On This Day 01/08/1978 Rich Kids

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On this day, 1 August 1978, New Wave/Power Punk band the Rich Kids played Cardiff Top Rank supported by The Slits.

Founded in 1977 by Glen Matlock following his departure from the Sex Pistols. The band also included future Ultravox member Midge Ure and Rusty Egan, who both later founded Visage together.

They released one album and three singles during their existence, from March 1977 to December 1978 (although the official announcement of their disbanding was not made until mid-1979).

Rich Kids were amongst the foremost British exponents of the power pop style, blending influences from 1960s acts such as Small Faces and The Who with more recent punk rock sounds. With only one single making the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart,

The Rich Kids released the album Ghosts of Princes in Towers, and the single of the same name, in August, with the latter ranking only at #51.

Their last TV appearance was at the University of Reading where they taped a live show for Rock Goes to College on 27 October.

But the band ran into creative differences as they recorded demos for a second album. Having acquired a synthesiser, Ure, alongside bandmate Egan, wanted to integrate the new instrument into the band's sound while Matlock and New preferred to remain with traditional guitars and drums. This resulted in the group's decision to go their separate ways.

Matlock and New went on to tour with Iggy Pop, while Egan and Ure formed a band called The Misfits (not the American horror punk band Misfits) and, after short spells with Skids and Thin Lizzy, respectively, reunited in Visage.In April 1979, Ure joined Ultravox.

Steve New

On 7 January 2010, the band played a one-off reunion concert at The O2 Academy Islington, London in aid of Steve New. New died from cancer on 24 May 2010.

On This Day 31/07/2015 British Lion

On this day, 31 July 2015, English hard rock band British Lion a band formed by Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris played Cardiff University. The support band was The Raven Age, which included George Harris, son of Steve on guitar.

Steve Harris formed the band to play in small venues, as opposed to the large arenas typically played by Iron Maiden, and as an outlet for shorter hard rock-oriented songs in which he can experiment with different bass guitar styles. The band also includes singer Richard Taylor, guitarists David Hawkins and Grahame Leslie, and drummer Simon Dawson.

Harris had first met Leslie in the early 1990s after Leslie sent him a demo tape, and Harris mentored the careers of Leslie and Taylor for several years until deciding to include them in the British Lion project.[6] The band's tours are typically scheduled after the conclusion of Iron Maiden tours, when Harris becomes interested in playing in clubs and theaters as he did in Iron Maiden's early years.

The album British Lion, released in 2012, was marketed as a solo album by Harris with the other musicians described as his backing band. The project was then re-positioned as a self-contained band with most songs written by Harris, Taylor, and Hawkins.

Their second album The Burning was released in January 2020. The album was voted Album of the Year by Paul Stenning for BraveWords.

On This Day 30/07/1968 Sean Moore (Manic Street Preachers)

On this day, 30 July 1968, Sean Moore, drummer with Welsh rockers Manic Street Preachers, was born in Pontypool, Torfaen.

Moore attended Oakdale Comprehensive in Oakdale, Caerphilly, with his cousin James Dean Bradfield, and other future band members Nicky Wire and Richey Edwards.

Simon Price wrote in Everything (A Book About Manic Street Preachers) that "Sean Moore is quite possibly the only person in rock who doesn't take the Manics seriously". According to his bandmates, he is the band's "musical driving force". In their early days.

He is the only current member of the Manic Street Preachers who has not released a solo album.

Sean Moore talks about his drum set-up -https://youtu.be/ToMul5hTwwA

On This Day 28/07/1980 Noel Sullivan

On this day, 27 July 1980, Welsh singer and actor Noel Sullivan (Noel John Hayes) was born in Cardiff.

He was a member of the British pop group Hear'Say. Like the other members of the group, he won his part through the talent show Popstars.

Sullivan grew up in Cardiff in a musical family with a strong choral background. He trained as a chorister, understudied for Welsh National Opera and performed in choirs. Aged 18, Sullivan toured the United States with The Black Mountain Male Chorus of Wales as a musical theatre soloist.

By this time Noel was living in Ely, Cardiff. Soon after his role within the chorus was at an end, whilst also working as a waiter, Sullivan auditioned in 2001 competing as an aspiring pop singer in the first series of the reality television documentary Popstars, which aired on the UK television channel ITV1.

He impressed the show's expert judges (who included Nigel Lythgoe and Nicki Chapman) enough to win selection as a founder member of the pop group Hear'say, alongside Danny Foster, Myleene Klass, Kym Marsh and Suzanne Shaw.

