Spooky Tooth

Spooky Tooth
L.P. cover of "Spooky Two"
Background information
Also known as	Art
Origin	England
Genre(s)	progressive rock, hard rock
Years active	1967-1970 1972-74 1998 2004
Label(s)	Island Records, CBS
Associated acts	The V.I.P.'s
Website	spookytooth.co.uk
Members
Mike Harrison (key/voc) Greg Ridley (bass/voc) Luther Grosvenor (guitar/voc) Mike Kellie (drums) Gary Wright (org/voc) Alan Spenner (bass) Henry McCullough

Spooky Tooth was an English progressive rock band from the late 1960s. They faded into obscurity afterwards.

Career

Crucial to their sound was their instrumentation; they were one of the few acts within the rock forum of the time to adopt the twin keyboard approach (both an organ and a piano player) alongside The Band (whose "The Weight" was recorded by Spooky Tooth as a single in 1968) and Procol Harum. They formed in October 1967, out of a combination of The Ramrods (1960 - late 1963), The V.I.P.'s (late 1963 - April 1967) and Art (April - October 1967). The line-up changed several times, but typically was -

• Mike Harrison (born Michael Harrison, 3 September 1942, Carlisle, Cumbria) (keyboards/vocals)
• Greg Ridley (born Alfred Gregory Ridley, 23 October 1942, Aspatria, Cumbria — died 19 November 2003, in Java, Spain) (bass guitar/vocals)
• Luther (Luke) Grosvenor (born Luther James Grosvenor, 23 December 1946, Evesham, Worcestershire) (guitar/vocals)
• Mike Kellie, (born Michael Kellie, 24 March 1945, Birmingham, Warwickshire) (drums)
• Gary Wright, (born 26 April 1943, Cresskill, New Jersey, U.S.) (organ/vocals)

It was the latter's addition (after one album - see Discography) that signalled the name change from Art to Spooky Tooth. The song "Better By You, Better Than Me", recorded by Judas Priest is a Spooky Tooth cover. It was taken from 1969's Spooky Two LP which is generally considered to be the best effort by the group. It was the last album release from the original line-up. Ridley joined Humble Pie in 1969 and was replaced by Andy Leigh (in time for 1970's album Ceremony) who went on to Matthews Southern Comfort with ex-Fairport Convention vocalist Ian Matthews. The experimental nature of Ceremony received mixed reviews and following its release Wright also bowed out. The core of Harrison, Grosvenor and Kellie struggled on for one more album, aptly titled The Last Puff, completed with friends from Joe Cocker's Grease Band. They broke up in the autumn of 1970, however after solo efforts Harrison and Wright reformed Spooky Tooth in September 1972 with a different (and frequently changing) line-up. The best known member of these line-ups (from March 1973 to September 1974) was Mick Jones (born Michael Leslie Jones, 27 December 1944, London) (guitar / vocals), later in Foreigner and, from February - May 1974, Mike Patto (born Michael Thomas McCarthy, 22 September 1942, Cirencester, Gloucestershire) (vocals) replaced Harrison for the 1974 release The Mirror. The group then split again in September 1974.

Post Spooky

Grosvenor later played with Stealers Wheel and Mott the Hoople; while Wright had an enduring hit with the radio friendly Dream Weaver. Harrison / Grosvenor / Ridley / Kellie briefly reunited in 1998 for an album ('Cross Purpose'), before Ridley died in November 2003. Harrison / Wright / Kellie reunited again in 2004 with two concerts in Germany, resulting in a DVD release 'Nomad Poets' (2007). A roadie, aptly named Spooky Tooth Grunden, who helped with the concerts in Germany has since moved on to software development and close quarters parking lot racing.

Band members

Discography

as Art (Mike Harrison (voc), Greg Ridley (b), Luther Grosvenor (guitar), Mike Kellie (drums))

• 1967 - Supernatural Fairy Tales

as Spooky Tooth

• 1968 - It's All About
• 1969 - Spooky Two
• 1970 - Ceremony (with Pierre Henry)
• 1970 - The Last Puff
• 1971 - Tobacco Road (=It's All About)
• 1973 - You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw
• 1973 - Witness
• 1974 - The Mirror
• 1999 - Cross Purpose
• 1999 -
• 2000 - Comic Violence
• 2001 - BBC Sessions
• 2007 - Nomad Poets (DVD)

External links

• http://www.myspace.com/spookytoothband
• http://www.spookytooth.co.uk/ Official Site
• http://www.spookytooth.sk/ Fan Site