Blue Mink
Blue
Mink was formed in London in 1969 by a group of Britain's top
session musicians with the sole intention of recording an album of
instrumental tracks they had written together.
But when songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway composed Melting
Pot the instrumental ideals of the band were abandoned in favour
of a fuller vocal sound.
The intention, though, was still to be purely a studio band.
Melting Pot was released in Autumn 1969 and within weeks
had reached Number 3 in the British charts. They followed the
single with a barrage of original hits including Good Morning
Freedom, Banner Man, Stay With Me, Our World,
By The Devil and Randy. With so many hits, it was
inevitable that the band would abandon their 'studio band' concept
and start performing live.
Roger Coulam left the band in April 1973 to return to session
work and was replaced by Ann Odell. The group were augmented for a
large-scale American tour by percussionist Ray Cooper. The group
disbanded in 1975 at the top of their game.
Roger Cook returned to song writing, Parker and Morgan returned
to session work and became two of the most respected musicians in
the UK, and Herbie Flowers dabbled with a solo career and played
in the successful classical-rock band Sky.
Madeline Bell worked extensively as a solo singer, primarily on
the international cabaret circuit.
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