John Hawken
Encyclopedia
John Hawken
John Hawken (born John Christopher Hawken, 9 May 1940, at Christchurch General Hospital, Bournemouth
, Hampshire
(now Dorset
) is a British
keyboard
player. He studied classical piano between the ages of four and eighteen at which point he succumbed to the lure of rock and roll
. Hawken's first band was the Cruisers Rock Combo
(1960 to 1962) but he is possibly best known for his contributions to various versions of The Nashville Teens
(1962 to 1968). He was then a founder member of Renaissance
in 1969.
He also played in Spooky Tooth
, Third World War
, Vinegar Joe
, Strawbs and Illusion
, as well as being a session musician
.
(who also rehearsed and played around the Addlestone area). Phillips and Sharp split with their band at about the same time the Cruisers split from their singers, and the new Nashville Teens were born. A little later, Roger Groome joined on drums, John Allen on lead guitar and Terry Crowe became the third singer. This line-up turned professional in 1963 and went to Germany (as many English bands did at that time) to play in the clubs (including Hamburg
's Star-Club
).
," at the same time touring with Chuck Berry
and Carl Perkins
on their first tour of England. "I was delighted to be playing piano for both of them, in addition to playing the Nashvile Teens set", said Hawken. They went to the US
in late 1964 to play the "Murray the K" Christmas show at the Fox Theater in Brooklyn
and subsequently toured extensively in England and Europe.
Peter Harris left the group in 1966 and was replaced on bass by Neil Korner, formerly of The New Vaudeville Band
. Neil and John Hawken also worked together from time to time in a popular London pick-up band, Frankie Reid & The Powerhouse, which also featured Dana Gillespie
on vocals and occasionally, the saxophone section from Cliff Bennett's Rebel Rousers
, plus John Knightsbridge on guitar (later of Illusion).
Although subsequent records failed to equal the success of "Tobacco Road," the band worked steadily until Hawken moved on late in 1968.
Chris Dreja
, John Hawken and steel player Brian (B.J.) Cole
were going to form a country rock band, to be managed by Peter Grant and produced by Mickey Most, but they never got beyond the rehearsal stage. Dreja, aware that his former Yardbirds colleagues Jim McCarty
and Keith Relf
were putting together a new band, suggested Hawken as a possible member. In early 1969 Hawken got a telephone call from McCarty asking if he was interested in the new project. Hawken turned up at McCartys' house in Thames Ditton
, along with bass player Louis Cennamo
, Dreja and Cole. Cole and Dreja subsequently dropped out of the project: Cole went on to become a session musician heard on many recordings in the 1970s.
A short time later Jane Relf
joined on vocals and Renaissance was born, with a line-up of Keith and Jane Relf, McCarty, Hawken and Cennamo. Live gigs included a tour of the US and work in Europe. This line-up recorded two albums, produced by another former Yardbird, Paul Samwell-Smith
. Circumstances brought changes in the band, with Keith Relf, McCarty and Cennamo departing, followed soon after by Jane Relf. Hawken helped recruit replacements and, by the summer of 1970, the line-up consisted of himself with Neil Korner (the Teens' second bass player) on bass guitar, Michael Dunford (Cruisers and Teens) on guitar, Terry Crowe (from the early Teens) and Annemarie "Binky" Cullum as vocalists and Terry Slade on drums.
Hawken was ready for a change when Spooky Tooth contacted him in October 1970 for a three-month tour of Europe on the strength of their hit record "I Am the Walrus" from their Last Puff album. But before he left Renaissance he helped his successor, John Tout, to integrate with the band. Tout, together with Michael Dunford, formed the nucleus of a more stable line-up, with vocalist Annie Haslam
, bass player Jon Camp and drummer Terry Sullivan, that went on to record many albums.
was Terry Stamp. The group recorded one album (the band's second release). The group also included John Knightsbridge (lead guitar) and Craig Collinge (drums). Hawken has recently started collaborating with Stamp and Avery. After a brief spell with Vinegar Joe
, whom he left in September 1972, Hawken joined Strawbs in 1973.
introduced Hawken to the mellotron
. The band consisted of Cousins (singer/songwriter), Dave Lambert
(guitar), Chas Cronk
(bass), Rod Coombes
(drums) and Hawken on keyboards. Tours included the US, Japan and Europe. During Hawken's tenure with the band (1973–1975) they released two albums, Hero and Heroine and Ghosts.
