Juicy Lucy (band)
Encyclopedia
Juicy Lucy is a blues
-rock
band formed on April 1, 1969. After the demise of The Misunderstood
, vocalist Ray Owen, steel guitar
ist Glenn Ross Campbell
, and saxophone
player Chris Mercer formed Juicy Lucy. The group later recruited guitarist
Neil Hubbard
, bassist
Keith Ellis
, and drummer
Pete Dobson.
immediately notched a UK
Top 20 hit with their cover version
of the Bo Diddley
perennial "Who Do You Love?
"
Their self-titled debut album
then fell just shy of the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart
. The album's cover featured a burlesque dancer named Zelda Plum, naked except for a covering of fruit.
Line-up changes were quickly afoot as ex-Zoot Money
singer Paul Williams, guitarist Micky Moody
, and drummer Rod Coombes
replaced Owen (who exited for a solo
career), Hubbard, and Dobson for 1970's Lie Back and Enjoy It (#53 - UK Albums Chart
). In May 1970, the band appeared at the annual NME
poll-winners concert. Another bassist, Jim Leverton, assumed Ellis' duties for the follow-up, 1971's Get a Whiff a This. In August 1971, Juicy Lucy appeared on the bill at the Weeley Festival
near Clacton-on-Sea
, Essex
.
The constant turnover clearly took its toll on the group both creatively and commercially, with co-founders Campbell and Mercer, plus Coombes exiting prior to the fourth Juicy Lucy album
, 1972's Pieces. This was recorded by a makeshift line-up of Williams, Moody, keyboardist Jean Roussel, and the former Blodwyn Pig
rhythm section
of bassist Andy Pyle
and drummer Ron Berg. Juicy Lucy disbanded shortly thereafter.
Micky Moody (born 30 August 1950, in Middlesbrough
), later joined the inaugural Whitesnake
line-up in 1978. Before then he was a member of another rock outfit Snafu
between 1973 and 1976. Moody also released the blues
y solo
album I Eat Them For Breakfast in 2001. Plus, Juicy Lucy's version of the song "Who Do You Love?" was featured in Shellshock: Nam '67
.
Founder member Ray Owen revived the name in 1995 for the album Here She Comes Again which found Mike Jarvis (guitar), Andy Doughty (bass), and Spencer Blackledge (drums) rounding out the band. A couple of years later this version of the band broke up but Owen wanted to keep on going, especially when he formed a musical partnership with a guitarist known as Mr. Fish. Legal problems kept the new band from using the Juicy Lucy name, so they gigged as Ray Owen's Moon (Moon being the title of Ray Owen's 1971 solo album).
By 2004 bassist Fudge and drummer Fletch had joined the band and the legal issue was settled. The new Juicy Lucy spent 2006 working on a new album (subsequently titled Do That And You'll Lose It), and touring the UK
with fellow rock
veterans Nazareth
.
They played the Cambridge Rock Festival in 2007. The link with the past though is not forgotten, and the modern day Juicy Lucy still plays "Mississippi Woman", "Who Do You Love?" and more from their first album. In 2009 a new line up formed as, due to health problems, Owen was unable to continue on a regular basis. The band is now fronted by singer/ guitarist Mr Fish, Fletch (drums) and James (bass), and is still touring the UK. Owen now performs occasionally as Ray Owen's Juicy Lucy, accompanied by Mike Jarvis and Spencer Blackledge from the 1990s incarnation of the band.
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
-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 on April 1, 1969. After the demise of The Misunderstood
The Misunderstood
The Misunderstood were a psychedelic rock band originating from Riverside, California in the mid-1960s. The band moved to London early in their career, and although they recorded only a handful of songs before being forced to disband, they are considered highly influential in the then-emerging...
