Coven (band)
Encyclopedia
Coven is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band formed in the late 1960s, composed of vocalist Jinx Dawson, bassist Oz Osborne (not to be confused with Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...

 of Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...

), Chris Neilsen on guitar, Rick Durrett and later John Hobbs on keyboards, and drummer Steve Ross. They are recognized as being the band that first introduced the "Sign of the Horns" to rock and pop culture (as seen on their 1969 debut album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 release Witchcraft).

Top 40 hit

They had a top 40 hit on Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

 with "One Tin Soldier
One Tin Soldier
"One Tin Soldier" is a 1960s era anti-war song written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. The Canadian pop group Original Caste first recorded the song in 1969. The track went to No. 6 on the RPM Magazine charts and hit the No.1 position on Canada's most influential radio chain, CHUM-AM, in Canada...

," written and composed by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter
Brian Potter
Brian Chelsea Potter, one of many fictional characters played by Peter Kay, is the owner of The Phoenix Club in both That Peter Kay Thing and Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights...

 which was also used as the theme song to the 1971 movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 Billy Jack
Billy Jack
Billy Jack is a 1971 action film. It is the second, and highest grossing, in a series of motion pictures centering on a character of the same name, played by Tom Laughlin who also directed and co-wrote the script. Filming began in Prescott, Arizona, in fall 1969, but the movie was not completed...

.
Jinx Dawson, sang the song at a 1971 session with the film's orchestra as part of the film soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

, and asked that Coven be listed on the recording and film, not her name as a solo artist.

Jinx Dawson

Dawson was a native of Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

. The difficult delivery of twins, one dead in the womb, was performed by a Dr. Jinks, so her model mother named her Jinx. She began studying opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 and the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

, following in her family's secret society footsteps. She, Ross, and Osborne formed Coven in Chicago in the late 1960s. In 1967 to 1968 they toured on concert bills with Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...

's Yardbirds, the Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...

 band, and Vanilla Fudge
Vanilla Fudge
Vanilla Fudge is an American rock band. The band's original lineup – vocalist/organist Mark Stein, bassist/vocalist Tim Bogert, lead guitarist/vocalist Vince Martell, and drummer/vocalist Carmine Appice – recorded five albums during the years 1966–69, before disbanding in 1970...

, among many others. Dawson began and ended each Coven concert with the sign of the horns, being the first to introduce this hand sign into rock pop culture.

Recording contract

They were signed to Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

, where they put out their first album, Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls
Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls
-Personnel:*Jinx Dawson: Vocals*Jim Donlinger: Guitars, Vocals*Jim Nyeholt, John Hobbs: Keyboards, Organ, Piano*Alan Estes, Oz Osbourne: Bass*Steve Ross: Drums, Percussion- External links :* * *...

in 1969. The music on the album was considered underground rock; what made it distinctive was the heavy emphasis on diabolical
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...

 subject matter, including songs such as "The White Witch of Rose Hall" (based on the story of Annie Palmer
White Witch (of Rose Hall)
The White Witch is the story of a haunting in Jamaica.-History:The story states that the White Witch was Annie Palmer, who was born in Haiti. She later moved to Jamaica, where she was married to John Palmer in 1820. As an adult, she reportedly stood 4'11"....

), "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge is the ninth studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1991 through Warner Bros. Records. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart and maintained the position for three weeks...

", and "Dignitaries of Hell". The album concluded with a 13 minute track of chanting and Satanic prayers called "Satanic Mass" (written by their producer, Bill Traut, of Dunwich Productions). Also included inside the album, was Coven's infamous Black Mass poster, showing members of the group displaying the sign of the horns as they prepared for a Satanic ritual over the naked altar.

This is the first photographed use of the Horned Hand Salute and the Inverted Cross, as well as the first use of the phrase Hail Satan
Hail Satan
"Hail Satan", sometimes expressed in a Latinized version as Ave Satanas is an expression used by some Satanists to show their dedication to Satan, but has also been used for the purpose of comedy or satire. Believers in backmasking think they can hear "Hail Satan" and other messages to Satan in...

, in rock music pop culture. They also made a video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for the title track of their third album, Blood on the Snow in 1974, seven years before MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 started in 1981.

Satanic acts

According to Dawson, "The satanic thing actually was something we were interested in and were studying at the time. When you're younger, you're looking for answers, and a lot of members of the band were looking into the same books at the same time. We studied it, we practiced it." This content was considered highly unusual for the time. Starting with their first contract with Mercury in 1969, the Coven members signed all their record contracts each in their own blood.

Modern Satanism and Satanic practices are usually described today as originating with Anton LaVey
Anton LaVey
Anton Szandor LaVey , born Howard Stanton Levey, was the founder of the Church of Satan as well as a writer, occultist, and musician...

 and the Church of Satan
Church of Satan
The Church of Satan is an organization dedicated to the acceptance of the carnal self, as articulated in The Satanic Bible, written in 1969 by Anton Szandor LaVey.- History :...

