Streetwalkers were an English

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 ...

band formed in late 1973 by two former members of rock band

Family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

, vocalist

Roger Chapman Roger Maxwell Chapman (born 8 April 1942 in Leicester), also known as Chappo, is an English Rock music, rock vocalist. He is best known as a member of the progressive rock band Family (band), Family, which he joined along with Charlie Whitney ...

and guitarist

John "Charlie" Whitney Richard John Whitney (born 24 June 1944), also known as John "Charlie" Whitney, John Whitney and Charlie Whitney, is an English Rock music, rock musician and a founder member of the bands Family (band), Family, Streetwalkers and Axis Point. C ...

. They were a five piece band which evolved from the Chapman Whitney Band. The band was managed by Michael Alphandary and Harvey Goldsmith and were best known for their live performances and their album ''Red Card'' (1976). The band's potential was commented on by former Sounds magazine staff writer and later successful publicist Barbara Charone who stated that “Roger Chapman, Charlie Whitney, and Bobby Tench have been one step away from the big time for so long now that it makes you wonder what the problem is. Everyone knows Family should have made it, that Chapman/Whitney should have made it and that now Streetwalkers should make it. They certainly deserve to", after she saw them performing in support of The Who in 1976. By 1977 the possibility of becoming more important in UK rock history was diminished by changing musical taste, due to the growing influence of

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

and

new wave music New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop music, pop-oriented styles from the 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of Punk subculture, punk culture". It was originally used as a catch-all fo ...

European culture The culture of Europe is diverse, and rooted in its art, architecture, traditions, cuisines, music, folklore, embroidery, film, literature, economics, philosophy and religious customs. Definition Whilst there are a great number of pers ...

. The band had successes in the United States and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, particularly Germany.

History

1973 ''Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers'' the album

Chapman and Whitney signed to the

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any re ...

label in 1973 and recorded '' Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers'' (1974) with a lineup including other members of

(co-founder Ric Grech on bass, former bassists

John Wetton John Kenneth Wetton (12 June 1949 – 31 January 2017) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. Although he was left-handed, he was known for his skilled right-handed bass playing as well as his booming baritone voice. He was a member ...

and

Jim Cregan James Cregan (born 9 March 1946) is an English rock guitarist and bassist, best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her a ...

providing bass and backing vocals respectively) and

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

(Wetton, plus saxophonist

Mel Collins Melvyn Desmond Collins (born 5 September 1947, Isle of Man) is a British saxophonist, flautist and session musician. Collins has played in several progressive rock groups, having been a member of King Crimson on two occasions (the first from ...

, drummers Ian Wallace and Michael Giles). When writing about the album for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Patrick Little commented: During this period keyboard player

Blue Weaver Derek John "Blue" Weaver (born 11 March 1947) is a Welsh rock keyboardist, session musician, songwriter and record producer. Career Weaver's career as a musician began as a co-founding member of 1960s Welsh rock band Amen Corner and its succ ...

appeared with them at concerts, such as the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...

in the summer of 1974. Bobby Tench from

the Jeff Beck Group The Jeff Beck Group was a British rock band formed in London in January 1967 by former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck. Their innovative approach to heavy-sounding blues, rhythm and blues and rock was a major influence on popular music. Histo ...

and

Hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

was also featured in their fluid, informal touring band line up and appeared at concerts such as in

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a , historic Listed building#Heritage protection, Grade I-listed urban park in Westminster, Greater London. A Royal Parks of London, Royal Park, it is the largest of the parks and green spaces that form a chain from Kensington P ...

, the same year

Concert billing, Rockpalast, Streetwalkers formation and Downtown Flyers

After recording the album ''Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers'', Chapman and Whitney changed the name of their band to Streetwalkers and Tench joined them as an official band member, when they signed to Phonogram Inc. in 1975. Tench was joined by drummer Nicko McBrain (who would later join

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

) and bass player Jon Plotel. They had previously appeared on a European broadcast for the German TV show Rockpalast with Chapman and Whitney earlier the same year, billed as the Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers. The band's first album, ''Downtown Flyers'' (1975) was released in both USA and Europe but did not achieve the anticipated success in USA, although interest in Europe was more encouraging.

Red Card, stadium concerts

Their second studio album, the

groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station ...

heavy album ''Red Card'' (1976) reached #16 in UK album charts and remains a much respected album. The band performed at a series of concerts entitled Who Put the Boot In appearing at UK Football stadiums, during May and June 1976, supporting the Who. The billing for these concerts included the Sensational Alex Harvey Band,

Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George, bassist Roy Estrada (both formerly of the Mothers of Invention), keyboardist Bill Payne, and drummer Richie Hayward in ...

