Fox (band)

Fox were a British-based pop band popular in the mid-1970s. Led by American songwriter and record producer Kenny Young, the band was perhaps best known for its charismatic Australian lead singer Noosha Fox. They achieved three top 20 hits on the UK Singles Chart - "Only You Can" and "Imagine Me, Imagine You" in 1975 and "S-S-S-Single Bed" in 1976, and Noosha Fox achieved a solo hit in 1977 with "Georgina Bailey".

Fox
OriginUnited Kingdom
GenresPop, rock
Years active1974–1981
LabelsGTO Records
Associated actsWooden Horse
Yellow Dog
Noosha Fox
Past membersNoosha Fox
Kenny Young
Herbie Armstrong
Jim Gannon
Pete Solley
Gary Taylor
Jim Frank

Band history

The band was founded by Young, who had composed the song "Under the Boardwalk" for the Drifters in 1964. Young had worked off and on with the Australian singer Susan Traynor on one of his solo albums, Last Stage For Silverworld, where she was listed as 'Amanda' after Young had written Reparata and the Delrons' "Captain of Your Ship", which had been a UK hit.

Young then discovered Northern Irish singer Clodagh Rodgers on a television show, who had recently released the single, "Play The Drama till The End". The partnership produced hit singles over a three-year period, beginning with "Come Back and Shake Me". With this, Rodgers became something of a blueprint for the group, as she recorded demos of some of the songs which would eventually surface on the first Fox album in 1975, as well as earlier Young tunes. Rodgers' husband John Morris was the first manager of the group.[1]

Meanwhile, Traynor was in a folk group called Wooden Horse, which released two albums before breaking up. After his success with Rogers, Young founded Fox with Irish singer Herbie Armstrong, recruiting Traynor as lead singer. She adopted the stage name 'Noosha', a scrambled version of her own name, and a glamorous image inspired by Marlene Dietrich, wearing elegant dresses to contrast with the scruffy look of the rest of the group.

The band's self-titled debut album was released on GTO Records in 1975 to critical acclaim. The lead single, "Only You Can", was originally released in the Summer of 1974 under the title "Only You" and failed to chart, but was reissued at the beginning of 1975 with a word added to its title and was a Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart, the follow-up "Imagine Me, Imagine You" later the same year also reached the Top 20[2] and "He's Got Magic" was a hit in some European countries. The track "Love Ship" was played extensively on Radio Caroline, and was subsequently adopted as one of their theme tunes in the 1970s. Shortly after the release of their first album, Fox made a cameo appearance in the film Side by Side.

However, Noosha shared vocals with other members of the band in 1975 follow-up album, Tails of Illusion, with the songs sung by Noosha, Young, Frank, and Armstrong. The album enjoyed some cult critical acclaim but not the sales success of its predecessor; without Noosha's distinctive voice, casual listeners did not associate the songs with the band that had recorded "Only You Can". Roger Taylor of Queen added backing vocals to the song "Survival".

The band returned to the charts in April 1976 when "S-S-S-Single Bed" was a Top 5 UK hit and topped the Australian chart. (Bananarama did their own version of this song in 2009 on their album Viva.) Again, the band did not attempt to capitalise upon its previous success, and the accompanying album Blue Hotel (1977), yielded only one further single, even though Noosha was the lead singer on all its tracks.

Noosha Fox left the band after Blue Hotel. Armstrong and Young continued to work together in the band Yellow Dog, Their second single for Virgin became the first hit single that Virgin Records released, "Just One More Night" making it to no. 7 on the UK Singles Chart. After a short period of success, Armstrong went on to work with Van Morrison, and Solley later joined Procol Harum. Noosha launched a solo career, and her first single, "Georgina Bailey", written and produced by Young, briefly entered the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart (reaching number 31) in 1977.[2]

In 1979, Noosha Fox tried to restart her solo career with a single, "The Heat Is On" (a song written by Florrie Palmer and Tony Ashton), on Chrysalis Records. A later version of the song, by ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog, was a European hit four years later. Noosha recorded several singles in the early 1980s for the Earlobe label but none were successful, and she evidently retired from the music industry, although she did not return to Australia.

