Alan Price

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Alan Price
Born 19 April 1942 (1942-04-19) (age 67)
Origin Fatfield, County Durham, England, UK
Genre(s) Rock, Blues rock, Psychedelic rock, Pop
Occupation(s) Musician, musical arranger
Instrument(s) keyboards, vocals, bass, guitar
Years active 1961-Present
Label(s) Decca, Parrot (US), Deram, CBS, Vertigo, Sanctuary, United Artists, Jet, Indigo, BGO, AP
Associated acts The Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo,The Alan Price Set,Price and Fame,Alan Price and Friends,The Animals,Eric Burdon,The Electric Blues Company,Bobby Tench, Zoot Money
Website Official Alan Price Webshop and Official site
Notable instrument(s)
Piano,Organ,Vocals

Alan Price (born 19 April 1942, Fatfield, County Durham) is a British musician, most notably as the original keyboardist for the English band The Animals.

He had UK chart success with the Animals, most notably The House of the Rising Sun to which Price also contibuted the memorable keyboard parts. After leaving the Animals Price went onto to have solo success and introduced the songs of Randy Newman to a wider audience. Later he appeared on his own television show and made television guest appearances with Georgie Fame. He also had success with film scores and acting parts.

More recently Price performed and recorded with The Electric Blues Company and has made other apearances with artists such as The Manfreds.

Contents

[edit] Early years

A self-taught musician, primarily a keyboard player, he was educated at Jarrow Grammar School, South Tyneside, and was a founding member of the Tyneside group The Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo, later to be renamed The Animals. His playing on their international hits "House of the Rising Sun", "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and "Bring It On Home To Me" was a key element in the Animals' success. Though The Animals' version of "House of the Rising Sun" has become the most recognisable version of the song,[1] the arrangements were strongly based on Dave Van Ronk's interpretation, made popular by Bob Dylan on the album Bob Dylan (1962).

[edit] Career

Price left The Animals in May 1965 and formed The Alan Price Set, which featured Price on keyboards and vocals, Clive Burrows baritone saxophone, Steve Gregory tenor saxophone, John Walters trumpet, Peter Kirtley guitar, Rod "Boots" Slade on bass guitar and "Little" Roy Mills drums. In the same year, he appeared in the film Dont Look Back, which followed Bob Dylan on tour. During 1966 he enjoyed singles success with "I Put A Spell On You", the Randy Newman song "Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear", and the original "The House That Jack Built", following it up in 1968 with the jazzy "Don't Stop The Carnival". A partnership with Georgie Fame resulted in "Rosetta", which became a top 20 single in 1971. Two albums followed, Fame and Price and Price and Fame Together. Price and Fame secured a regular slot in one series of The Two Ronnies on BBC television. He then went on to host shows such as the musical Price To Play in the late '60s, which featured Price explaining and performing the music of some famous guests such as Fleetwood Mac and Jimi Hendrix. His second album, A Price On His Head (1967) features seven songs by Randy Newman, who was virtually unknown at that time. Price produced the autobiographical album Between Today and Yesterday (1974) and the track "Jarrow Song" returned him to the singles chart.

[edit] Animals reunions

Price participated in three reunions of the The Animals in 1968, 1977 also 1983. In July 1983 The Animals started a successful world tour, playing over twenty songs at each concert. Price also performed a solo, the song "O Lucky Man". In 1984 the band split again and the album Rip It To Shreds - Greatest Hits Live was released, comprising recordings from their concert at Wembley Stadium in London.

[edit] The Electric Blues Company and Bobby Tench

The Electric Blues Company are a four piece R&B band, best known as the backing band for the well known keyboardist from the original Animals, Alan Price. Since 1994 the key members of the band have been guitarist and vocalist Bobby Tench, Keyboardist Zoot Money, bassist Peter Grant and drummer Martin Wilde. This lineup recorded two albums with Priceand and the band was still active in 2009.