, Outlaws, Widowmaker (UK) and Streetwalkers were the second act to appear. The band also toured the U.S as support to others such as Wings, 10cc and Joe Cocker.

John Peel sessions, final Rockpalast appearance

On 12 June 1976 they made their first appearance for

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

on his "Peel Sessions" recorded by

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 ...

radio, with the line-up of Chapman, Whitney, Tench, Plotel and McBrain and were featured by Peel once more as a "Peel session", on 14 March 1977. On 19 April the same year, they made their final appearance on '' Rockpalast'', with a line-up which included Chapman, Whitney, Tench, keyboardist Brian Johnston, bassist Mickey Feat and drummer David Dowle who later joined

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their ow ...

Vicious But Fair and breakup of band

By the time their third and final studio album ''Vicious But Fair'' (1977) was released,

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

had shifted their commercial emphasis to the musical trends of

and

. The euphoria surrounding the band began to diminish and the potential of becoming more established in Europe evaporated. ''Streetwalkers Live'' (1977) was their final album and included a rough and ready compilation of poorly recorded tracks, probably released to comply with contractual obligations. In his review of this album for

, John Dougan mentions the poor quality of the recording and states that: "Chapman tears off a few soulful moments and it can rock". By now the band had broken up and Tench moved on to work with Van Morrisson, along with Feat.

Band members

Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers musicians 1973-1974

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 ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

* Boz Burrell - vocals *

- vocals * Linda Lewis -

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

* Charlie Whitney -

guitar 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 ...

and

steel guitar A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...

* Neil Hubbard - guitar * Bobby Tench - guitar, vocals, percussion, keyboards * Ric Grech -

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 ...

- bass and vocals *

- keyboards *

Tim Hinkley Timothy Alan Hinkley (25 May 1946 – 21 August 2024) was an English singer-songwriter, keyboardist and record producer. Born in London, Hinkley started playing in youth club bands in the early 1960s, with bands including the Copains, Boys and ...

- keyboards and vocals * Max Middleton - keyboards *

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, clarinet, bass clarinet * Michael Giles -

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 ...

* Ian Wallace - drums * Poli Palmer -

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

and background vocals *Godfrey McLean - percussion

Streetwalkers musicians 1975-1977

- vocals, harmonica and percussion * Charlie Whitney - guitar, keyboards,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

* Bobby Tench - guitar, vocals, percussion, keyboards * Jon Plotel - bass and background vocals * Mickey Feat - bass *Brian Johnston - keyboards * Nicko McBrain - percussion and drums * David Dowle - drums

Albums

* '' Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers'' Reprise K 54017UK/Mercury USA (May 1974)< * '' Downtown Flyers'' Vertigo 6360 123 (October 1975) * ''

Red Card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or di ...

'' Vertigo 9102 010 UK/Mercury USA (May 1976). Reached #16 in UK album chart * ''In Concert BBC'' (1975) * '' Vicious But Fair'' Vertigo 9102 013UK/Mercury USA (January 1977) * ''Live Streetwalkers'' Vertigo 6641 703 (December 1977) * ''Best of Streetwalkers'' Vertigo 846 661 2(1991)

Re-issues

* ''Red Card'' Repertoire REP 4147-WP CD (2002) * ''Downtown Flyers'' BGO (2002) * ''Vicious but Fair'' See for Miles SEECD 352(1994) * ''Live at the BBC'' Windsong 61 (1994) * ''Streetwalkers Live'' BGO (2004)

Compilations

* ''Red Card/Vicious but Fair'' BGO BGOCD 606 (2005)

Singles

* "Roxianna"/"Crack" Reprise K14357 (1974) taken from Chapman-Whitney Streetwalkers album * "Raingame"/"Miller" Vertigo 6059 130 (1975) taken from Downtown Flyers album * "Daddy Rolling Stone"/"Hole In Your Pocket" Vertigo 6059 144 (1976) taken from

album * "Chilli Con Carne"/"But You're Beautiful" Vertigo Europe from Vicious but Fair album

Notes

References

*Joynson, Vernon. ''The Tapestry of Delights - The Comprehensive Guide to British Music of the Beat, R&B, Psychedelic and Progressive Eras 1963-1976''. Borderline (2006). Reprinted 2008. *Roberts, David. ''British Hit Singles & Albums (19th edition)''. London: Guinness World Records Limited(2006). .

External links

Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers
and Streetwalkers at Rockpalast WDR Studio-L Köln 1975 and 1977 * Streetwalkersdiscography at

* *
Streetwalkers
Crawfish. Live at Rockpalast March 25, 1975 at NME.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Streetwalkers English rock music groups Vertigo Records artists Mercury Records artists Reprise Records artists Musical groups established in 1974 Musical groups disestablished in 1977 1974 establishments in England 1977 disestablishments in England