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Ayn't
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Blue Sugar
Paul Di Anno
Doctor and the Medics
Toby Jepson
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Nazareth
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The Rezillos
Stretch
Nazareth
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Trailblazers for 1980s Scottish acts like Big Country, Wet Wet Wet, Del Amitri, Deacon Blue, and Texas? Very likely so. Heroes and inspiration for Guns N' Roses? Most definitely. But The Nazareth Story isn't just another from-rags-to-unheard-of-riches tale of making it in rock 'n' roll.
Dan, Pete, Manny and Darrell developed the knack of stamping their very own identity on somebody else's hit song, something which for Nazareth in the mid-1970s proved to be the key to the world highway. Whereas their breakthrough in Britain was down to the strength of their own original songwriting on the Razamanaz album with Broken Down Angel and its follow-up single Bad Bad Boy charting at 9 and 10 respectively, it was their knack of coming up with
totally fresh covers of strong songs written by other people that broke them abroad. They became huge in Canada after This Flight Tonight soared up the singles' charts there, whilst reaching number 11 in Britain.
Taken from Joni Mitchell's 1970 Blue album, Nazareth's version produced by Deep Purple's Roger Glover as part of the Loud N Proud sessions - is more than a re-working. What they've done is taken the song from its folk-ballad roots right through to heavy metal. Small wonder then that Joni Mitchell both was stunned by and loved this version, reportedly even calling it a Nazareth song from then on. Britain in 1973 most definitely was the year of Nazareth, a year when Melody Maker readers voted them Brightest Hope. Razamanaz reached number 11 and in 1974 Loud 'N' Proud reached number 10, later that year, Rampant also charted.
1975 saw the release of Hair Of The Dog and the song itself lays down the blueprint for stadium heavy rock and metal anthems of the future: that 'son-of-a-bitch' chorus custom-built for crowd response, and a very heavy rock rhythm from start to finish. Comparisons with AC/DC are natural but the point is that Nazareth and Aerosmith were the pioneers.... and the rest followed. So it's not surprising then that Guns N' Roses were big fans of Nazareth. Naz also recorded the Everly Brothers' hit Love Hurts written by Boudleaux Bryant. This went nowhere in England but was top ten in America; and then in Norway it reached number one and stayed there for almost forty weeks.
Nazareth's cover of Tomorrow's 1967 hit My White Bicycle got them to 14 in the singles chart in spring 1975. Holy Roller crept up to 36 in late 1975 whilst 1976's crop of three singles - Carry Out Feelings, You're The Violin, and I Don't Want To Go On Without You all flopped.
Close Enough For Rock 'n' Roll - Naz's seventh
album - came out in early 1976 and helped to consolidate Nazareth's hold
on Canada where they became one of the biggest British acts ever, notching
up no less than fifty gold and platinum albums there during the
1970s. A year later in November 1977 came album number nine Expect
No Mercy and a definite shift by Nazareth to the AOR market, a strong
cover of Randy Newman's Gone Dead Train from the album reached number 49
in the singles charts.. At the same time they released an extended-play 45
called the Hot Tracks EP which featured Love Hurts, This Flight Tonight,
Broken Down Angel and Hair Of The Dog as well. Reaching number 15 it would
be Nazareth's final 7" top twenty hit.
Guitarist Zal Cleminson (ex-Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Zal, and Tear Gas) was asked to join, in time to record Nazareth's tenth album No Mean City which came out in January 1979. Naz as a twin-guitar quintet worked wonders even in Britain where May The Sun Shine almost nudged the top twenty, reaching number 22. Star was the follow-up in July 1979 but only got to 54, and as such was Nazareth's final singles chart entry.
Malice In Wonderland Nazareths eleventh album released in February 1980. Completing the dozen, The Fool Circle was out in February 1981. After The Fool Circle a respected young guitar slinger and songwriter from Glasgow Billy Rankin and keyboard player John Locke replaced Zal, the next album release the very high energy live double-album 'Snaz recorded in Vancouver in May 1981 featured Naz's take on rock classics such as J.J. Cale's Cocaine and Z.Z. Top's Tush. The album became a massive international seller.
2XS the next album was released in 1982 and sold well in the States and Europe but amazingly wasn't even released in Britain thanks to legal hassles with their new label. With John Locke having left, the 5-piece produced Sound Elixer in 1983, another eclectic set taking in soul and funk as well. After the tour to promote the album ,Billy decided to leave the band to pursue a solo career. Nazareth were now back to their original 4-piece line-up. In 1984 they landed a UK record deal with Vertigo and released The Catch. In 1986 Nazareth put out there rockiest album in years Cinema It was a welcome return to form for the band. In 1989 came the controversial Snakes and Ladders out on Vertigo in Europe but not released in England. Events and weird scenes that surrounded the production of that album eventually led to Manny Charlton leaving in 1990 after twenty-two years with the band. With the departure of Manny Billy rejoined Nazareth as Lead guitarist. NAZ were back and stronger than ever. In 1994 the band were back in the studio again to record Move Me, with a new deal with Polydor. Unfortunately as the band were due to start rehearsals for the forthcoming Move me tour, Billy once again left, due to band politics. young Scots Guitarist by the name of Jimmy Murrison, who was playing with Pete's son Lee in the band 'Trouble in Doogie land' was contacted by Pete and asked if he would like to join the band, (Pete had seen Jimmy play Many times and was very impressed) Jimmy accepted' and became the new Guitarist. It was also decided to add a keyboard player to the band once again, so they contacted their old friend Ronnie Leahy. Ronnie accepted the offer to join.
As the Naz machine began climbing to the top again, tragedy struck! On April 30, 1999 founding member and drummer Darrell Sweet died suddenly from a major heart attack.
In fine tribute to Darrell, the band selected Lee Agnew, Petes eldest son, to fill the drumming duties for Nazareth. Over the last few years Nazareth have carried on touring around the world, sadly keyboardist Ronnie Leahy has decided to hang up his road shoes and retire from touring. They took hold of the challenge that change brings, regrouped, and filled 2003 with a live schedule, which would leave many new bands gasping.
Nazareth is booked through The Alan Cottam Agency.
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Forthcoming Live Dates: |
As we do not book Nazareth Exclusively, please visit www.nazarethdirect.co.uk for all tour dates. Only shows booked by LMC will be displayed here.