Kokomo (band)
Encyclopedia
Career
Formed in May 1973 by ex-members of the pop group Arrival (band)Arrival (band)
Arrival was a London-based close-harmony pop-rock band featuring singers originally from Liverpool. Following its appearance on Maynard Ferguson's 1970 UK television special and two chart hits, "Friends" and "I Will Survive", the band was booked to appear at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.After...
, Kokomo's ten-piece line-up became: Dyan Birch
Dyan Birch
Dyan Birch, born 25 January 1949 in Liverpool, is an English singer.Bands and artists with whom Birch has worked include Arrival, as founder member in 1969, Kokomo, The Voice Squad, Bryan Ferry, Gloria Gaynor, Frankie Miller and Manfred Mann....
(vocals), Frank Collins
Frank Collins (composer-singer)
Frank Collins is a British composer, singer and arranger who was a leading light with the bands The Excels, Arrival, and Kokomo...
(vocals), Paddy McHugh (vocals), Tony O'Malley
Tony O'Malley (musician)
Tony O'Malley is a British composer, singer, arranger, and keyboard player. He was the keyboardist for Arrival who had a #8 UK hit with "Friends" in 1970, and the hit "I Will Survive", written and arranged by fellow Arrival member Frank Collins...
(keyboards
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...
, vocals), Alan Spenner (bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
), 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....
(guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
), Mel Collins
Mel Collins
Mel Collins is a British saxophonist and flautist and session musician.He has worked in a wide variety of contexts ranging from R&B and blues rock to jazz, but is perhaps known for his work in progressive rock, as with King Crimson, Camel and the Alan Parsons Project.-Career:Collins has worked...
(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...
), Jody Linscott
Jody Linscott
Jody Linscott is an American session musician and percussionist who resides in England and maintains an extended discography. She has two daughters and has written two children's books which were published by Doubleday, both edited by Jackie Onassis...
(percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
), Terry Stannard (drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s) and Jim Mullen
Jim Mullen
Jim Mullen is a Glasgow-born jazz guitarist with a distinctive style, like Wes Montgomery before him, picking with the thumb rather than a plectrum.-Biography:...
(guitar). It drew personnel from defunct 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...
bands
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
: Spenner and Hubbard from the Grease Band; Birch, McHugh, Collins and O'Malley from Arrival
Arrival (band)
Arrival was a London-based close-harmony pop-rock band featuring singers originally from Liverpool. Following its appearance on Maynard Ferguson's 1970 UK television special and two chart hits, "Friends" and "I Will Survive", the band was booked to appear at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.After...
; and Collins from King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
. Kokomo built an early reputation in 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...
pub rock
Pub rock (UK)
Pub rock was a rock music genre that developed in the mid 1970s in the United Kingdom. A back-to-basics movement, pub rock was a reaction against progressive and glam rock. Although short-lived, pub rock was notable for rejecting stadium venues and for returning live rock to the small pubs and...
scene. In 1975 it toured with Dr. Feelgood
Dr. Feelgood (band)
Dr. Feelgood are a British pub rock band formed in 1971. The band's name derives from a slang term for heroin or for a doctor who is willing to overprescribe drugs. It is also a reference to a 1962 record by the American blues pianist and singer Willie Perryman called "Dr Feel-Good", which...
and Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers
Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers
Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers were one of the main British pub rock groups of the early 1970s. Later managed by Jake Riviera, who first worked for the band as a roadie, they reached their peak as part of the "Naughty Rhythms Tour" of 1975, along with other stalwarts of the same scene, Dr...
on the 'Naughty Rhythms' tour, and appeared at the Reading Festival
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
.
Musicians who played with the band at different times included: Glen LeFleur (drums, The Olympic Runners
The Olympic Runners
-External links:*...
), Tony Beard (drums), John McKenzie (bass), Chris Mercer (saxophone), Andy Hamilton
Andy Hamilton (pop musician)
Andy Hamilton is a British saxophonist who has played with Duran Duran , Wham!, Elton John, Pet Shop Boys, Tina Turner, George Michael, Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Bon Jovi and David Bowie....
