Mick Abrahams

Michael Timothy 'Mick' Abrahams (born 7 April 1943) is a guitarist and band leader, best known as being the original guitarist for Jethro Tull.

Jethro Tull

Abrahams was born in Luton, Bedfordshire. He played on the album This Was recorded by Jethro Tull in 1968, but conflicts between Abrahams and Ian Anderson over the musical direction of the band led Abrahams to leave once the album was finished. Abrahams wanted to pursue a more blues/rock direction, while Anderson wanted to incorporate more overt folk and jazz influences. He was replaced first by Tony Iommi who would leave Tull after only a few weeks and would later go on to form Black Sabbath, and then by Martin Barre who remained with Jethro Tull until the band ceased in 2011.

Bloodwyn Pig and later career

Abrahams went on to found Blodwyn Pig and the group recorded two albums, Ahead Rings Out (1969) and Getting to This (1970) before breaking up in 1970. Abrahams soldiered on with the short-lived Wommet, then the Mick Abrahams Band and has continued to release albums by himself and with reunited versions of Blodwyn Pig. He has worked as a driver, lifeguard and financial consultant, occasionally playing gigs, especially to support causes in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

Black Night

"Black Night" is a song by British hard rock band Deep Purple, first released as a single in June 1970 and later included on the 25th Anniversary version of their 1970 album, In Rock. The song became a hit following its release, peaking at No. 2 on UK charts, and to this day remains Deep Purple's highest charting UK single. It topped the charts in Switzerland, and is one of only two singles from the band to chart in Ireland, peaking at No. 4, thus making it the group's only Irish Top 10 hit. It was also the first single penned by the band.

Writing process and recording

Once In Rock had been completed, EMI asked for a suitable single to be recorded to help promote the album. Though Roger Glover claims that Ricky Nelson's 1962 hard rocking arrangement of the George Gershwin song, "Summertime", was the basis for the Mk II Deep Purple single "Black Night", it is also similar to Blues Magoos's 1966 psychedelic hit song "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet". In the BBC documentary Heavy Metal Britannia, keyboardist Jon Lord supports Glover's statement about the song's origin, stating "Black Night was nicked from the bass line in Ricky Nelson's Summertime" and then proceeds to play the bassline riff on his grand piano.

Secret Records

Secret Records & Films is a British independent record label based in London. The label currently specialises in live releases on CD & DVD as well as older releases ranging across a number of genres including blues, reggae, rock, rock 'n' roll, psychedelic, soul and punk. The label's roster includes releases by John Mayall, Bert Jansch, Happy Mondays, Geno Washington, The Toy Dolls, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Fastway, The Exploited, Hawkwind, Ike Turner, InMe, Lee Perry, LA Guns, Amen and many more.

Originally starting as a punk label, Secret Records was created in 1980 with the first release being The Exploited's Punks Not Dead which reached number 20 in the UK album charts. As the 1990s came around the catalogue of Secret Records became less rooted in punk and become broader in genre choice. After 2000 the label began concentrating more on music DVD releases as well as live CD releases and continues to do so to this day.

Releases

Rock/Metal/Indie

Blues

Folk

Jazz/Jazz Funk & Pop

Psychedelic/Progressive Rock

The Wonder Who?

The Wonder Who? was a nom de disque of The Four Seasons for four single records released from 1965 to 1967. It was one of a handful of "names" used by the group at that time, including Frankie Valli (as a "solo" artist even though the Four Seasons were present on the record) and The Valli Boys. Wonder Who? recordings generally feature the falsetto singing by Valli, but with a softer falsetto than on "typical" Four Seasons recordings.

Background

The Four Lovers

The Four Seasons evolved from The Four Lovers, which recorded under a variety of names between 1956 and 1960. Lead singer Valli had himself recorded under several pseudonyms as well, including Frankie Tyler and Frankie Valley. Songwriter/guitarist/keyboardist Bob Gaudio did the same (as Turner Disentri and as Alex Alda) after he joined the Four Lovers in 1959.

Aside from the first Four Lovers single, "You're the Apple of My Eye" in 1956, the group's (and Valli's) records failed to chart. In 1958, The Four Lovers obtained a three year artist contract with producer Bob Crewe, which gave the group a steady stream of session work (Valli can be heard singing in the background of "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay" by Danny and the Juniors) in addition to recording for Crewe's Peri Records.

I Wonder

I Wonder may refer to: