It’s Chick Churchil’s Birthday – January 2nd (1946)
While I browsed around the Internet to discover what happened on past January 2nds, I discovered today is the birthday of Chick Churchill. Chick is a member of Ten Years After one my favorite bands from the 60s and 70s. Churchill was/and is the keyboard player for the band. The other original band members included guitarist extraordinaire Alvin Lee, bassist Leo Lyons and drummer Ric Lee.
About Chick Churchill
Chick Churchill was born on January 2, 1946 in Ilkeston, Derbyshire…from the Ten Years After website…
Chick began playing piano at the age of six and continued classical studies until the age of fifteen. At this point he became more interested in Blues and Rock and joined his first band, a Nottingham outfit, Sons Of Adam. lChick met Alvin Lee. at a local gig of The Jaybirds, in whose line-up were bassist, Leo Lyons and drummer Ric Lee. At first, Chick joined as Road Manager but soon became keyboard player when The Jaybirds became the backing group for a chart vocal act, The Ivy League. In 1968, after Chick secured an audition for the band at London’s Marquee Club under the name The Bluesyard (the only gig the group ever performed under this name), the quartet became the highly successful rock group, Ten Years Read More
About Ten Years After
Undead may not have been the first Ten Years After album I bought, but it was one of my favorites and one of the reasons I really liked the band. Their blend of jazz, blues and rock struck all the right chords with me. On Undead I particularly liked “(At the )Woodchoppers Ball“. That song particularly showed the chops of both Chick Churchill and bassist Leo Lyons. Of course, the highlight of the album was Alvin Lee’s blazing guitar on “I’m Going Home”.j
Ten Years After, was founded in 1966 after Chuck Churchill joined the band. They released their self-titled debut album in 1967. They recorded seven more albums. The band disbanded in 1974, then reunited in 1983. They released one more album Positive Vibrations in 1989.
Ten Years After Reunites
In 2003, while Alvin Lee was recording as a solo artist, Ten Years After reformed with Joe Gooch replacing Alvin Lee. The band released the album Now in 2004 and in 2008 they released another album Evolution. In my opinion both albums were really good
Leo Lyons and Joe Gooch form Hundred Seventy Split
Leo Lyons and Joe Gooch left Ten Years After in January of 2014 and formed the band Hundred Seventy Split (HSS) They have released four albums H.S.S.,(2014), The Road (2015) and Tracks (2016). I haven’t listen a lot to H.S.S or The Road, but Tracks. is a favorite.
In July of 2019 HSS released Live Woodstock ‘69 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Ten Years After’s performance at the iconic event. The album includes all the tracks from the band’s performance.
Chick Churchill Gets New Band Mates
After Leo Lyons and Joe Gooch left the band veteran bassist Colin Hodgkinson and singer/guitarist Marcus Bonfanti were their replacements.The new band released its most recent studio album, A Sting in the Tale in 2017.
Prior to joining Ten Years After Marcus Bonfanti had a successful and award winning solo career. I have enjoyed his solo albums and knew he would be a good fit for the band.
About Naturally Live
In preparing to write this post, I checked Spotify for anything new by the band.. I discovered they had released a live album Naturally Live. The album was recorded at one of their concerts in Germany and includes Ten Years After standards. as well, as tracks from A Sting in the Tale.
Through the years I have enjoyed the band’s releases from the early 2000s. As well as, the releases from Hundred Seventy Split.
When it was first released A Sting in the Tale appeared on Spotify. Since then it has disappeared.!Anyway at the time I really liked the album so I look forward to listening to Naturally Live for the tracks from the album.
The Bottomline
The bottomline is that I’d like to wish a happy birthday to Chick Churchill. I also want to thank him along with his band mates for 50 plus years of great music! And I’m hoping for many more!
Links for the Further Exploration of Ten Years After
Artist’s Website:Ten Years After
Here’s a platylist with a couple of tracks from the albums discussed above……..
