most of the concerts on their first tour. According to McGuinness, at this time the band consisted of two groups of close-knit friends, the first being Flint, McGuinness, and Coulson, and the other being Gallagher and Lyle. Though these two units generally got along well, a key disagreement between them was that the first group felt the band should focus on touring and performing, while the Gallagher/Lyle camp felt they should focus on songwriting and recording.
The second album ''Happy Birthday Ruthy Baby'' failed to chart, as did the title track when released as a single, but contained some Gallagher and Lyle songs, notably "Sparrow", which attracted cover versions.
Gallagher and Lyle left towards the end of 1971 to record as a duo, and would enjoy major success in 1976 with their hit-laden fifth album ''
Breakaway''.
McGuinness Flint would continue to play some of their compositions in live performances.
After several temporary members came and went, including comedian
Neil Innes
Neil James Innes (; 9 December 1944 – 29 December 2019) was an English writer, comedian and musician. He first came to prominence in the comedy rock group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later became a frequent collaborator with the Monty Py ...
on piano, the group recruited bassist Dixie Dean on a permanent basis, and recorded ''Lo and Behold'', an album of
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
songs (which had not yet been officially recorded and released by the writer himself). This album was credited to Coulson, Dean, McGuinness, Flint, and was issued in 1972.
A single "Let The People Go" was
banned by the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
as it related to the
Ulster crisis, a fate which also befell a contemporary single by
Wings, "
Give Ireland Back to the Irish
"Give Ireland Back to the Irish" is the debut single by the British–American rock band Wings that was released in February 1972. It was written by Paul McCartney and his wife Linda in response to the events of Bloody Sunday, on 30 January th ...
".
Coulson left to record a solo album for
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...
(which Gallagher and Lyle contributed to), and was replaced by Lou Stonebridge (ex-
Paladin
The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers (), are twelve legendary knights, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval (12th century) ''chanson de geste'' cycle of the Matter of France, wh ...
) on keyboards and Jim Evans on guitar.
This new line-up recorded two further albums. Neither of these recordings sold well and the group broke up in 1975.
A splinter group,
Stonebridge McGuinness
Stonebridge McGuinness was a rock duo which had a hit single in the UK singles charts in 1979.
History
The duo was made up of Tom McGuinness and Lou Stonebridge, who had been members of the recently split McGuinness Flint. Their first single ...
, had a minor hit in 1979 with "Oo-Eeh Baby" (No. 54 in the UK
) and released the album ''Corporate Madness'' on
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...
the following year.
This group proved short-lived, however, and afterwards McGuinness and Flint both joined
The Blues Band
The Blues Band was a British blues band formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead vocalist and harmonica player with Manfred Mann, and guitarist Tom McGuinness also of Manfred Mann and The Roosters. The band's first line-up also included bas ...
, which featured former
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. They were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann (musician), Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The group had two l ...
vocalist and harmonica player,
Paul Jones.
Stonebridge had a stint in early 80s classic soul revival outfit The Dance Band, who recorded for the
PRT-distributed Double D label.
McGuinness briefly reunited with Graham Lyle in 1983 to form the Lyle McGuinness Band, a short-lived
folk rock
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
ensemble that recorded a single, "Elise", and an album, ''Acting on Impulse'', for the independent Cool King label; in Germany, this set was granted a major label release on Polydor. Lyle's songwriting career exploded soon afterwards with the worldwide success of his composition "
What's Love Got to Do with It?" for
Tina Turner
Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...
, ensuring that the Lyle McGuinness Band would not continue. Diamond Recordings reissued the album on CD in 1997 as ''Elise, Elise'', with the addition of the non-album single plus a previously unreleased song.
McGuinness continues to record and perform as a member of both
The Blues Band
The Blues Band was a British blues band formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead vocalist and harmonica player with Manfred Mann, and guitarist Tom McGuinness also of Manfred Mann and The Roosters. The band's first line-up also included bas ...
and
The Manfreds
The Manfreds is a British pop group, formed in 1991 as a reunion of former members of the 1960s pop group Manfred Mann, though without their eponymous founder Manfred Mann.
History
The original members of Manfred Mann, minus keyboard player Man ...
, the latter outfit being an amalgamation of 1960s Manfred Mann members that has operated since 1992.
Dennis Coulson died on 15 January 2006.
Discography
Albums
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Singles
See also
*
List of performances on Top of the Pops
*
List of performers on Top of the Pops
__NOTOC__
This list of performers on ''Top of the Pops'' includes popular music recording artists and musical ensembles who have performed on ''Top of the Pops'', a weekly BBC television programme that featured artists from the UK Singles ...
*
Christmas number two
Notes
References
{{Authority control
English rock music groups
Musical groups established in 1970
Musical groups disestablished in 1975
Capitol Records artists
Bronze Records artists