(saxophone), Mark Smith
Mark Smith (musician - producer)
Mark Smith was a British bassist and record producer, who played bass guitar in recordings and performances with The Waterboys, Leo Sayer, Gonzales, Percy Sledge, Terry Reid, Alvin Stardust, Chris Farlowe, Patricia Kaas, Bryan Ferry, Tony O'Malley, Barbara Dickson, Shania Twain, Zoot Sims, Neneh...
(bass), Neal Wilkinson (drums) and Neil Conti
Neil Conti
Neil Conti is an English drummer and music producer who was an integral member of the pop/rock band Prefab Sprout, while continuing to be in demand as a session drummer for artists and bands such as David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Annie Lennox, Cher, Level 42, Laurie Anderson, Steve Winwood, Paul Young,...
(drums).
The band's first 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...
, Kokomo, released in 1975, was hailed by the 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...
as the best debut by a British band for several years. Inspired by the tight disciplined playing of Spenner and Hubbard, Kokomo was unusual (among white soul bands) for its use of four featured vocalists. In 1975 Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
recruited the band to help record his Desire (Bob Dylan album) album. One song featuring the band, the Latin-flavored "Romance in Durango," appeared on the album; another, "Catfish," subsequently appeared on The Bootleg Series
The Bootleg Series
The Bootleg Series is a collection of albums by Bob Dylan, all featuring rare and unreleased material. To date, nine volumes have been released: the first three volumes as a contiguous set; Vol. 4 Live 1966; Vol. 5 Live 1975; Vol. 6 Live 1964; Vol. 7 No Direction Home; Vol. 8 Tell Tale Signs, and...
compilation. One cut left on the shelf was a disco funk-flavored version of "Hurricane."
Stannard, Linscott and Mullen left after the first album. Kokomo's second album, released in January 1976, was viewed as a disappointment by the 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...
and the band quickly lost impetus. Both albums sold in pitifully small quantities in Britain. Both charted in a small way in the States: Number 159 for the debut and Number 194 for the follow-up, whose lead track 'Use Your Imagination' crept to Number 81 in the U.S. R&B listings in mid-1976.
In January 1977 an indefinite hiatus was announced, with band musicians going separate ways. The last studio album released in 1982 after an extended sabbatical, contained a near hit single in 'A Little Bit Further Away' which peaked at Number 45 in the British chart. Versions of Kokomo continued to perform until Spenner died in August 1991. In May 2008 Kokomo was reformed temporarily with Mel Collins, Tony O'Malley, Neil Hubbard, Mark Smith, Adam Phillips, Andy Hamilton, Paddy McHugh, Dyan Birch, Frank Collins, Bernie Holland, and Glen Le Fleur.
Kokomo's first performance was at The Pheasantry, King's Road
King's Road
King's Road is a street in Chelsea, London, England.King's Road or Kings Road may also refer to:* King's Road * King's Road * King's Road * King's Road...
, Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
in 1973, where Franky Blackwell, the band's roadie, coined the band's name.
Former member Mark Smith died suddenly at his Battersea
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
home, in November 2009.
Discography
- Kokomo (1975) (produced by Chris ThomasChris Thomas (record producer)Chris Thomas is an English record producer who has worked extensively with The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Badfinger, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Pulp and The Pretenders. He has also produced breakthrough albums for The Sex Pistols and INXS.Thomas is quoted as saying -Early life:Thomas was...
) - Rise & Shine (1977) (produced by Brad Shapiro)
- Kokomo (1982) (produced Leo Graham and James Mack)
- The Collection (1991)
- To Be Cool (2004)
External links
- Kokomo Live
- Kokomo Live
- Tony O'Malley
- Frank Collins Collins interviewed by Keef TroubleKeef TroubleKeef Trouble is an English composer, singer and musician.-Keef Trouble: Career:Trouble studied at The Slade School of Fine Art, London, from 1968 to 1972...
on his life in the music business - Dailymotion.com
- Press reviews of Kokomo