, vocalist Ray Owen, steel guitar
Steel guitar
Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
ist Glenn Ross Campbell
Glenn Ross Campbell
Glenn Ross Campbell born in 1946, is a child prodigy steel guitarist, most noted for being lead guitarist of cult band, The Misunderstood. The Misunderstood were a psychedelic rock band originating from Riverside, California in the mid-1960s...
, and saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
player Chris Mercer formed Juicy Lucy. The group later recruited 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...
Neil Hubbard
Neil Hubbard
Neil Hubbard is a British guitarist who performed with Juicy Lucy , The Grease Band, Bluesology, Joe Cocker, Roxy Music, Kokomo, B.B. King, Kevin Rowland, and Tony O'Malley; and played on the original 1970 concept album, Jesus Christ Superstar....
, bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Keith Ellis
Keith Ellis
Keith Ian Ellis , was an English bass player. He is known for his associations with The Koobas, The Misunderstood and Juicy Lucy. He was also a member of Van der Graaf Generator from 1968 to 1969...
, and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Pete Dobson.
Career
The bandBand (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
immediately notched a UK
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...
Top 20 hit with their cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of the Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
perennial "Who Do You Love?
Who Do You Love?
"Who Do You Love?" is a song written and recorded in 1956 by Bo Diddley. The record features Jody Williams, then a member of Bo Diddley's band, on lead guitar.-Legacy:...
"
Their self-titled 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...
then fell just shy of the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
. The album's cover featured a burlesque dancer named Zelda Plum, naked except for a covering of fruit.
Line-up changes were quickly afoot as ex-Zoot Money
Zoot Money
George Bruno Money, known as Zoot Money is a British vocalist, keyboardist and bandleader best known for his playing of the Hammond organ and association with his Big Roll Band...
singer Paul Williams, guitarist Micky Moody
Micky Moody
Michael Joseph "Micky" Moody is an English guitarist, and a former member of the rock bands Juicy Lucy and Whitesnake. He was also a founder-member of Snafu. Together with his former Whitesnake colleague Bernie Marsden he founded the Moody Marsden Band, and later, The Snakes...
, and drummer 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,...
replaced Owen (who exited for a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
career), Hubbard, and Dobson for 1970's Lie Back and Enjoy It (#53 - UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
). In May 1970, the band appeared at the annual NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
poll-winners concert. Another bassist, Jim Leverton, assumed Ellis' duties for the follow-up, 1971's Get a Whiff a This. In August 1971, Juicy Lucy appeared on the bill at the Weeley Festival
Weeley Festival
Weeley Festival was a British rock festival that took place in August 1971 near the small village of Weeley outside Clacton in Essex.-Details:...
near Clacton-on-Sea
Clacton-on-Sea
Clacton-on-Sea is the largest town on the Tendring peninsula, in Essex, England and was founded in 1871. It is a seaside resort that attracted many tourists in the summer months between the 1950s and 1970s, but which like many other British sea-side resorts went into decline as a holiday...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
.
The constant turnover clearly took its toll on the group both creatively and commercially, with co-founders Campbell and Mercer, plus Coombes exiting prior to the fourth Juicy Lucy 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...
, 1972's Pieces. This was recorded by a makeshift line-up of Williams, Moody, keyboardist Jean Roussel, and the former Blodwyn Pig
Blodwyn Pig
Blodwyn Pig were a British blues–rock group founded by guitarist–vocalist–songwriter Mick Abrahams, after he left Jethro Tull in 1968 due to a falling-out with Tull leader Ian Anderson.-Career:...
rhythm section
Rhythm section
A rhythm section is a collection of musicians who make up a section of instruments which provides the accompaniment section of the music, giving the music its rhythmic texture and pulse, also serving as a rhythmic reference for the rest of the band...
of bassist Andy Pyle
Andy Pyle
Andy Pyle is an English bass guitarist. He played with The Kinks from 1976–1978. Prior to that, he was in Blodwyn Pig and Savoy Brown...
and drummer Ron Berg. Juicy Lucy disbanded shortly thereafter.