Hear'say went on to enjoy international success, selling nearly three million records worldwide. The group's debut single "Pure and Simple" became the fastest selling number one single of the UK Singles Chart at the time. The group also released another UK number one single and a number one album, as well as performing a sell out arena tour across the UK and Ireland. The group disbanded 18 months later after four single and two album releases.

Since the band’s split Sullivan has split his career been Musical Theatre and TV acting appearing in BBC’s Call The Midwife and Doctors.

On This Day 27/07/1997 The Fall

On this day, 27 July 1997, Manchester post-punk band The Fall played Cardiff’s Coopers Field along with Welsh band Super Furry Animals.

The band were just about to release their 19th studio album Levitate on Artful Records. Levitate became the last album to feature two long-time Fall members, drummer Karl Burns and bass player Steve Hanley (whose playing was once described by Smith as the defining element of the group's music).

They underwent many line-up changes, with vocalist and founder Mark E. Smith as the only constant member. The Fall's long-term musicians included drummers Paul Hanley, Simon Wolstencroft and Karl Burns; guitarists Craig Scanlon, Marc Riley, and Brix Smith; and bassist Steve Hanley, whose melodic, circular bass lines are widely credited with shaping the band's sound from early 1980s albums such as Hex Enduction Hour to the late 1990s.

Line-up

Mark E. Smith (vocals), Steve Hanley (bass), Julia Nagle (guitar, keyboards), Tommy Crooks (guitar), Karl Burns (drums).

Setlist

Powderkeg / He Pep / Lie Dream of a Casino Soul / Idiot Joy Showland / Hurricane Edward / 10 Houses of Eve / Cheetham Hill / Behind the Counter / Feeling Numb / Ol' Gang

On This Day 26/07/1963 Nat King Cole

On this Day, 26 July 1963, legendary American singer Nat King Cole played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre, with support provided by Ted Heath & His Music.

Nat King Cole, was a singer, jazz pianist, and actor and recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts.

Cole's shift to traditional pop led some jazz critics and fans to accuse him of selling out, but he never abandoned his jazz roots; as late as 1956 he recorded an all-jazz album, After Midnight, and many of his albums after this are fundamentally jazz-based, being scored for big band without strings, although the arrangements focus primarily on the vocal rather than instrumental leads.

Cole had one of his last major hits in 1963, two years before his death, with "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer".

His trio was the model for small jazz ensembles that followed.

Cole also acted in films and on television and performed on Broadway. He was the first African-American man to host an American television series.

Until his death in 1965, Cole was an active and visible participant in the civil rights movement, playing an important role in planning the March on Washington in 1963.

In August 1948, Cole purchased a house from Col. Harry Gantz, the former husband of the silent film actress Lois Weber, in the all-white Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Ku Klux Klan, which was active in Los Angeles in the 1950s, responded by placing a burning cross on his front lawn.

Members of the property-owners association told Cole they did not want any "undesirables" moving into the neighborhood. Cole responded, "Neither do I. And if I see anybody undesirable coming in here, I'll be the first to complain."

He was the father of singer-songwriter Natalie Cole (1950–2015).

On This Day 25/07/1999 Simply Red

On this day, 25 July 1999, British soul and pop band Simply Red played Cardiff Castle

Formed in Manchester in 1985 The band is led by singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, who, by the time the band initially disbanded in 2010, was the only original member left.

Since the release of their debut studio album Picture Book (1985), they have had ten songs reach top 10 in the UK Singles Chart, including "Holding Back the Years" and "If You Don't Know Me by Now", both of which reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. They have had five number one albums in the UK, with their 1991 album, Stars, being one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history.

Simply Red Review - Guardian

The first surprise is that Mick Hucknall's speaking voice is at the exact high pitch of his singing one. Finishing 'A New Flame' at the second of Simply Red's shows at Cardiff Castle, he says: 'That's the first time I've played that in a long time,' and it is as if the stage has been invaded by a castrated Mancunian choirboy, wearing his testicles as cuff links.

Not that the two women next to me seem to mind. Possibly inspired by Hucknall's past romance with 'Welsh lovely', Catherine Zeta Jones, they keep up a robust, drunken display of appreciation for his none-too-obvious physical charms. 'Get down off that stage, come over here, and fuck me!' hollers the first, slopping beer over her open-toe sandals. Her friend says little, merely lifting her top occasionally to solemnly flash her bra at the thankfully oblivious Hucknall. All of which goes to prove that there's someone for everyone. Even for Mick Hucknall, voted the Ugliest Man in Pop 240 years running by the Great British Public.

