Stone the Crows | |
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 Stone the Crows atKralingen Music Festival 1970 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1969–1973 |
| Past members | Leslie Harvey Maggie Bell Colin Allen John McGinnis Jim Dewar Steve Thompson Ronnie Leahy Jimmy McCulloch |
Stone the Crows were a Scottishblues rock band formed inGlasgow in late 1969. They are remembered for the onstage electrocution of guitarist and founding memberLes Harvey.
The band were formed afterMaggie Bell was introduced toLes Harvey by his elder brotherAlex Harvey.[1] After playing together in the Kinning Park Ramblers, their next band Power was renamed Stone the Crows (after a British/Australian Englishexclamation of surprise or shock) byLed Zeppelin's manager,Peter Grant.[2][3] The band was co-managed by Grant andMark London. London was associated withLulu as the co-writer of hersignature song, "To Sir With Love" and was also married to Lulu's manager,Marion Massey. London had also managed the predecessor bandCartoone, in which Peter Grant had a financial interest and featured Les Harvey on guitar.[4]
The band's first two albums were recorded with the original line up and Bell's vocals were described as being similar toJanis Joplin's.[5]
McGinnis and Dewar left the band in 1971 and were replaced byRonnie Leahy and Steve Thompson.[1]
Guitarist and co-founder Les Harvey was electrocuted onstage in front of a live audience atSwansea'sTop Rank Suite in May 1972. Wires to the group's equipment were reportedly damaged by the audience and although the road crew attempted to repair the damage, they overlooked a loose ground wire.[6] Harvey received a jolt of electricity as he reached for a microphone while his fingers touched the metal strings on his guitar. His body reportedly flew into the air and came to rest with his guitar in contact with the microphone stand. Bandmates who tried to rescue him reportedly got shocked themselves and it wasn't until someone kicked his guitar away[7] that medical personnel were able to render aid. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
At the suggestion of Thompson, the band originally contactedPeter Green to replace Harvey. The band rehearsed with Green for six weeks to prepare for an upcoming music festival, although Green pulled out two days before the obligation.[8]Jimmy McCulloch ultimately became the band's lead guitarist.[1][9]
Stone the Crows ultimately broke up in June 1973,[1] and Peter Grant continued to manage Maggie Bell's career. Guided by Grant, Bell subsequently recorded two solo albums,Queen of the Night (1974) andSuicide Sal (1975) and an album with the Grant-managed band Midnight Flyer (1981). Bell is also known for her session work onRod Stewart's albumEvery Picture Tells a Story (1971), in particular her co-lead vocal with Stewart on the album's title track (credited as "vocal abrasives").[10] Jimmy McCulloch joinedPaul McCartney's groupWings, in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1974.
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