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A boomtown is a community that experiences sudden and rapid population and economic growth. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although the term can also be applied to communities growing very rapidly for different reasons, such as a proximity to a major metropolitan area, huge construction project, attractive climate, or popular attraction.

The California Gold Rush of the Western United States is a very famous example of boomtown creation, as towns would seemingly sprout up in the river valleys, mountains and deserts around what was thought to be valuable gold mining country. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century boomtowns called mill towns would quickly arise due to sudden expansions in the timber industry that would last for a decade or so. Fort McMurray in Canada is a modern-day example of a resource-generated boomtown, as extraction of nearby oilsands requires a vast number of employees. A second modern example is Johannesburg in South Africa.

Attributes[link]

Boomtowns are typically characterized as "overnight expansions" in both population and money as people stream into the community for high-paying jobs, mining prospects, attractive amenities or climate, or other opportunities. Typically, newcomers are drawn by high salaries; meanwhile, numerous indirect businesses develop to cater to workers often eager to spend their large paychecks. Often, boomtowns are the site of both economic prosperity and negative social disruption as the local culture and infrastructure struggles to accommodate the waves of new residents.

Boomtowns are typically extremely dependent on the single activity or resource that is causing the boom (e.g. nearby mine, mill or resort), and when the resources are depleted or the resource economy undergoes a “bust” (e.g. catastrophic resource price collapse), boomtowns can often decrease in size as fast as they initially grew. Sometimes, all or nearly the entire population can desert the town, resulting in a ghost town.

This can often be on a planned basis. Mining companies nowadays will create a temporary community to service a mine-site, building all the accommodation shops and services, and then remove it as the resource is worked out.

Examples of boomtowns[link]

Australia[link]

"Canvas Town" – South Melbourne, Victoria. Temporary accommodation for the thousands who poured into Melbourne each week in the early 1850s during the Victorian gold rush.

• Ararat (1850s Victorian Gold Rush)
• Ballarat (1850s–1880s Victorian Gold Rush)
• Bathurst (1850s Australian gold rushes)
• Bendigo (1850s–1880s Victorian Gold Rush)
• Brisbane (1980s–2000s due to internal Australian migration trends)
• Broken Hill (1880s silver-lead-zinc boom)
• Castlemaine (1850s Victorian Gold Rush)
• Charters Towers (1870s gold rush)
• Gold Coast (1980s–2000s due to internal Australian migration trends)
• Kalgoorlie (1890s gold rush)
• Melbourne (1850s–1880s Victorian Gold Rush and associated speculative "land boom")

Canada[link]

• Calgary, Alberta (during the 1970s oil boom in the province of Alberta)
• Edmonton, Alberta
• Elliot Lake, Ontario
• Fisherville, British Columbia (Gold Rush Boom Town of 1864–1865)
• Fort McMurray, Alberta
• Guelph, Ontario^{[citation needed]}
• Kirkland Lake, Ontario
• Sept-Îles, a city in the Côte-Nord region of eastern Québec, Canada.
• Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

United Kingdom[link]

• Aberdeen, North Sea oil boom, known as the "oil capital of Europe"
• Belfast, Northern Ireland, fastest growing settlement in the British Isles in 19th Century due to industry
• Leeds, rapid economic growth in early 2000s and mass regeneration, well established financial centre
• Manchester, mass regeneration and economic growth in 1990s
• Milton Keynes
• Winster, Derbyshire, England (17th Century lead mining community)

United States[link]

San Francisco in 1851, during the heyday of the California gold rush.

