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Graham Bell | |
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| Birth name | Graham Thomas Bell |
| Born | (1948-04-17)17 April 1948 Blyth, Northumberland |
| Died | 2 May 2008(2008-05-02) (aged 60) London, England |
| Genres | Blues,rock |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Years active | 1966–2008 |
Graham Thomas Bell (17 April 1948,Blyth, Northumberland – 2 May 2008, London) was anEnglishpop androcksinger. He was thelead vocalist for the band Every Which Way, which recorded one album in 1970.[1]
Bell made a solo single in 1966 and one year later replacedAlan Hull as the singer of psychedelic rock bandSkip Bifferty (later renamedHeavy Jelly). In 1969 he was singer in another psychedelic rock band,Griffin. In 1970 he began his stint withCharisma Records, joining Every Which Way, a band formed byBrian Davison formerly ofThe Nice, as singer and principal writer. Musical style was jazzyprogressive rock with guitar from John Hedley (who was later part ofLast Exit, withSting) playing call and response with Bell'sblues shout vocals. Bell then rejoined his old mates from Skip Bifferty, now known as Arc, to formBell & Arc in July 1971, withJohn Turnbull,Mick Gallagher, Bud Beadle,Kenny Craddock, Steve Gregory, Tom Duffy andAlan White. Bell was then tempted to leave the group to record his self-titled solo album in 1972, featuringTim Hinkley,Tim Drummond,Mel Collins andIan Wallace, and produced byBob Johnston. In 1976, Alan White published his only solo album calledRamshackled on which he invited some old friends to play along with him, Bud Beadle and Steve Gregory on sax and flute, Kenny Craddock on keyboards, among other musicians who came and helped him.
After Bell's appearance in theLondon Symphony Orchestra version ofTommy it was reported[according to whom?] thatPete Townshend produced an album for him, but it never saw the light of day. In 1974 he contributed backing vocals onCarol Grimes'Warm Blood also featuringTommy Eyre,Jess Roden,John 'Rabbit' Bundrick andHenry Lowther. In the late 1970s Bell featured on the front page of Sounds music paper as a "the man most likely to", but sadly his profile was affected by the rise ofpunk and thenew wave. Bell moved to America, where he toured withLong John Baldry, and was the co-front man along withJackie Lomax of a band of LA Brit expatriates known as the Tea Bags, among others, before returning to his native Northeast England in the mid-1980s. He also lived for a while inCumbria before finally heading for London again and cropping up inSnowy White's Blues Agency in 1988/89. In 2008 he died of cancer shortly after his 60th birthday.
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