Roy Wood

Career

Early years

Roy Wood was born on 8 November 1946 in Kitts Green, a suburb of 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. Their 1964 single "Doctor Feelgood" was the recording debut for both Wood and future Moody Blues-drummer Graeme Edge. 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

The Move was formed from other Birmingham-based groups, and quickly entered the UK singles chart. Their single "Night of Fear" climbed to No. 2 in early 1967.{{cite book

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

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

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 saxophone). After increasing tensions, Wood left in July 1972 at the start of the second album sessions, following a trip to Italy.{{cite book

Post-Wizzard

By the late 1970s, Wood was appearing less in public; commercial success faded away, and his musical experiments did not always match popular taste, but he remained productive in the studio as musician, producer and songwriter. He was a fan of Elvis Presley, but never succeeded in getting him to adopt one of his compositions. He was a producer for other acts, including for doo-wop revivalists Darts. In 1976, Wood recorded the Beatles songs "Lovely Rita" and "Polythene Pam" for the musical documentary All This and World War II.

The Wizzo Band and subsequent work

In 1977, he formed Wizzo Band, a jazz-rock ensemble, whose only live performance was a BBC simultaneous television and radio broadcast in stereo. The Wizzo Band split early the following year after cancelling a nationwide tour.

Between 1980 and 1982, Wood released a few singles under his own name and also as Roy Wood's Helicopters, and played some live dates under this name, with a band comprising Robin George (guitar), Terry Rowley (keyboards), Jon Camp (bass) and Tom Farnell (drums). The release of what would have been the last of these singles, "Aerial Pictures", backed with "Airborne", was cancelled owing to the lack of chart success for its predecessors, but both sides appeared for the first time in 2006 on a compilation CD, Roy Wood – The Wizzard!. "Aerial Pictures", using the original backing track, subsequently became a solo single for Carl Wayne, the Move's former vocalist.

Wood also made a one-off rock and roll medley single with Phil Lynott, Chas Hodges and John Coghlan, credited to The Rockers, "We Are the Boys" (1983), and played a leading role in the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986, on 15 March 1986, which was later partly televised by the BBC. As well as designing the logo, Wood performed in a line-up which also included the Electric Light Orchestra and the Moody Blues.

After a hiatus following the release of the album Starting Up (1987), a cover version of the Len Barry hit "1–2–3", and a guest vocal appearance on one track on Rick Wakeman's The Time Machine, he went on the road with a band billed as Roy Wood's Army. He also wrote and recorded two tracks with Lynne in 1989 ("If You Can't Get What You Want" and "Me and You"), which were never released.

His most regularly broadcast song is the seasonal Wizzard single "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", which remains one of the most played Christmas songs in the UK. In 1995, Wood released a new live version as the 'Roy Wood Big Band', which charted at No. 59, and in 2000 he joined forces with Mike Batt and the Wombles, for a re-working of "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" and the Wombles' hit "Wombling Merry Christmas", together in one song which reached No. 22. Over Christmas 2007, Wood appeared in a catalogue advertisement for Argos, in which he played the part of a rowdy neighbour playing guitar along to Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", and the song once again entered the UK singles chart, peaking at No. 16. In the 2010 Christmas special of the ITV comedy Benidorm, Wood in a cameo role performed his Christmas hit at the Benidorm Palace cabaret theatre. He later performed with Wizzard on the Christmas edition of Pointless Celebrities in December 2013.

Wood formed the Roy Wood Rock & Roll Band for occasional live dates and television performances in the UK. They were the support act for Status Quo at several UK dates in the weeks leading up to Christmas 2009 and 2011. In December 2018, Wood and his band's touring equipment worth £100,000 was stolen following a ram-raid on a warehouse in Leeds. The police later recovered the van and equipment in East Ardsley.

Personal life

Wood currently lives in South Derbyshire. He voted to leave the European Union in the 23 June 2016 referendum, and in May 2019 joined the Brexit Party. Beforehand, he was a longtime member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), and expressed interest in standing as a candidate for the party in 2004. Wood has one daughter, named Holly.

Wood was engaged to Annie Haslam for four years, which she later described as "four of the funniest years of my life", prior to her own marriage in 1991.

Legacy

The BBC described Wood in 2008 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.

