| Amen Corner
Amen Corner was a successful British pop group, formed in late 1966 in Cardiff, Wales.
Career
The band was named after a 1954 play by James Baldwin.
Initially they specialised in a blues and jazz-orientated style, but were steered by their record companies into more commercial pastures. Their first singles and album appeared on Decca's subsidiary label Deram, but they left at the end of 1968 to join Immediate, where they were instantly rewarded with a No. 1, "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice" (originally a song by Italian songwriter Lucio Battisti) in early 1969, followed by another top five entry with the Roy Wood composition "Hello Susie".
After recording a live album, Farewell To The Real Magnificent Seven, and a final single, a rather premature cover version of The Beatles' "Get Back", they disbanded at the end of 1969.
While sax players Alan Jones and Mike Smith went on to form Judas Jump, guitarist and vocalist Andy Fairweather-Low led Dennis Byron (drums), Blue Weaver (organ), Clive Taylor (bass) and Neil Jones (guitar) into a new band, Fair Weather. The band scored a UK No.6 hit with "Natural Sinner" in 1970 and recorded one album before disbanding a year later.
Fairweather-Low went on to a successful solo career in the 1970s, notably with the top ten hit "Wide Eyed and Legless" (1975); he became a regular player with Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Roger Waters. He also worked with Strawbs and the Bee Gees. Blue Weaver also played keyboards for the Bee Gees from the mid-Seventies through to the Nineties.
Amen Corner's Decca back catalogue has been reissued as part of 'The Collection' series; and their Immediate work, including their singles, live album and material recorded for an unreleased studio album, on If Paradise Was Half as Nice: The Immediate Anthology.
Band members
Amen Corner comprised of :- Andy Fairweather-Low (vocals) - born Andrew Fairweather-Low, 2 August 1946, Ystrad Mynach, Hengoed, South Wales. Neil Jones (guitar) - born 25 March 1949, Llanbradach, South Wales. Allan Jones (saxophone) - born 6 February 1947, in Swansea, Glamorgan, South Wales. Blue Weaver (keyboards) - born Derek John Weaver, 3 March 1947, Cardiff, Glamorgan, South Wales. Mike Smith (tenor saxophone) - born Michael Joseph Smith, 4 November 1947, Neath, South Wales. Clive Taylor (bass) - born 27 April 1949, Cardiff. Dennis Byron (drums) - born Dennis Ronald Byron, 14 April 1949, Cardiff. Discography
Singles - "Gin House Blues" (1967)
- "World Of Broken Hearts" (1967)
- "Bend Me, Shape Me" (1968)
- "High in The Sky" (1968)
- "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice" (1969)
- "Hello Susie" (1969)
- "Get Back" (1969)
Albums - Round Amen Corner (1968)
- Explosive Company (1969)
- Farewell To The Real Magnificent Seven (1969) - live recording
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