• Williston, North Dakota
• Atlanta, Georgia (quickly established itself as an economic hotspot in the years following the civil war)
• Beaumont, Texas
• Belleville, California, Gold mining boomtown, 1860–1870
• Birmingham, Alabama, Coal and iron ore 1880s
• Bodie, California
• Borger, Texas
• Burkburnett, Texas
• Butte, Montana
• Caldwell, Kansas
• Cincinnati, Ohio (Considered America's first boomtown, as it was the first major city not originally settled by Europeans.)
• Colstrip, Montana
• Columbia, California
• Deadwood, South Dakota
• Denver, Colorado
• Desdemona, Texas
• Dodge City, Kansas
• El Paso, Texas
• Ellsworth, Kansas
• Fairbanks, Alaska (During the Klondike Gold Rush and the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline)
• Gary, Indiana
• Gillette, Wyoming
• Graysonia, Arkansas
• Hancock, Michigan
• Harrisburg, Illinois
• Houghton, Michigan
• Jeffrey City, Wyoming
• Kilgore, Texas
• La Paz, Arizona Gold mining boomtown, 1862–1864
• Newport, Wisconsin (Sprang up because of a bridge expected to be built across the Wisconsin River there)
• Nome, Alaska
• Odessa, Texas
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Richland, Washington
• Rochester, New York (starting in the 1820s, with the opening of the Erie Canal)
• Sacramento, California
• St. Joseph, Florida
• San Francisco, California
• San Luis, Arizona
• Sioux City, Iowa
• Tombstone, Arizona
• Texarkana, TX/AR
• Virginia City, Nevada
• Wentzville, Missouri

Others[link]

• Dubai, UAE
• Dublin, Ireland
• Johannesburg, South Africa
• Karachi, Pakistan (early 20th century)
• Kimberley, South Africa
• Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
• Shenzhen, China

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This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2010)

Richard Elliot performing

Richard Elliot (born January 16, 1960) is a Scottish-born saxophone player.

He was a member of the funk band Tower of Power playing tenor sax for 5 years during the 1980s.^[1] He also worked on Stacy Lattisaw's 1986 album "Take Me All The Way". His solo career took off when he remade the Percy Sledge classic "When a Man Loves a Woman" (which had also been remade by Michael Bolton). Other well-known songs include "In the Groove," "Take Your Time," "Crush," "Chill Factor," "Corner Pocket," and "Sly", as well as remakes of classic pop songs like "I'm Not in Love" and the Luther Vandross hits "Here and Now" and "Your Secret Love."

Elliot participated with fellow saxophonists Paul Taylor, Gerald Albright and keyboardist Jeff Lorber in the "Grooving for Grover" concert series. The series honored the legacy of the late Grover Washington, Jr., who was a founding father of smooth jazz.

Elliot is known for his zebra-striped tenor saxophone.

In 2005, Elliot joined trumpeter Rick Braun^[2] as they co-founded their own label, ARTizen Music Group (now known as Artistry Music). Among the first albums on that label is Elliot's own, Metro Blue.

Discography[link]

• Trolltown (1986)
• Initial Approach (1987)
• Power of Suggestion (1988)
• Take to the Skies (1989)
• What's Inside (1990)
• On the Town (1991)
• Soul Embrace (1993)
• After Dark (1994)
• City Speak (1996)
• Jumpin' Off (1997)
• Chill Factor (1999)
• The Best of Richard Elliot (2000)
• Ballads (2001)
• Crush (2001)
• Ricochet (2003)
• Forever, For Always, For Luther (compilation with various artists) (2004)
• Metro Blue (2005)
• R n R (with Rick Braun) (2007)
• Rock Steady (2009)
• In the Zone (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• ARTizen Music Group

The Boomtown Rats
The Boomtown Rats at Knott's Berry Farm in 1981
Background information
Origin	County Dublin, Ireland
Genres	New wave, Punk rock, Post-punk
Years active	1975–1986
Labels	Mulligan, Ensign, Mercury
Associated acts	Band Aid, USA for Africa, Live Aid, Live 8
Website	www.boomtownrats.co.uk
Past members
Bob Geldof Pete Briquette Johnny Fingers Garry Roberts Simon Crowe Gerry Cott

The Boomtown Rats were an Irish punk rock band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. They were led by vocalist Bob Geldof.^[1]

Biography[link]

All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland.^[1] Formed under the name "The Nightlife Thugs," the group agreed on the name change to the "Boomtown Rats" after a gang that Geldof read about in Woody Guthrie's autobiography, Bound for Glory.^[1] They became a notable band, but one whose accomplishments were overshadowed by the charity work of frontman Bob Geldof, a former journalist with the NME magazine.^[2]