Micky Moody (born 30 August 1950, in Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
), later joined the inaugural Whitesnake
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...
line-up in 1978. Before then he was a member of another rock outfit Snafu
Snafu (band)
Snafu was a British rhythm and blues/rock band of the 1970s featuring vocalist Bobby Harrison and the talented slide guitarist Micky Moody.-History:...
between 1973 and 1976. Moody also released the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
y solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
album I Eat Them For Breakfast in 2001. Plus, Juicy Lucy's version of the song "Who Do You Love?" was featured in Shellshock: Nam '67
Shellshock: Nam '67
Shellshock: Nam '67 is a third-person shooter set during the Vietnam War in which the player takes control of a newly drafted U.S. soldier. It was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC platforms on September 14, 2004. It was published by Eidos Interactive and developed by Guerrilla...
.
Founder member Ray Owen revived the name in 1995 for the album Here She Comes Again which found Mike Jarvis (guitar), Andy Doughty (bass), and Spencer Blackledge (drums) rounding out the band. A couple of years later this version of the band broke up but Owen wanted to keep on going, especially when he formed a musical partnership with a guitarist known as Mr. Fish. Legal problems kept the new band from using the Juicy Lucy name, so they gigged as Ray Owen's Moon (Moon being the title of Ray Owen's 1971 solo album).
By 2004 bassist Fudge and drummer Fletch had joined the band and the legal issue was settled. The new Juicy Lucy spent 2006 working on a new album (subsequently titled Do That And You'll Lose It), and touring the UK
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...
with fellow 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...
veterans Nazareth
Nazareth (band)
Nazareth is a Scottish hard rock band, founded in 1968, that had several hits in the UK in the early 1970s, and established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog. Perhaps their best-known hit single was a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts", in 1975...
.
They played the Cambridge Rock Festival in 2007. The link with the past though is not forgotten, and the modern day Juicy Lucy still plays "Mississippi Woman", "Who Do You Love?" and more from their first album. In 2009 a new line up formed as, due to health problems, Owen was unable to continue on a regular basis. The band is now fronted by singer/ guitarist Mr Fish, Fletch (drums) and James (bass), and is still touring the UK. Owen now performs occasionally as Ray Owen's Juicy Lucy, accompanied by Mike Jarvis and Spencer Blackledge from the 1990s incarnation of the band.
Album discography
- 1969 - Juicy LucyJuicy Lucy (album)Juicy Lucy is the debut album by Anglo-American rock band Juicy Lucy, released in 1969. The music is a curiously heavy form of blues-rock, often played at break-neck speed. The album was a moderate success, reaching number 41 on the U.K...
(VertigoVertigo RecordsVertigo Records today is a UK-based record label operated by Universal Music UK.-History:Vertigo Records was the name Philips Records chose in the late 1960s for its record sub-label to counter the progressive labels of its rivals EMI with Harvest Records and Decca Records with Deram...
) - 1970 - Lie Back and Enjoy ItLie Back and Enjoy ItLie Back and Enjoy It is the second album by British-American blues rock group Juicy Lucy released in 1970. Although several members of the band had been replaced since the release of their first album, most notably singer Ray Owen and lead guitarist Neil Hubbard, it was generally considered to be...
(Vertigo) - 1971 - Get a Whiff a This (BronzeBronze RecordsBronze Records is an independent English record label set up in 1971 by record producer Gerry Bron, and based in Chalk Farm, London.Bron had been producing Uriah Heep for Vertigo Records, and he set up this new label for future Uriah Heep releases, along with Juicy Lucy, Richard Barnes and Colosseum...
) - 1972 - Pieces (PolydorPolydor RecordsPolydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
) - 1990 - Who Do You Love - The Best of Juicy Lucy (compilation albumCompilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
) - 1998 - Blue Thunder
- 1999 - Here She Comes Again
- 2006 - Do That And You'll Lose It