Thunderclap Newman
John "Speedy" Keen was an old crony of The Who (he had
been Keith Moon's chauffeur and "Man Friday") and had
written Armenia City In The Sky, which appeared on The
Who Sell Out LP.
The unlikely Andy Newman - an old acquaintance of Pete
Townshend from art school - played terrific pub-style piano
and looked much like a GPO engineer - which he was.
16-year-old Jimmy McCulloch was spotted by Townshend in
an obscure Scottish band.
Townshend matched McCulloch with Speedy Keen in a new group
named after its pianist, Thunderclap Newman (although Kit
Lambert - The Who's manager at the time - proposed naming
the trio My Favourite Freaks) and this combination
created the now-classic single, Something In The Air - with
Townshend on production duties and uncredited bass (he worked
under the pseudonym 'Bijou Drains').
Their sole album - Hollywood Dream - delivered
the goods in a similar fashion, fuelled by Keen's reedy vocals
and Newman's charming honky-tonk piano (with production
assistance again from Townshend).
With their initial recording success, pressure was put on
Thunderclap Newman to tour Britain, but even though they
augmented the line-up with Jim Pitman-Avory and Jack McCulloch
(Jimmy's brother) for live engagements, they could never hope to
reproduce their studio sound live on stage.
Consequently, concerts were a huge disappointment - which
helped hasten the band's demise.
Three more singles followed - Accidents, The
Reason, and Wild Country - before the band called
it a day.
Andy Newman and John Keen both later recorded well-received
solo albums, while Jimmy McCulloch found recording and
performing success with Stone The Crows and as a member
of Paul McCartney's post-Beatles group, Wings, before
dying of heart complications due to a heroin overdose in 1979 at
the age of 26.
Keen produced albums for Motörhead and Johnny
Thunders and the Heartbreakers, He died unexpectedly at the
age of 56 on 12 March 2002.
Andy Newman continues to perform occasionally as Thunderclap
Newman.
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