Keith Relf was electrocuted at home while working on their music. The band was re-shuffled, bringing in John Knightsbridge (lead guitar) and Eddie McNeill (drums), with McCarty sharing vocals with Jane Relf and also playing rhythm guitar. The group recorded two albums Out of the Mist and Illusion before disbanding in 1979. A further album of unreleased material appeared many years later under the name Enchanted Caress.
.
In 2001, the surviving members of the original Renaissance - Jim McCarty, Jane Relf, Louis Cennamo and John Hawken - recorded and released Through the Fire under the band name 'Renaissance Illusion'.
In 2004 the Hero and Heroine Strawbs line-up reunited, and undertook a number of tours both in the US and Europe, recording a new album Deja Fou.
. Arden was notoriously reluctant to part with money owed to his clients, and Hawken decided that things had gone too far. According to Phillips, John had arranged to collect £120 from Arden’s Carnaby Street office, but was given a cheque for only £20. Hawken, indignant, demanded the full sum, but Arden leapt from his chair, seized Hawken by the throat, pinned him against the wall and screamed: ‘I have the strength of 10 men in these hands’. The pressure of Arden’s fingers on his neck persuaded Hawken that this was no idle boast. Within seconds, Arden had dragged Hawken towards his second floor window and said: ‘You’re going over, John, you’re going over’. Hawken managed to free himself from Arden’s grip and fled from the office, having learned the hard way that Arden demanded respect.
film
, That'll Be The Day
(1973) as the keyboard player in the band led by Stormy Tempest (Billy Fury
), which also featured Keith Moon
on drums.
John Hawken (born John Christopher Hawken, 9 May 1940, at Christchurch General Hospital, Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
(now Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
) is a 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...
keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
player. He studied classical piano between the ages of four and eighteen at which point he succumbed to the lure of 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...
. Hawken's first band was the Cruisers Rock Combo
Cruisers Rock Combo
The Cruisers Rock Combo was a British rock band of the early 1960s. Formed in Addlestone, Surrey in 1960, their original line-up comprised singers Tony Gallagher, Kenny King and Chris Wing, backed by Mick Dunford , John Hawken , Pete Harris , and Dave Maine...
(1960 to 1962) but he is possibly best known for his contributions to various versions of The Nashville Teens
The Nashville Teens
The Nashville Teens are a British pop band formed in Weybridge, Surrey in Summer 1962.-History:Arthur Sharp began his career in music as the manager of Aerco Records in Woking, Surrey...
(1962 to 1968). He was then a founder member of Renaissance
Renaissance (band)
Renaissance are an English progressive rock band, most notable for their 1978 UK top 10 hit "Northern Lights" and progressive rock classics like "Carpet of the Sun", "Mother Russia" and "Ashes Are Burning".-Original incarnation :...
in 1969.
He also played in Spooky Tooth
Spooky Tooth
Spooky Tooth are an English rock band principally active, with intermittent breakups, between 1967 to 1974. In recent years, the band has been reconstituted at various points, and continues to perform occasionally.-Career:...
, Third World War
Third World War (band)
Third World War were an English rock & roll band formed in 1970 by manager and producer John Fenton together with songwriters Terry Stamp and Jim Avery...
, Vinegar Joe
Vinegar Joe (band)
Vinegar Joe were a British R&B band. They issued three albums on Island Records, but were best known for their live shows and launching the solo careers of Elkie Brooks and Robert Palmer.-History:...
, Strawbs and Illusion
Illusion (UK band)
Illusion were a British band formed in 1977. They released two albums, Out of the Mist and Illusion on Island Records. Their music was classically-inspired, sophisticated, and polished...
, as well as being a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
.