Why do we all hate Mick Hucknall so much? Could it be his Pomagne Socialism, that relentless schmoozing of New Labour in general, and Tony Blair in particular? It's all very well hearing that Blair plays Simply Red's music when travelling, but you suspect Hucknall listens, gooey-eyed, to Blair's speeches in his own car. (While it is accepted that politics and music occasionally get into bed together, Mick, dear boy, no one expects them to actually shag.)

All that apart, there are no serious grounds for disliking Hucknall. Even at his egomaniacal worst (the video for 1991's 'Stars', where Hucknall, carrot locks flowing majestically, runs through space dressed in one of God's old nighties), there were just enough tunes to see him through. Simply Red have made their share of deeply dull stadium music, but there was always the odd original gem ('Holding Back the Years', 'For Your Babies'), or well realised cover ('Money's Too Tight To Mention', 'If You Don't Know Me By Now'), to keep even the most cynical pop fan interested.

However, if Simply Red are surprisingly good at Cardiff, the crowd are better. As Hucknall is introducing his ridiculously huge band (I stopped counting after about 11), some wag shouts: 'What's the singer called then?' And, while I've seen people hold lighters in the air in silent homage, I have never seen a crowd hold their cigarettes in the air before.

As the set unfolds, it becomes clear that Hucknall intends to play it safe, sticking to old hits. And quite right too. At one point, he squeakily asks the crowd if they want to hear some new numbers, and it is a credit to their manners that no one shouts back: 'No, of course not.' In the end, Simply Red play quite a few new numbers, all of which send everyone racing off for a fortifying lager or Fab ice lolly.

This thirtysomething crowd, part noisy hen party, part lairy stag night, haven't paid a disgracefully inflated £27.50 a head to act as guinea pigs for completely fresh material, or even relatively recent material. They want to hear the stuff from Picture Book and Stars, songs which, for them, were first-date soundtracks or marriage-proposal anthems.

And they want to hear Hucknall's voice of course, which is better than any white guy's deserves to be. If it is true that, to be convincing, white male soul singers, should aim to sound like black female soul singers, then Hucknall is blessed indeed. At Cardiff, his voice soars into the high notes, dips seamlessly back down into the low ones, and goes for riffing little walks when it feels like it. All without him breaking into a sweat.

People are technically incorrect when they go on about Hucknall's great voice. He hasn't got a great voice, he's got seven great voices. Fashionable he will never be again, but, long after the snobbery and childish sneering have faded, Mick Hucknall's voice will probably be remembered as one of Britain's best.

Setlist

Mellow My Mind

(Neil Young cover)

Never Never Love

Man Made the Gun

It's Only Love Doing Its Thing

(Barry White cover)

A New Flame

Thrill Me

For Your Babies

If You Don't Know Me by Now

(Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes cover)

So Beautiful

Thank You

Look Into Your Eyes

Night Nurse

(Gregory Isaacs cover)

Stars

Come to My Aid

I Won't Feel Bad

Infidelity

The Right Thing

Money's Too Tight (To Mention)

(The Valentine Brothers cover)

Holding Back the Years

(The Frantic Elevators cover)

Something Got Me Started

Fairground

On This Day 24/07/1935 Les Reed

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On this day, 24 July 1935, English songwriter, arranger, musician and light-orchestra leader Les Reed was born in Woking, Surrey.

His worked featured heavily in the careers of many fine artists, most notable of which was Welsh singer Tom Jones.

During 1964, Reed penned "It's Not Unusual" with ex-Viscounts member and Tom Jones' manager Gordon Mills, which was Jones' debut recording and gave him a UK number 1. Reed also arranged the song and played the piano for the recording.

Around this time, Reed struck up a songwriting partnership with Barry Mason. They wrote a song for Kathy Kirby, "I'll Try Not To Cry", as Britain's entry in 1965 for the Eurovision Song Contest held in Naples.The song was beaten by "I Belong".

The songwriters had a 1967 hit in "Everybody Knows" by The Dave Clark Five—who also recorded a Reed–Mason follow-up—and another success in 1968 with "Delilah", again a Top 10 hit for Tom Jones. "Delilah" was originally written for P. J. Proby, and later covered by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band in 1975.

Reed and Mason also wrote "The Last Waltz", which became a million selling UK number one for Engelbert Humperdinck in September 1967.

Reed died 15 April 2019 (aged 83), at Petersfield, Hampshire.