Fox reformed briefly in 1980, releasing the new wave-influenced "Electro People", written as the theme music for the Kenny Everett Show. The band considered a reunion in the early 1990s, but the tracks recorded at this time were unreleased until 2004 when they appeared as bonus tracks on the Tails of Illusion CD.

After the band

It was reported in 2007 on BBC Radio 4's The Music Group and again in April 2011[3][4] that Noosha Fox was working on new material, but as of 2020 no material has been released commercially.

Herbie Armstrong recently tried to find solo success, appearing on the 2011 series of Britain's Got Talent. He made it through to the live semi-finals but did not make it through to the final. In his semi-final, he appeared singing a version of Barry Manilow's hit, "Mandy".

Members

  • Noosha Fox – vocals
  • Kenny Young – guitar, vocals
  • Herbie Armstrong – guitar, vocals
  • Jim Gannon – lead guitar, vocals
  • Pete Solley – keyboards, vocals
  • Mike Lavender – accordion, electric piano
  • Gary Taylor – bass, vocals
  • Jim Frank – drums, percussion, vocals

Discography

Albums

Year Title Format Label Catalogue ref Chart position
1975Fox12"LPGTOGTLP 001No. 7 UK
1975Tails of Illusion12"LPGTOGTLP 006
1975Pop Power – The Fantastic Fox12"LPPOLYDOR2459 302compilation
1976S-S-S-Single Bed (European version)12"LPGTOGTLP 011compilation
1976S-S-S-Single Bed (Australian version)12"LPGTO2321 111No. 22 AUS[5]
1977Blue Hotel12"LPGTOGTLP 020
1996Only You CanCDWISE BUYWB 866 702compilation, including unreleased material
1997The Very Best of FoxCDTHE HIT LABELAHLCD 51compilation
2002Fox (plus four bonus tracks)CDCHERRY REDCDMRED 222
2004Tails of Illusion (plus two bonus tracks)CDCHERRY REDCDMRED 263
2006Blue Hotel (plus one bonus track)CDCHERRY REDCDMRED 272
2014Images '74-'84 - Deluxe Edition2CDCHERRY REDCDBRED 60535 tracks including all 7 singles A and B sides
2017The Fox Box4CDCHERRY REDCRCDMBOX 28Fox (+4) + Tails of Illusion (+2) + Blue Hotel (+1) + Images - A Collection (from "Images '74-'84")

[2][6]

Singles

Year Single Format Label Catalogue ref Chart positions
UK AUS[5] US DE NL
1974"Only You" / "Out of My Body"7" singleGTOGT 5-----
1975"Only You Can" / "Out of My Body" (Reissue)7" singleGTOGT 8368532-
"Imagine Me, Imagine You" / "If I Point at the Moon"7" singleGTOGT 211516537-
"He's Got Magic" / "Love Ship"7" singleGTOGT 37-----
"He's Got Magic" / "The Juggler"7" singleGTOPSC 418-----
"Strange Ships" / "Little Brown Box"7" singleGTOGT 41-----
"He's Got Magic" / "Strange Ships"7" singleGTO2099 151-----
1976"S-S-S-Single Bed" / "Silk Milk"7" singleGTOGT 5741--10
Love Letters: "Love Letters" ~ "The Juggler" / "Only You Can" ~ "Spirit"7" EPGTO2206 101-----
1977"My Old Man's Away" / "Are You Sure?"7" singleGTOGT 94-----
1981"Electro People" / "If You Don't Want My Peaches"7" singleBBCRESL 115-----

[2]

References

  1. Wilde, Diana: The Glam Rock Files. Independent September 2017. ISBN 978-1549647253. Pages 62-63
  2. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 211. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  3. "Twitter / bengoldacre: @alexispetridis haha no i mean". Twitter.com. 1 April 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  4. Petridis, Alexis (29 May 2011). "Alexis Petridis on pop's worst year". The Guardian. London.
  5. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 117. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  6. "Fox | Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
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