Background
From a brief interview in 2005; "In 1960, I was living with my parents in Weybridge, Surrey, in the South of England when I joined my first rock band -- the Cruisers Rock Combo. The personnel consisted of Dave Maine (drums), Pete Harris (bass), Mick Dunford (lead guitar), myself on piano and three singers, Tony Gallagher, Kenny King and Chris Wing. We rehearsed (and occasionally played) at the Addlestone Youth Club (in the town next to mine)."Nashville Teens
At the same time, Ray Phillips and Arthur Sharp were the singers in The Nashville TeensThe Nashville Teens
The Nashville Teens are a British pop band formed in Weybridge, Surrey in Summer 1962.-History:Arthur Sharp began his career in music as the manager of Aerco Records in Woking, Surrey...
(who also rehearsed and played around the Addlestone area). Phillips and Sharp split with their band at about the same time the Cruisers split from their singers, and the new Nashville Teens were born. A little later, Roger Groome joined on drums, John Allen on lead guitar and Terry Crowe became the third singer. This line-up turned professional in 1963 and went to Germany (as many English bands did at that time) to play in the clubs (including Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
's Star-Club
Star-Club
The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany that opened Friday 13 April 1962 and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the sixties, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on 31 December 1969 and the building it occupied was...
).
Touring
In 1964 (now minus Terry Crowe and with Barry Jenkins on drums) The Nashville Teens signed a management contract and recorded "Tobacco RoadTobacco Road (song)
"Tobacco Road" is a song written and first recorded by John D. Loudermilk in 1960 that was a hit for The Nashville Teens in 1964 and has since become a standard across several musical genres....
," at the same time touring with 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...
and Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
on their first tour of England. "I was delighted to be playing piano for both of them, in addition to playing the Nashvile Teens set", said Hawken. They went to the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in late 1964 to play the "Murray the K" Christmas show at the Fox Theater in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and subsequently toured extensively in England and Europe.
Peter Harris left the group in 1966 and was replaced on bass by Neil Korner, formerly of The New Vaudeville Band
The New Vaudeville Band
The New Vaudeville Band was a group created by songwriter Geoff Stephens in 1966 to record his novelty composition "Winchester Cathedral", a song inspired by the dance bands of the 1920s and a Rudy Vallee megaphone style vocal...
. Neil and John Hawken also worked together from time to time in a popular London pick-up band, Frankie Reid & The Powerhouse, which also featured Dana Gillespie
Dana Gillespie
Dana Gillespie is an English actress and singer.-Career:Gillespie was born to the Baron De Winterstein Gillespie, an Austrian radiologist, and his wife. She grew up in England and her family's villa in Maccagno, a village on Lake Maggiore, Italy...
on vocals and occasionally, the saxophone section from Cliff Bennett's Rebel Rousers
Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers
Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers were a 1960s British rhythm and blues, soul and beat group who had two Top 10 hits with "One Way Love" and "Got to Get You into My Life" ....
, plus John Knightsbridge on guitar (later of Illusion).
Although subsequent records failed to equal the success of "Tobacco Road," the band worked steadily until Hawken moved on late in 1968.
Renaissance
In late 1968 former YardbirdThe Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
Chris Dreja
Chris Dreja
Chris Dreja was the rhythm guitarist, and later bassist, in the 1960s British band, The Yardbirds.-Early life:...
, John Hawken and steel player Brian (B.J.) Cole
B. J. Cole
Brian John Cole is an English pedal steel guitarist. Coming to prominence in the early 1970s with the band Cochise, Cole has played in many styles of music, ranging from mainstream pop and rock, to jazz and eclectic experimental music.He played and is heavily featured with Deke Leonard's Help...
were going to form a country rock band, to be managed by Peter Grant and produced by Mickey Most, but they never got beyond the rehearsal stage. Dreja, aware that his former Yardbirds colleagues Jim McCarty
Jim McCarty
Jim McCarty is an English musician, best known as the drummer for The Yardbirds and Renaissance.-Early life:...
