Alan Price
(born 19 April 1942, Fatfield, Sunderland, 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 contributed 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 appearances with artists such as The Manfreds.
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ALAN PRICE TICKETS
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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).
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.
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.
The Electric Blues Company and Bobby Tench
Since 1994 Price's backing band
The Electric Blues Company
has had a line up of guitarist and vocalist
Bobby Tench, Keyboardist
Zoot Money, bassist Peter Grant and drummer Martin Wilde. This lineup recorded two albums with Price and the band was still active in 2009.
A Gigster's Life for Me
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".
2000-present
Price still tours the
UK with his own band and with
The Manfreds,
The Searchers and
The Hollies.
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".
Film appearances
- Britannia Hospital
, Soundtrack
- Alfie Darling
(1975), Alfie Elkins, Soundtrack
- O Lucky Man!
(1973), Alan, Soundtrack
- Don't Look Back
(1967), Himself
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
Awards
- 1974: Golden Globe for O Lucky Man!
- Nomination
- 1974: Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music for O Lucky Man
Notes
- Alan Price
- Olympic Studios
- A Gigster's Life for Me
References
- Alan Price
- Olympic Studios
- A Gigster's Life for Me