The group moved to London in October 1976, and became associated with the punk rock movement.^[1] Signing a recording contract with Ensign Records, they released their debut single, "Lookin' After No. 1", in August 1977.^[1] It was the first of nine straight singles to make the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart.^[1][3] Their debut album, The Boomtown Rats, was released in September 1977, on Ensign in the UK and on Mercury Records in the United States, and featured another single, "Mary of the 4th Form".^[1] Music journalist Martin C. Strong commented, "Geldof's moody charisma helped to give the band a distinct identity".^[2]

The second album, A Tonic for the Troops, appeared in June 1978 in the UK.^[1] It featured three hit singles, "Like Clockwork", "She's So Modern" and "Rat Trap". A Tonic for the Troops was released in the U.S. on Columbia in February 1979, with two tracks from The Boomtown Rats substituted for tracks on the UK version.^[1] Mutt Lange produced^[3] "Rat Trap", which became the first rock song by an Irish band to reach #1 in the UK, and the first of any description by an Irish band to top the official chart used by the BBC. (The Bachelors had topped the Record Retailer chart in 1964 with "Diane", but only reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart). In addition, "Rat Trap" was also the first new wave song to claim the number one spot.^[3][4]

In 1979, "I Don't Like Mondays", was released.^[1] This was written in response to a school shooting in California carried out by Brenda Ann Spencer, and also reached #1 in the UK.^[3] It was a worldwide hit, with the exception being the United States.^[5] Fears of lawsuits and charges of bad taste kept radio stations there from playing the record.^[5] The unofficial boycott was front page news in Variety Magazine, the only time the Boomtown Rats earned such prominent coverage.^[5] It was included in The Fine Art of Surfacing, the band's third album, and subsequently became the band's only U.S. Billboard Hot 100 entry.^[1] The album also contained "Diamond Smiles" and their next Top 10 hit in the UK, "Someone's Looking at You".^[1] Geldof and Fingers became the visual and musical focus of the group: Geldof with his articulate, caustic wit – which made him the delight of television talk show presenters and the bitter enemy of music journalists – and Fingers with the striped pyjamas he wore onstage.^[6]

In 1980 "Banana Republic" was released, which was their last Top 10 hit, and in the following year the Boomtown Rats' next studio album Mondo Bongo was issued.^[1] "Banana Republic" savaged their native Ireland, the "septic isle screaming in the suffering sea".^[6]

Cott's departure[link]

At this point, guitarist Gerry Cott left the group. According to Bob Geldof's autobiography, Is That It?, Cott had grown disillusioned with what he saw as the band's growing laziness in the studio and their apparent relinquishing of their early R'n'B influences for "cod-reggae". Throughout his time with the band, Cott had maintained a distance between himself and the other members and he resigned the day before the end of their 1981 world tour, only hours after the rest of the band had decided to confront him for refusing to join them and the road crew for a drink to celebrate Simon Crowe's birthday.

Cott had a short-lived solo career, releasing two UK singles, "The Ballad of the Lone Ranger" and "Pioneers" and the 1984 Canadian single "Alphabet Town".

V Deep[link]

They continued as a quintet with the band's fifth album, V Deep, being released in February 1982.^[1] The first single was "Never In A Million Years" which did not sell well, whilst the follow-up "House on Fire" made number 24 in the UK Singles Chart.

By 1984, they were touring universities after becoming unable to fund the "guarantee" required to book mainstream concert halls, having fallen victim to a demand from Inland Revenue for unpaid tax.

In January 1985, the band's sixth and final album In the Long Grass was released, although delayed by the band's involvement with Band Aid (on which they all played); and, the band performed at Live Aid's charity performance.^[1] Two singles, "Tonight" and "Drag Me Down" reached the lower rungs of the UK Singles Chart, whilst "A Hold Of Me" failed to chart.

[edit] "Dave" became "Rain" in the U.S.

"Dave" was re-recorded as "Rain" for the U.S. market. The song was about the band's saxophone player and schooldays friend Dr David McHale (died 2009), who had suffered a breakdown after his girlfriend was found dead in a public toilet next to an empty heroin bag.^[7] The 'Rain' metaphor in the altered lyrics name-checked Duran Duran's earlier song "Hold Back The Rain", where Geldof's friend Simon Le Bon pleaded with an unnamed band member to cease dabbling with narcotics.

