Juicy Lucy (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the cheeseburger, see Jucy Lucy

Juicy Lucy were saucy blues-rockers, who formed in 1969 from the ashes of the cult garage band The Misunderstood; thus uniting vocalist Ray Owen, steel guitarist Glenn "Ross" Campbell and keyboardist Chris Mercer. The group later picked up guitarist Neil Hubbard, bassist Keith Ellis plus their drummer Pete Dobson.

1 Career
2 Album discography
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Career

Image:Emblem-important.svg

The quality of this section may be compromised by weasel words.
You can help Wikipedia by removing weasel words.

The band immediately notched a UK Top 20 hit with their cover version of the Bo Diddley perennial "Who Do You Love". Their self-titled debut album then fell just shy of the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart. The debut album was as famous for its striking cover art as the wild blues rock inside. The cover featured one Zelda Plum, (a burlesque dancer famous for dancing to 78rpm records) naked apart from a covering of fruit ! This album was released on the highly collectable Vertigo label, making a must for record collectors of today. This original line up, with Ray Owen on vocals and Glen Ross Campbell on guitar, was a classic rock band; many feel that, if this line up had worked out their differences and stuck together, they could have been huge.^{[citation needed]}

Line-up changes were quickly afoot as ex-Zoot Money singer Paul Williams, guitarist Micky Moody and drummer Rod Coombes, replaced Owen (who exited for a solo career), Hubbard and Dobson for 1970's Lie Back and Enjoy It, with another bassist Jim Leverton assuming Ellis' duties for the follow-up, 1971's Get a Whiff of This. The constant turnover clearly took its toll on the group both creatively and commercially, with co-founders Campbell and Mercer both exiting prior to the fourth Juicy Lucy album, 1972's Pieces. This was recorded by a makeshift line-up of Williams, Moody, keyboardist Jean Roussel and the former Blodwyn Pig rhythm section of bassist Andy Pyle and drummer Ron Berg.

Juicy Lucy finally disbanded shortly thereafter. Founder member Ray Owen revived the name in 1995 for the albums Blue Thunder and Here She Comes Again which found Mike Jarvis (guitar), Andy Doughty (bass), and Spencer Blackledge (drums) rounding out the band. A couple of years later this version of the band broke-up but Owen wanted to keep on going, especially when he formed a musical partnership with a guitarist known as Mr. Fish. Legal problems kept the new band from using the Juicy Lucy name, so they gigged as Ray Owen's Moon ( 'Moon' being the title of Ray Owens 1971 solo album).

By 2004 bassist Fudge and drummer Fletch had joined the band and the legal issue was settled. The new Juicy Lucy spent 2006 working on a new album (subsequently titled Do That And You'll Lose It), and touring the UK with fellow rock veterans Nazareth. They recently played the Cambridge Rock Festival ( 2007) and they are managing to build a formidable live reputaion, Ray Owen and 'Mr Fish' making the best pairing ( according to many fans) since Glenn Ross Campell left. The link with the past though is not forgotten , and the modern day Juicy Lucy still plays 'Mississippi Woman', 'Who Do you love' and more from that first album.

[edit] Album discography

Juicy Lucy - 1969
Lie Back and Enjoy It - 1970
Get a Whiff of This - 1971
Pieces - 1972
Who Do You Love - The Best of Juicy Lucy - 1994 (compilation)
Here She Comes Again - 1995
Blue Thunder - 1998
Do That And You'll Lose It - 2006

[edit] Trivia

Former Juicy Lucy guitarist Micky Moody (born 30 August 1950, in Middlesbrough), later joined the inaugural Whitesnake line-up in 1978. Before then he was a member of another rock outfit Snafu between 1973 and 1976. Moody also released the bluesy solo album I Eat Them For Breakfast in 2001.
Their song "Who Do You Love" was featured in Shellshock: Nam '67.