and Keith Relf
Keith Relf
Keith William Relf , was a musician best known as the lead singer and harmonica player of The Yardbirds. After the Yardbirds broke up Relf formed the acoustic duo Together, with fellow Yardbird Jim McCarty, followed by Renaissance, which also featured his sister, singer Jane Relf, then hard rock...
were putting together a new band, suggested Hawken as a possible member. In early 1969 Hawken got a telephone call from McCarty asking if he was interested in the new project. Hawken turned up at McCartys' house in Thames Ditton
Thames Ditton
Thames Ditton is a village in Surrey, England, bordering Greater London. It is situated 12.2 miles south-west of Charing Cross between the towns of Kingston upon Thames, Surbiton, Esher and East Molesey...
, along with bass player Louis Cennamo
Louis Cennamo
Louis David Cennamo was bass guitarist with an early line up of The Herd, the original line-up of Renaissance and later Colosseum, Steamhammer, Armageddon and Illusion . He also worked with Jim McCarty in Stairway. The song "Bullet", on the first Renaissance album, includes an extended...
, Dreja and Cole. Cole and Dreja subsequently dropped out of the project: Cole went on to become a session musician heard on many recordings in the 1970s.
A short time later Jane Relf
Jane Relf
Jane Relf is the younger sister of Keith Relf of the Yardbirds. After the Yardbirds disbanded, Keith formed Renaissance and Jane joined on vocals. After Keith's death the surviving members of Renaissance reformed as Illusion, under which name they recorded two albums with Jane's vocals to the fore...
joined on vocals and Renaissance was born, with a line-up of Keith and Jane Relf, McCarty, Hawken and Cennamo. Live gigs included a tour of the US and work in Europe. This line-up recorded two albums, produced by another former Yardbird, Paul Samwell-Smith
Paul Samwell-Smith
Paul Samwell-Smith is best known as a founding member and bassist of the 1960s English band, The Yardbirds, a group that spawned such noteworthy musicians as Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page...
. Circumstances brought changes in the band, with Keith Relf, McCarty and Cennamo departing, followed soon after by Jane Relf. Hawken helped recruit replacements and, by the summer of 1970, the line-up consisted of himself with Neil Korner (the Teens' second bass player) on bass guitar, Michael Dunford (Cruisers and Teens) on guitar, Terry Crowe (from the early Teens) and Annemarie "Binky" Cullum as vocalists and Terry Slade on drums.
Hawken was ready for a change when Spooky Tooth contacted him in October 1970 for a three-month tour of Europe on the strength of their hit record "I Am the Walrus" from their Last Puff album. But before he left Renaissance he helped his successor, John Tout, to integrate with the band. Tout, together with Michael Dunford, formed the nucleus of a more stable line-up, with vocalist Annie Haslam
Annie Haslam
Annie Haslam is an English progressive rock vocalist and songwriter.Originally a fashion student, she began studying under opera singer Sybil Knight in 1970 and developed her five-octave vocal range...
, bass player Jon Camp and drummer Terry Sullivan, that went on to record many albums.
Third World War
In 1971, Hawken joined Third World War. Their singer-songwriterSinger-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
was Terry Stamp. The group recorded one album (the band's second release). The group also included John Knightsbridge (lead guitar) and Craig Collinge (drums). Hawken has recently started collaborating with Stamp and Avery. After a brief spell with Vinegar Joe
Vinegar Joe (band)
Vinegar Joe were a British R&B band. They issued three albums on Island Records, but were best known for their live shows and launching the solo careers of Elkie Brooks and Robert Palmer.-History:...
, whom he left in September 1972, Hawken joined Strawbs in 1973.
Strawbs
At his audition for the Strawbs, Dave CousinsDave Cousins
Dave Cousins has been the leader, singer and most active songwriter of Strawbs since 1967.-Career:...
introduced Hawken to the mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
. The band consisted of Cousins (singer/songwriter), Dave Lambert
Dave Lambert (British musician)
Dave Lambert is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who was a member of The Strawbs in the 1970s.-Career:...
(guitar), Chas Cronk
Chas Cronk
-Strawbs:*Hero and Heroine *Ghosts *Nomadness *Deep Cuts *Burning for You *Deadlines *Heartbreak Hill *Blue Angel *Déjà Fou *Strawbs Live at Nearfest 2004...
(bass), Rod Coombes
Rod Coombes
Rod Coombes is an English singer-songwriter and musician.-Career:He has played professionally since he was 17, when he joined singer Lulu's backing band The Luvvers. He played with the Jeff Beck Group at the time of the release of the single "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and then joined soul band Trifle,...
(drums) and Hawken on keyboards. Tours included the US, Japan and Europe. During Hawken's tenure with the band (1973–1975) they released two albums, Hero and Heroine and Ghosts.
Illusion
In 1977, the original Renaissance re-formed with Jim McCarty, Keith and Jane Relf, Louis Cennamo and Hawken. Unable, for legal reasons, to use the name Renaissance, they chose "Illusion" - which had been the title of their second album as Renaissance.Keith Relf was electrocuted at home while working on their music. The band was re-shuffled, bringing in John Knightsbridge (lead guitar) and Eddie McNeill (drums), with McCarty sharing vocals with Jane Relf and also playing rhythm guitar. The group recorded two albums Out of the Mist and Illusion before disbanding in 1979. A further album of unreleased material appeared many years later under the name Enchanted Caress.
United States
In November, 1979, the Hawken family moved to the United States, and Hawken began playing with 'The Rocketmen' in New JerseyNew Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
In 2001, the surviving members of the original Renaissance - Jim McCarty, Jane Relf, Louis Cennamo and John Hawken - recorded and released Through the Fire under the band name 'Renaissance Illusion'.
In 2004 the Hero and Heroine Strawbs line-up reunited, and undertook a number of tours both in the US and Europe, recording a new album Deja Fou.
A near-death experience
Fellow Nashville Teen Ray Phillips related a tale from the band's involvement with manager Don ArdenDon Arden
Don Arden , born Harry Levy, was an English music manager, agent and businessman, best known for overseeing the careers of rock groups Small Faces, Electric Light Orchestra and Black Sabbath....
. Arden was notoriously reluctant to part with money owed to his clients, and Hawken decided that things had gone too far. According to Phillips, John had arranged to collect £120 from Arden’s Carnaby Street office, but was given a cheque for only £20. Hawken, indignant, demanded the full sum, but Arden leapt from his chair, seized Hawken by the throat, pinned him against the wall and screamed: ‘I have the strength of 10 men in these hands’. The pressure of Arden’s fingers on his neck persuaded Hawken that this was no idle boast. Within seconds, Arden had dragged Hawken towards his second floor window and said: ‘You’re going over, John, you’re going over’. Hawken managed to free himself from Arden’s grip and fled from the office, having learned the hard way that Arden demanded respect.
Screen appearances
Hawken appeared briefly in the David EssexDavid Essex
David Essex OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK , and sixteen Top 40 albums...
film
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...
, That'll Be The Day
That'll Be The Day (film)
That'll Be the Day is a 1973 British film starring David Essex and Ringo Starr, written by Ray Connolly and directed by Claude Whatham. It is set in the late '50s/early '60s and was partially filmed on the Isle of Wight. A sequel, Stardust, was released in 1974.-Plot summary:Jim MacLaine's mother...
(1973) as the keyboard player in the band led by Stormy Tempest (Billy Fury
Billy Fury
Billy Fury, born Ronald William Wycherley , was an internationally successful English singer from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. Rheumatic fever, which he first contracted as a child, damaged his heart and ultimately contributed to his death...
), which also featured Keith Moon
Keith Moon
Keith John Moon was an English musician, best known for being the drummer of the English rock group The Who. He gained acclaim for his exuberant and innovative drumming style, and notoriety for his eccentric and often self-destructive behaviour, earning him the nickname "Moon the Loon". Moon...
on drums.
External links
- http://www.johnhawken.com/ Official website
- http://www.strawbsweb.co.uk/ Strawbs website
- http://www.nlightsweb.com/ Northern Lights Renaissance website