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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsForty years ago today, Jimmy McCulloch quit Wings.
So?You probably know him more for something he did when he was still fifteen years old:
Something in the Air
....
Background
In 1969, Pete Townshend, The Who's guitarist, was the catalyst behind the formation of the band. The concept was to create a band to perform songs written by drummer and singer Speedy Keen, who had written "Armenia City in the Sky", the first track on The Who Sell Out. Townshend recruited jazz pianist Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman (a friend from art college), and 15-year-old Glaswegian guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, who subsequently played lead guitar in Paul McCartney's Wings from 1974 to 1977 and died of a heroin overdose in 1979 aged just 26. Keen played the drums and sang the lead.
....
Background
In 1969, Pete Townshend, The Who's guitarist, was the catalyst behind the formation of the band. The concept was to create a band to perform songs written by drummer and singer Speedy Keen, who had written "Armenia City in the Sky", the first track on The Who Sell Out. Townshend recruited jazz pianist Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman (a friend from art college), and 15-year-old Glaswegian guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, who subsequently played lead guitar in Paul McCartney's Wings from 1974 to 1977 and died of a heroin overdose in 1979 aged just 26. Keen played the drums and sang the lead.
And that's this weekend's tune.
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Forty years ago today, Jimmy McCulloch quit Wings. (Original Post)
mahatmakanejeeves
Sep 2017
OP
Blues Heron
(5,944 posts)1. Senn. 421 mics looks like
great find.
wonder if Gregg Allman got the Melissa chords from this tune, sounds similar.
LeftInTX
(25,608 posts)2. I'm like "The Who had a song about Armenia"?
Turns out it is about Ar-meh-nia, Colombia.
Not Ar-mean-ia the country.
Sigh............
Why do they have a song Armenia, Colombia?
Couldn't they just have called "Armenia, Country in the Sky"?
It could have been a rally cry for us Armenians who wanted a break away from the Soviet Union.
Skittles
(153,225 posts)3. making sure you heard this interview with Mr. Newman
he has since passed but he mentions Jimmy was actually 14 when they first started
Jimmy's brother was the drummer
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,664 posts)5. Thanks for that. He gets into that at 11:00 into the video.
Last edited Sat Sep 9, 2017, 02:55 PM - Edit history (1)
I don't have time to listen to the whole thing today.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,374 posts)4. Oh. THOSE Wings.
How well could he play on the ice?
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,664 posts)6. April 2016: Andy Thunderclap Newman obituary
Andy Thunderclap Newman obituary
Founding member of Thunderclap Newman, the band that had a No 1 hit with Something in the Air in 1969
Adam Sweeting
Sunday 3 April 2016 12.40 EDT
Last modified on Thursday 15 June 2017 12.06 EDT
Andy Newman, who has died aged 73, earned musical immortality as part of Thunderclap Newman, whose 1969 No 1 hit Something in the Air became one of the indestructible staples of British 1960s pop. Primarily a keyboard player with an idiosyncratic approach schoolfriends nicknamed him Thunderclap in honour of his playing technique Newman also played the saxophone, clarinet and penny whistle, but had no formal musical training.
The band that would become Thunderclap Newman was formed in late 1968 at the instigation of the Whos Pete Townshend, and comprised Newman alongside a drummer and vocalist, John Speedy Keen, and a guitarist, Jimmy McCulloch, later of Wings. The musicians had previously collaborated on soundtrack music for a film being made by a friend of Townshend, though this material was never used. Keen had written the track Armenia City in the Sky for the Whos 1967 album The Who Sell Out, and Townshend envisaged the new group as a vehicle for Keens songwriting.
....
The song has enjoyed immortality thanks to its repeated use in movies that include The Magic Christian (1969), The Strawberry Statement (1970), Kingpin (1996), Almost Famous (2000) and The Girl Next Door (2004), and in commercials for TalkTalk, Coca-Cola and British Airways.
....
He is survived by his brother, Robin.
Andrew Laurence Thunderclap Newman, musician and composer, born 21 November 1942; died 29 March 2016
Founding member of Thunderclap Newman, the band that had a No 1 hit with Something in the Air in 1969
Adam Sweeting
Sunday 3 April 2016 12.40 EDT
Last modified on Thursday 15 June 2017 12.06 EDT
Andy Newman, who has died aged 73, earned musical immortality as part of Thunderclap Newman, whose 1969 No 1 hit Something in the Air became one of the indestructible staples of British 1960s pop. Primarily a keyboard player with an idiosyncratic approach schoolfriends nicknamed him Thunderclap in honour of his playing technique Newman also played the saxophone, clarinet and penny whistle, but had no formal musical training.
The band that would become Thunderclap Newman was formed in late 1968 at the instigation of the Whos Pete Townshend, and comprised Newman alongside a drummer and vocalist, John Speedy Keen, and a guitarist, Jimmy McCulloch, later of Wings. The musicians had previously collaborated on soundtrack music for a film being made by a friend of Townshend, though this material was never used. Keen had written the track Armenia City in the Sky for the Whos 1967 album The Who Sell Out, and Townshend envisaged the new group as a vehicle for Keens songwriting.
....
The song has enjoyed immortality thanks to its repeated use in movies that include The Magic Christian (1969), The Strawberry Statement (1970), Kingpin (1996), Almost Famous (2000) and The Girl Next Door (2004), and in commercials for TalkTalk, Coca-Cola and British Airways.
....
He is survived by his brother, Robin.
Andrew Laurence Thunderclap Newman, musician and composer, born 21 November 1942; died 29 March 2016
I haven't seen The Strawberry Statement in decades.