 (founded in 1966). However, Coven's first album, and some of the 1960s trends and styles associated with it (reflected in the Esquire article mentioned below), are an indication that there were also other unique, and sometimes more underground, trends within Satanism. Coven and Anton LaVey did actually almost cross paths, at the October 31, 1969, Detroit Black Arts Festival, which also included Arthur Brown
Arthur Brown (musician)
Arthur Brown is an English rock and roll musician best known for his flamboyant, theatrical style and significant influence on Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Marilyn Manson, George Clinton, Kiss, King Diamond, and Bruce Dickinson, among others, and for his number one hit in the UK Singles Chart and...

, Peter Hurkos
Peter Hurkos
Peter Hurkos , born Pieter van der Hurk, was a Dutchman who allegedly manifested extra-sensory perception following a head injury and coma resulting from a fall from a ladder when he was age 30. During World War II he was a member of the Dutch Resistance against the Nazis and was imprisoned in...

, Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...

, and numerous others. While Coven did perform, Anton LaVey, although scheduled, did not appear

Unwanted publicity

Then called heavy underground rock, Coven is now considered pioneers of dark heavy metal and gothic rock. Unwanted publicity came to the band in the form of a sensationalistic Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...

magazine issue entitled "Evil Lurks in California" (Esquire, March 1970), which linked counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...

 interest in the occult to Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...

 and the Tate-La Bianca murders, while also mentioning the Witchcraft album and its Black Mass material As a result of this unwanted publicity, Mercury withdrew the album from circulation.

Good fortune

Luck returned to Dawson when Tom Laughlin
Tom Laughlin (actor)
Tom Laughlin is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, educator and political activist. Laughlin is best known for his series of Billy Jack films. He has been married to Delores Taylor since 1954. Taylor has also co-produced and acted in all four of the Billy Jack films...

 asked her to record the "One Tin Soldier
One Tin Soldier
"One Tin Soldier" is a 1960s era anti-war song written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. The Canadian pop group Original Caste first recorded the song in 1969. The track went to No. 6 on the RPM Magazine charts and hit the No.1 position on Canada's most influential radio chain, CHUM-AM, in Canada...

" song for his Billy Jack
Billy Jack
Billy Jack is a 1971 action film. It is the second, and highest grossing, in a series of motion pictures centering on a character of the same name, played by Tom Laughlin who also directed and co-wrote the script. Filming began in Prescott, Arizona, in fall 1969, but the movie was not completed...

movie. It was written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, and originally released in 1969 by the Canadian group The Original Caste (#34). Coven's recording charted three times, first in 1971 (#26), in 1973 (#79), and a re-entry of the original version in 1974 (#73) on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

, and was a top 10 hit in the Cash Box chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

. The song was named #1 Most Requested Song in 1971 and 1973 by American Radio Broadcasters. Coven released a self-titled album in 1972 which featured "One Tin Soldier" along with "Nightengale" penned by Dawson, which charted as a hot pick on Billboard & Cashbox; a third album, Blood on the Snow, was put out on Buddah Records
Buddah Records
Buddah Records was founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's founding...

 in 1974. One of the first music videos ever made directly for an album title song was produced by Disney Studios
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...

.

1990s

In 1990 Coven appeared in the film Heaven Can Help with Dawson in a starring role. She wrote all the music and, along with original drummer Steve Ross, new members were added to the Coven which appeared in the film.

Dawson continued to pursue a career in acting with a minor, uncredited role in the movie Cool World
Cool World
Cool World is a 1992 American live-action/animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi, and starring Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne, and Brad Pitt. It tells the story of a cartoonist who finds himself in the animated world he created, and is seduced by one of his characters, a comic strip vamp who wants to...

. She returned to music after several years as caregiver for her terminally ill father. She is set to film a PBS Special called The All time Biggest Movie Title Songs.

2000s

On November 5, 2007, Dawson announced via her MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 page that three of the original Coven members were planning to reform the group and record a new studio album to "finish what they started". She added that the band were "dying to tour". In May 2008, Coven released a new CD, Metal Goth Queen~Out of the Vault with music spanning decades. Some of the guest musicians on this CD included Michael Monarch
Michael Monarch
Michael Monarch is an American guitarist. He is best known for his work with the band Steppenwolf....

, formerly of Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf (band)
Steppenwolf are a Canadian-American rock group that was prominent in the late 1960s. The group was formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by vocalist John Kay, guitarist Michael Monarch, bassist Rushton Moreve, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton after the dissolution of Toronto group The...

, Glenn Cornick, formerly of Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...

 and Tommy Bolin
Tommy Bolin
Thomas Richard "Tommy" Bolin was an American-born guitarist who played with Zephyr , The James Gang , and Deep Purple , in addition to doing solo work...

, formerly of Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...

, in some of his last recordings.

Discography

  • Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls
    Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls
    -Personnel:*Jinx Dawson: Vocals*Jim Donlinger: Guitars, Vocals*Jim Nyeholt, John Hobbs: Keyboards, Organ, Piano*Alan Estes, Oz Osbourne: Bass*Steve Ross: Drums, Percussion- External links :* * *...

    (1969)
  • Coven (1972)
  • Blood On The Snow (1974)
  • Metal Goth Queen~Out of the Vault (2008)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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