[edit] A Gigster's Life for Me

A Gigster's Life for me
A Gigster's Life for me cover
Studio album by Alan Price and the Electric Blues Company
Released January 1 1996
Recorded July-August 1995
Genre Rock, blues rock
Label Indigo/Sanctuary Masters of Blues series
Producer Alan Price and The Electric Blues Company
Professional reviews

Allmusic 4/5 starsby Thom Jurek
Alan Price and the Electric Blues Company chronology
Covers (1994) A Gigster's Life for me (1995)

A Gigster's Life for Me was the follow up to Covers (1994) and was recorded between July and August 1995 at Olympic Studios London[2], after Alan Price's band The Electric Blues Company had already played over 2,250 shows. The album was released in 1996 as part of Sanctuary's Blues Masters Series. In his review at Allmusic Tom Jurek[3] said, "The recording captures the atmosphere of a live show and most of the album was recorded in single takes. The album consists of interpretations of R&B songs by others including Boz Scaggs, Eric Clapton and Jackson Browne. There is also a reggae-blues of the title trick, which swings out of a jazzy backbeat into a rootsier Inner circle-type groove and a radical reworking of Screamin' Jay Hawkins's I Put a Spell on You".

[edit] 2000-present

Price still tours the UK with his own band and with The Manfreds, The Searchers and The Hollies.

[edit] Film and TV

In 1973 he wrote the music for the Lindsay Anderson film O Lucky Man!, which he performs on screen in the film and appears as himself in one part of the storyline. He acted in Alfie Darling, a less than stellar sequel to the film Alfie, during the course of which he became romantically involved with his co-star, Jill Townsend. He has written music for stage plays and films, including The Whales of August. In 1992 Lindsay Anderson included a touching episode in his autobiographical BBC film Is That All There Is?, with a boat trip down the River Thames to scatter Jill Bennett's funeral ashes on the waters while Price accompanied himself and sang the song "Is That All There Is?". He also composed and sung the theme tune to the 1982 film adaptation of The Plague Dogs, "Time and Tide".

[edit] Film appearances

[edit] TV appearances

  • The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood TV film(1965), Wolf
  • Ready, Steady, Go! - in the episode dated 9 December 1966 (as Alan Price Set)
  • Behind The Music - Himself ( (1999)
  • Disco (TV series) - in Episode #1.5 (as Price and Fame) (1971)
  • Heartbeat (TV series) - Frankie Rio (a "shifty" musician) - in the episode "In the Bleak Midwinter" (2004)
  • The Two Ronnies - Himself (1972) 8 Episodes

[edit] Awards

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Allmusic. "Alan Price". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:g9fyxq85ldte~T0. Retrieved on 2009-01-20. 
  2. ^ Google News. "Olympic Studios". Google News.com. http://toolbar.google.com/archivesearch?q=olympic+studios+in+london&scoring=t&hl=en&ned=tus&nav_num=100. Retrieved on 04-03-2009. 
  3. ^ Tom Jurek. "A Gigster's Life for Me". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kzfixqwhldje. Retrieved on 04-03-2009. 

[edit] References

  • Burdon, Eric. I Used to Be an Animal, but I'm All Right Now. Faber and Faber, 1986. ISBN 9 780 571134
  • Burdon, Eric (with J. Marshall Craig). Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood: A Memoir. Thunder's Mouth Press, 2001. ISBN 1 560 253304

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The Animals
The (Original) Animals (1962–1966, 1977, 1983): Eric Burdon · Alan Price · Chas Chandler · Hilton Valentine · John Steel · Dave Rowberry · Mick Gallagher · Barry Jenkins
Eric Burdon & The (New) Animals (1966–1969): Eric Burdon · John Weider · Vic Briggs · Danny McCulloch · Barry Jenkins · Zoot Money · Andy Summers
Studio albums
The Animals (1962–1966)
Eric Burdon & The Animals
The Animals (1977, 1983)
Compilations
Hit singles
Related articles
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