Dreamer
Supertramp
Formed in 1969, when vocalist, pianist and ex-drummer Rick Davies placed an ad in Music magazine Melody Maker, Supertramp were a British progressive Rock band who had a number of top selling albums throughout the 70’s and early 80’s.
Originally named ‘Daddy’, the band later (one year later) found inspiration in W.H. Davies’ book The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp and changed to their now-famous moniker. Their first self-titled album, Supertramp, was released on 14th July, 1970 in the UK and Canada (it was later issued in the US in 1977) to little public or critical interest. It wasn’t till their second album, Indelibly Stamped (released June 1971 in both UK and US), that they began to settle into the Simon & Garfunkel-esque dual-vocalist approach that brought them such great later success. However, even with their more commercial approach and eye-catching artwork, Supertramp still remained a ‘cult’ band, their second album selling even less than their debut.
After this initial failure which lost them two of their band members, Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson went on a hunt for replacements, bringing aboard Dougie Thomson on bass, Bob Siebenberg on drums, and John Helliwell on saxophone, (he also played other woodwinds, occasional keyboards and backing vocals) completing the line-up that would create the group's defining albums.
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The band released Crime of the Centuryin September 1974 to critical acclaim managing to hit number four in Britain. Supported by the top-10 single, “Dreamer” and B-side “Bloody Well Right” it also hit the US Top 40 in 1975, peaking at number thirty-five. The band quickly followed up on their success, putting out their next album Crisis? What Crisis? in November 1975 to slightly less commercial success. The band then relocated to the U.S. and began moving steadily away from the progressive style of their early work and towards a more pop-orientated sound. In 1977 they released Even in the Quietest Moments which gave them their hit single “Give a little bit” and “Fools Overture”. Having mastered the art of writing a pop song, they then released their most popular album, Breakfast in America in March 1979, reaching number 3 in the UK and number 1 in the US; the album has since sold over 18 million copies worldwide.
The duo later split in 1982 over extenuating circumstances (missus trouble) and Hodgson left to pursue a relatively successful solo career, releasing an album in 1984 entitled In the Eye of the Storm, which featured his biggest hit, “Had a Dream (Sleeping With the Enemy)”. Davies continued with Supertramp, releasing Brother Where You Bound which included a 16 minute track on Cold War themes shaped by guitar solos from Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour.
After a number of years hiatus, Davies reformed Supertramp in 1996 (minus Hodgson) to write Some Things Never Change which returned to the earlier Supertramp sound. At the same time Hodgson released his first solo effort in over ten years, named Rites of Passage in March 1977 – a live album which featured a number of Supertramp songs. The two then switched positions, Hodgson releasing a studio album and Davies a live recording of Supertramp. The two continue to record and write separately up to today.
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