Roy Wood


Wood performing with Wizzard
on TopPop, May 1974

Born: 8 November 1946 (age 78), Kitts Green, Birmingham, England
Website: Official website

Roy Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.

The BBC has described Wood as being "responsible for some of the most memorable sounds of the Seventies" and "credited as playing a major role in the Glam Rock, Psychedelic and Prog Rock movements". In 2008, Wood was awarded an honorary doctorate for his contribution to rock and pop by the University of Derby. In 2015, his long and eclectic career was recognised with the "Outer Limits" award at the Progressive Music Awards in London. Wood was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 as a member of Electric Light Orchestra.

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Career

Early years

Roy Wood was born on 8 November 1946 in Kitts Green, Birmingham, England. For some years the legend persisted that his real name was Ulysses Adrian Wood, until it was revealed that this was probably the result of somebody close to the Move in their early days filling in such names on a 'lifelines' feature for the press as a joke. His first group in Birmingham in the early 1960s was the Falcons, which he left in 1963 to join Gerry Levene and the Avengers. He then moved to Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders (the band later became the Idle Race). He attended the Moseley College of Art, but was expelled in 1964.

The Move

From this basis, and other Birmingham-based groups, was formed the Move, and they quickly entered the UK Singles Chart. Their single "Night of Fear" climbed to No. 2 in early 1967. Their third hit, "Flowers in the Rain", was the first song played at the launch of BBC Radio 1 in 1967, and the band evolved over a three-year period. After the departure of the Move's lead singer Carl Wayne, Wood's influence became more prominent. In 1967 Wood (and fellow Move member Trevor Burton) supplied backing vocals on the track "You Got Me Floatin'" on the Jimi Hendrix Experience's album Axis: Bold as Love.

Wood was keen on musical experimentation and was an early proponent of combining rock and roll and pop music with other styles, such as classical music, or the big band sound, and introduced classically styled string and brass sections into the pop record. In early 1972, Wood's composition "Songs of Praise" was shortlisted by the BBC as one of six possible choices for the UK entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1972. When performed by the New Seekers on the Cliff Richard vehicle It's Cliff Richard!, the song finished in last place with 3,842 votes. The group included the track on their album We'd Like To Teach The World To Sing. Wood recorded his own version of "Songs of Praise", releasing it on the B-side of his 1973 single, "Dear Elaine".

Electric Light Orchestra

Whilst the Move was still together, he founded, along with his band colleagues Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan, the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was later to gain major commercial success. The original intention was to split the Move at the end of 1970, but contractual obligations meant that they and ELO existed together for a year, until the former finally broke up in June 1972.

In 2017, the ELO line-up of Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan, and Richard Tandy were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Early ELO concerts and formation of Wizzard

ELO's early live performances were chaotic, due to both poor sound quality of the string instruments competing against the guitars and drums, as well as Wood's constant moving from instrument to instrument during the shows (playing Bass, Guitar, Cello and even Saxophone). After increasing tensions, Wood left in July 1972 at the start of the second album sessions, following a trip to Italy and formed a new group, Wizzard, which assembled cellists, brass players and a bigger rhythm section, with several drummers and percussionists. Wood emulated the wall of sound production style of Phil Spector while successfully and affectionately pastiching the rock and roll style of the early 1960s. Meanwhile, he released several solo albums, exploring further musical directions. His 1973 album Boulders was an almost entirely genuine solo effort, right down to the sleeve artwork, with Wood playing a wide variety of musical instruments. A second solo album, Mustard, released in 1975 and including contributions by Phil Everly and Annie Haslam, was less successful.

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The Move - Ella James (The Old Grey Whistle Test 1971) (Jeff Lynne & Roy Wood)
8,011 views•Feb 2, 2019

tony713elo
1.94K subscribers

With Jeff Lynne & Roy Wood - 30th Nov 1971

The Move - Ella James 1971
103,655 views•Feb 6, 2009

fritz51327
19.3K subscribers

The Move - Ella James 1971

Sweet little girls and your money
No she don't wanna know me at all ooh ooh
Who's she gonna use?
What's she gonna lose?
Been with Ella James too long

Time to get up but I can't afford a cab
To the job where I work not at all ooh ooh
Have you got a hand?
Give it to me man
Been with Ella James too long - alright!

Who's she gonna lose?
What's she gonna use now?
She was hasting to throw me down
Will she ever pass to another class now?
And she's waiting to throw me down - alright!

Sweet little girls and your money
No you she don't wanna know me at all ooh ooh
Who's she gonna use?
What's she gonna lose?
Been with Ella James too long - o yeah!

(Instrumental)