Discography

Chronological album discography

For the complete Move discography see The Move Discography

For the complete ELO discography see Electric Light Orchestra discography

For the complete Wizzard discography see Wizzard Discography

List of songs written by Roy Wood

• Move (1968) – The Move
• Shazam (1970) – The Move
• Looking On (1970) – The Move
• Message from the Country (1971) – The Move
• The Electric Light Orchestra (1971) – ELO
• ELO 2 (1973) – ELO (although uncredited at the time, Wood played cello and bass on "In Old England Town" and "From the Sun to the World").
• Wizzard Brew (1973) – Wizzard
• Boulders (1973) – Solo
• Introducing Eddy and the Falcons (1974) – Wizzard
• Mustard (1975) – Solo
• Super Active Wizzo (1977) – Wizzo Band
• On The Road Again (1979) – Solo
• Starting Up (1987) – Solo
• Main Street (2000) – Roy Wood & Wizzard (Recorded 1976)

Solo albums

Sources:{{cite book

Collaboration album

Source:

Charting compilation album

Source:

Solo singles

Source:

Collaboration singles

Source:

Songs recorded and released by other artists

References

References

1. Petridis, Alexis. (2016-11-08). "Britain's lost pop genius: the glam rocker who hated being in the spotlight". The Guardian.
2. (23 June 2017). "ATV Today: 06.01.1970: Roy Wood of the Move pop group married".
3. "Roy Wood: What is the Wizzard singer up to now?".
4. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/roy-wood-mn0000354729
5. Alexis Petridis. "Britain's lost pop genius: the glam rocker who hated being in the spotlight | Music". [[The Guardian]].
6. Van der Kiste, John (2012). ''Roy Wood: The Move, Wizzard and beyond''. KDP.
7. "Roy Wood". The Great Rock Bible.
8. (2016). "Jim Onslow Interview". [[Brum Beat]].
9. Bruce Eder. "Roy Wood | Biography".
10. Unterberger, Richie. (2009). "The Rough Guide to Jimi Hendrix". Rough Guides.
11. "2004 – Present".
12. "Inductees: Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)".
13. "Wizzard | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company".
14. "All This and World War II".
15. "Jools' Annual Hootenanny". [[BBC Two]].
16. (14 December 2018). "Wizzard star's stolen van returned".
17. (23 December 2010). "Roy Wood's Christmas".
18. Cole, Paul. (22 May 2019). "Wizzard's Roy Wood: 'I wish it could be Brexit every day'". Birmingham Mail.
19. Ross, Deborah. (22 July 2004). "Booze, blazers and bloody foreigners".
20. (2012). "Roy Wood: I might go and live in the Big Apple". Birmingham Mail.
21. "Annie Haslam Interview by Martin Kinch".
22. (19 January 2008). "Wizzard award for Roy Wood". [[BBC Online]].
23. (4 September 2015). "Singer Steven Wilson crowned prog rock king". BBC News.
24. "ELO II/The Lost Planet – Electric Light Orchestra | Credits". AllMusic.
25. "Roy Wood | Discography".
26. "The London Bo Diddley Sessions - Bo Diddley - Credits".
27. Kent, David. (1993). "Australian Chart Book 1970–1992". Australian Chart Book.
28. "Sportin' Wood: The Flashcubes Play the Songs of Roy Wood - The Flashcubes - Songs, Reviews, Credits".
29. "Search for "blackberry way"".
30. "Search for "brontosaurus"".
31. "Search for "california man"".
32. "Very Best of the Casuals - Casuals - Songs, Reviews, Credits".
33. "Acid Gallery - Biography & History".
34. "Tobacco Road - The Nashville Teens - Songs, Reviews, Credits".
35. "Glitter from the Litter Bin: 20 Junk Shop Glam Rarities from the 1970s - Various Artists - Songs, Reviews, Credits".
36. "The Very Best of the Fortunes (1967-1972) - The Fortunes - Songs, Reviews, Credits".
37. "Search for "flowers in the rain"".
38. Carlin, Marcello. (28 September 2010). "Then Play Long: Neil REID: Neil Reid".
39. "Search for "hello susie"".
40. "Search for "i can hear the grass grow"".
41. "Jason Crest - Songs".
42. "Search for "(Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree"".
43. "Annie in Wonderland - Annie Haslam - Songs, Reviews, Credits".
44. "Search for "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday"".
45. "Busted - Cheap Trick - Songs, Reviews, Credits".
46. "Search for "see muy baby jive"".
47. "Darts - Dart Attack".
48. "Songbook 1970-1974 - The New Seekers - Songs, Reviews, Credits".
49. "The New Seekers - Tonight".
50. "Graham Bonnet - Whisper In The Night".
51. "Roy Wood | Songs".