Ian Samwell
Encyclopedia
Ian "Sammy" Samwell was an English
musician
, songwriter
and record producer
, best known as the writer of Cliff Richard
's debut hit
"Move It
" and his association with the rock band America
with whom he had his biggest commercial success with their hit single "A Horse With No Name
". He also worked with rock
bands, such as The Small Faces, The Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa
, Joni Mitchell
, John Mayall
and Hummingbird
.
Samwell wrote for many other British
artists
, including Joe Brown
, Elkie Brooks
, Kenny Lynch
, and Dusty Springfield
. Several of his songs were recorded in Spanish
for the Mexican
group, Los Teen Tops and were released in Latin America
and the Spanish
-speaking territories of the world. He also worked as a record producer with Sounds Incorporated
, Georgie Fame
, John Mayall
and the mod band The Small Faces, co-writing their 1965 hit single "Whatcha Gonna Do About It
".
performing at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho
. This led to him joining Harry Webb
's group, as a guitarist
. Shortly afterwards, the group was renamed Cliff Richard
and The Drifters who later became Cliff Richard and The Shadows
.
They signed a recording contract
with EMI
's Columbia Records
and Samwell wrote "Move It
", which was inspired by Chuck Berry
. The song was initially intended as the B-side of their debut single
"Schoolboy Crush", but Jack Good
ensured that it became the A-side of their release. The song reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart
and is generally accepted as the first rock and roll
song to be written in the United Kingdom
.
Samwell played rhythm guitar
on Move It
, but was edged out of the band when Hank Marvin
and Jet Harris
joined. He was then offered a songwriting contract and wrote Richard's second hit single, "High Class Baby" and several of other early songs also for Richard, such as "Dynamite". In 1959 he wrote "Say You Love Me Too", which was recorded by The Isley Brothers
and became the first song by a British songwriter to be recorded
by an American
R&B
act
.
In the summer of 1961, Samwell hosted some lunchtime record dance sessions at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, using his own collection of R&B and country rock’n’roll records. Then in August, he was appointed first resident DJ on Sunday and Tuesday sessions, playing in front of a fast growing audience of a couple of thousand, mainly made up of new exploding Mod Scene. Later music historian Dave Godin
stated that: "In some ways, the Lyceum was the first place that could merit the name discothèque". He was also a Disc Jockey
at The Orchid Ballroom Purley
, during this period.
He went on to work with other artists, as a staff producer at Warner Bros. Records
in London. Samwell discovered the band America
and produced their first album, America in 1972. Samwell is also credited with persuading their guitarist Dewey Bunnell, to change the name of "Desert Song" to "A Horse With No Name", which became an international chart success. In 1974 Samwell produced the first of three successful albums with Hummingbird
whose lineup included Bobby Tench
and other former members of The second Jeff Beck Group.
Samwell underwent a heart transplant
in the 1990s and died in Sacramento
, California
on 13 March 2003, aged sixty six.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, best known as the writer of Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
's debut hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
"Move It
Move It
"Move It" is a song recorded by Cliff Richard and the Drifters . Originally intended as the B-side to "Schoolboy Crush", it was released as Richard's debut single on 29 August 1958 and became his first hit record. It is credited with being one of the first authentic rock and roll songs produced...
" and his association with the rock band America
America (band)
America is an English-American folk rock band that originally included members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. The three members were barely out of their teens when they became a musical sensation during 1972, scoring #1 hits and winning a Grammy for best new musical artist...
with whom he had his biggest commercial success with their hit single "A Horse With No Name
A Horse with No Name
“A Horse with No Name” is a song written by Dewey Bunnell and originally recorded by the band America. It was the band's first and most successful single, released in early 1972, topping the charts in several countries...
". He also worked with 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...
bands, such as The Small Faces, The Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, John Mayall
John Mayall
John Mayall, OBE is an English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, whose musical career spans over fifty years...
and Hummingbird
Hummingbird (band)
Hummingbird were a British rock band, formed in 1974 by Bobby Tench of The Jeff Beck Group and Streetwalkers fame. Hummingbird recorded three successful albums, released by A&M using Ian "Sammy" Samwell as their record producer...
.
Samwell wrote for many other British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, including Joe Brown
Joe Brown (singer)
Joe Brown, MBE is an English entertainer.He has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and a UK recording star in the early 1960s...
, Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks is an English singer, formerly a vocalist with Vinegar Joe, and later a solo artist. Elkie has been nominated twice for Brit Awards' top female singer. She is known for her powerful husky voice...
, Kenny Lynch
Kenny Lynch
Kenny Lynch, OBE is an English singer, songwriter, entertainer and actor from London. Lynch appeared in many variety shows in the 1960s...
, and Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
. Several of his songs were recorded in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
for the Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
group, Los Teen Tops and were released in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
-speaking territories of the world. He also worked as a record producer with Sounds Incorporated
Sounds Incorporated
Sounds Incorporated, later known as Sounds Inc., were a British instrumental pop group who recorded extensively in the 1960s.-Career:The group formed in 1961, in Dartford, Kent, and gained a local reputation in nearby South London for the fullness of their saxophone-led instrumental sound...
, Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
, John Mayall
John Mayall
John Mayall, OBE is an English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, whose musical career spans over fifty years...
and the mod band The Small Faces, co-writing their 1965 hit single "Whatcha Gonna Do About It
Whatcha Gonna Do About It
"Whatcha Gonna Do About It" is the debut single released by the English R&B, mod group Small Faces, released in the UK on 6 August 1965. The song peaked at number 14 in the UK Singles Chart, and stayed on chart for a total of 14 weeks.-Song profile:...
".
Career
In 1958, Samwell heard Harry WebbCliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
performing at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
. This led to him joining Harry Webb
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
's group, as a guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
. Shortly afterwards, the group was renamed Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
and The Drifters who later became Cliff Richard and The Shadows
The Shadows
The Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'...
.
They signed a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
's Columbia Records
Columbia Graphophone Company
The Columbia Graphophone Company was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Under EMI, as Columbia Records, it became a very successful label in the 1950s and 1960s...
and Samwell wrote "Move It
Move It
"Move It" is a song recorded by Cliff Richard and the Drifters . Originally intended as the B-side to "Schoolboy Crush", it was released as Richard's debut single on 29 August 1958 and became his first hit record. It is credited with being one of the first authentic rock and roll songs produced...
", which was inspired by Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
. The song was initially intended as the B-side of their debut single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Schoolboy Crush", but Jack Good
Jack Good (producer)
Jack Good is a pioneering former TV television producer, musical theatre producer, record producer, musician and painter of icons.-Career:...
ensured that it became the A-side of their release. The song reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
and is generally accepted as the first rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
song to be written in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Samwell played rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
on Move It
Move It
"Move It" is a song recorded by Cliff Richard and the Drifters . Originally intended as the B-side to "Schoolboy Crush", it was released as Richard's debut single on 29 August 1958 and became his first hit record. It is credited with being one of the first authentic rock and roll songs produced...
, but was edged out of the band when Hank Marvin
Hank Marvin
Hank Brian Marvin is an English guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows. The group, which primarily performed instrumentals, was formed as a backing band for vocalist Cliff Richard...
and Jet Harris
Jet Harris
Jet Harris, MBE was an English musician. He was the bass guitarist of The Shadows until April 1962, and had subsequent success as a soloist and as a duo with the drummer Tony Meehan....
joined. He was then offered a songwriting contract and wrote Richard's second hit single, "High Class Baby" and several of other early songs also for Richard, such as "Dynamite". In 1959 he wrote "Say You Love Me Too", which was recorded by The Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers are a highly influential, successful and long-running American music group consisting of different line-ups of six brothers, and a brother-in-law, Chris Jasper...
and became the first song by a British songwriter to be recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
by an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
act
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
.
In the summer of 1961, Samwell hosted some lunchtime record dance sessions at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, using his own collection of R&B and country rock’n’roll records. Then in August, he was appointed first resident DJ on Sunday and Tuesday sessions, playing in front of a fast growing audience of a couple of thousand, mainly made up of new exploding Mod Scene. Later music historian Dave Godin
Dave Godin
David Edward Godin was an English fan of American soul music, who made a major contribution internationally in spreading awareness and understanding of the genre, and by extension African-American culture.-Biography:The son of a milkman, Dave Godin spent his early childhood in Peckham before...
stated that: "In some ways, the Lyceum was the first place that could merit the name discothèque". He was also a Disc Jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
at The Orchid Ballroom Purley
Purley, London
Purley is a place in the London Borough of Croydon, England. It is a suburban development situated 11.7 miles south of Charing Cross.The name derives from "pirlea", which means 'Peartree lea'. Purley has a population of about 72,000....
, during this period.
He went on to work with other artists, as a staff producer at 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...
in London. Samwell discovered the band America
America (band)
America is an English-American folk rock band that originally included members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. The three members were barely out of their teens when they became a musical sensation during 1972, scoring #1 hits and winning a Grammy for best new musical artist...
and produced their first album, America in 1972. Samwell is also credited with persuading their guitarist Dewey Bunnell, to change the name of "Desert Song" to "A Horse With No Name", which became an international chart success. In 1974 Samwell produced the first of three successful albums with Hummingbird
Hummingbird (band)
Hummingbird were a British rock band, formed in 1974 by Bobby Tench of The Jeff Beck Group and Streetwalkers fame. Hummingbird recorded three successful albums, released by A&M using Ian "Sammy" Samwell as their record producer...
whose lineup included Bobby Tench
Bobby Tench
Robert Tench , also known as Bob Tench, Bobby Tench and Bobby Gass is a British vocalist and guitarist. Originally a bass player he began singing with Gass influenced by artists such as Sam Cooke and Ray Charles...
and other former members of The second Jeff Beck Group.
Samwell underwent a heart transplant
Heart transplantation
A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplantation, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease. As of 2007 the most common procedure was to take a working heart from a recently deceased organ donor and implant it into the...
in the 1990s and died in Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
on 13 March 2003, aged sixty six.