Boomtown Rats split[link]

After this, the band was mothballed whilst Geldof wound up his affairs with the Band Aid Trust, during which time he succeeded in getting them a one-album deal with Vertigo Records. However, both Crowe and Fingers refused to rejoin the Boomtown Rats full time, preferring to pursue their own band, Gung Ho.

The band's final performance came at Self Aid, a 1986 concert featuring many Irish rock stars, to raise awareness of unemployment in Ireland.^[6] Their penultimate performance, "Joey's On the Street Again", was 12 minutes long with an extended bridge, during which time Geldof ran amongst the crowd. Following this performance, Geldof addressed the crowd, saying, "It's been a great ten years; rest in peace". The band then performed "Looking After No.1".

Following the band's break-up, Geldof launched a solo career with Pete Briquette continuing to work alongside him.

Garry Roberts co-wrote songs for Kirsty McColl before leaving the music business and going on to become a successful salesman of financial services. Roberts now presents his Guitar Workshop to schools, encouraging pupils to play the instrument and emphasising the contribution of The Blues to modern Rock and Pop music.

After Gung Ho split, Fingers became a highly successful music producer in Japan, as well as being part of the Japanese band Greengate. Simon Crowe is in the West Country-based Celtic instrumental band Jiggerypipery and has also run a clock making business.

In 2005 the band's albums were all remastered and re-released and a 'Best Of' compilation was released, along with two DVDs. Briquette mixed the live DVD and Francesco Cameli mixed the extra tracks for the re-release of the Boomtown Rats albums at Sphere Studios in London.

The Rats[link]

In 2008, Garry Roberts and Simon Crowe, who had continued playing together — in The Fab Four, with Alan Perman (ex Herman's Hermits) and Bob Doyle (who once auditioned unsuccessfully for E.L.O.), and The Velcro Flies, with Steve (Dusty) Hill and Gavin Petrie — got together as "The Rats", playing their favourite Boomtown Rats songs, with the classic line-up of two guitars, bass and drums. The band was initially fronted by Peter Barton, who has a long history, going back to the early 1980s, of playing with resurrected famous acts, including The Animals, The Hollies and Lieutenant Pigeon. Barton has been replaced on lead vocals and bass by Bob (Little Bob) Bradbury, who was the founder and main songwriter of "Hello". Darren Beale, formerly of The Caves, plays lead guitar. Saxophone player Andy Hamilton, who toured and recorded with The Boomtown Rats, including at Live Aid, has played as a guest at some gigs.

Gerry Cott and Johnnie Fingers were invited to join the band when circumstances allow. Cott attended the Boomtown Rats' second gig (at The 100 Club on Oxford Street, London). Fingers, meanwhile, works for the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, but plans to join the band on stage when he is in the UK.

On 21 June 2009, Geldof, Roberts, and Briquette got together in Dublin to play "Dave", at a party to celebrate the life of Boomtown Rats' close friend and saxophone player, "Doctor" Dave MacHale, who had recently died of cancer in Frankfurt. "Dave" was a song Geldof wrote for MacHale in 1983, after MacHale's girlfriend died from a heroin overdose.^[8]

On 20 September 2011, Gerry Cott guested with Geldof, Briquette and the rest of Geldof's band at The Cadogan Hall, London. They played three Boomtown Rats songs together prior to the encores. Cott returned to the stage for the final encore playing on two Geldof solo songs.^[9]

Discography[link]

Studio Albums[link]

UK Top 40 Singles[link]

See also[link]

• List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
• List of artists who reached number one in Ireland
• List of artists who reached number one on the Australian singles chart
• List of New Wave bands and artists
• List of musicians in the first wave of punk music
• List of Peel sessions
• List of acts who appeared on American Bandstand
• Music of Ireland
• List of Irish people

References[link]

• Liner Notes to The Boomtown Rats' Greatest Hits

External links[link]

• Boomtown Rats official website
• The Best Of The Boomtown Rats
• Boomtown Rats History