A
Adcock, Bob
A friend of Joey Molland's who recommended Rob Strawinsky to replace Mike Gibbins on a US tour in 1972
Aharony, Danny
D.A. was Badfinger’s US your-manager in 1972-73. He often encouraged Badfinger to do more originals and reduce the long jammings. D.A. Is qouted in The Badfinger Biography; “ Joey was always with his wife - There was no real spark there. She seemed to be a really disruptive force to the guys. It was always; “Joey should have a more prominent role” or “Joey should get to do this””.
Allen, Adam
A.A. was Badfinger guitarist in 1982 ( Badfinger line-up # 8 ). Bootleg videos exist of the “Adam Allen line-up” from a TV programme called “Shock Theater”
Anderson, Derrick
Anderson played some overdubs for "7 Park Avenue" and "Golders Green"
Anderson, Roy
R.A. was a member of some of Pete Ham pre-Iveys bands in Swansea in 1962-63
Asher, Peter
P.A. was one half of the duo “Peter and Gordon” who were given original Lennon/McCartney songs to record. Most succesfull were “World Without Love” and “Nobody I Know”. In 1968 Asher was the Apple head of A. & R.
Asher took the photo for "Maybe Tomorrow"
Aspinall, Neil
Apple’s Neil Aspinall came up with “Badfinger” as a new name for The Iveys in September 1969. He got the idea from an old Lennon thing called “Bad Finger Boogoe” ( which later developed in “With a Little help From My Friends”. In 1973 N.A. was head of Apple Music Publishing.
B
Bell, Nicky
N.B. was Badfinger-roadie in 1970-73. Nicky has said about Badfinger’s live performances; “They were as capable of jamming as anyone . . . Their songwriting style wasn’t in vogue.” N.B. on Bill Collins; “Bill suffocated them ( Badfinger ). He would say”We are a family, you’re the boys. I’m the father.”” In 1973 Nicky Bell left Badfinger to pursue a musical career.
Beresford Cooke, Tony
A BBC filmmaker who made a promo film for Badfinger’s “Love Is Easy“ - single. He also shot the back-cover photo on “Ass”. He was a close friend of Tom Evans.
Berry, Mike
M.B. was a young publishing promo man who came across The Iveys around 1967. M.B. has said on Tom Evans; “Tom was one of the greatest I ever met in this business. He was funny. He was cheeky. He was ambitious. He was what rock’n roll was all about.” Later Berry came to work for Apple Music Ltd.
Boyle, Tim
T.B. was a booking agent who helped The Iveys a lot getting gigs in the early days. Later he became a very close friend of the band. He shot film footage that was used for a TV promotion film for “No Matter What”. On the second Badfinger US tour he worked as a roadie for them. It was Boyle who arranged Badfinger’s contact with the Clearwell Castle and he also came to live there himself for a period. He helped building a small studio in the basement there. Marianne Evans on Tim Boyle; “If there was one person that really understood Tom, it was Tim Boyle.” In 1972 T.B. helped Mike Gibbins getting som of his songs recorded by a collection of Welsh musicians.
Branwell, Tony
T.B. was an Apple promotion man.
Bronson, Harold
He was a Rolling Stone correspondent who did interview and features with Badfinger in 1971. Later Bronson became president of Rhino Records. Bronson was present at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards in 1994. H.B; “I’d been thinking about going over to say “Hello”, but when I saw the two surviving members and Bill went up to collect awards for writing “Without You”, I was taken aback. I was thinking. “Are they robbing the grave here?””
Brown, Bernard
He was head of Apple Music Publishing in 1973.
Bryans, Richard
Drummer and Badfinger member in 1980-81. He played on the “Say No More” album.
Pete’s American girlfriend in 1971/72. Pete wrote “Baby Blue” about her
In 1973 Duryea was hired by Stan Polley to be his assistant to help managing Badfinger; getting them bookings in studios etc. He was close to the band during the Caribou recordings for “Wish You Were Here” and later also during the “Head First” recordings. D. claims the Pete Ham called him the night before his suicide telling him that he needed money and that he could not reach Stan Polley.
Beverley was Pete’s girlfriend from the early Iveys days till 1971.They stayed friends throughout Pete’s lifetime. He wrote several songs to and about her; among them “Without You”, “Sille Veb” and “Day After Day”. B. admired Pete for his determination to make it in the music business. “Pete spent more time in the studio than anyone”. She was very close to Pete and his songwriting from, and he often played his new songs to her before anyone else. She lived with the band at 7 Park Avenue and later she moved in with Joey and Kathie Molland. Beverley has said on Kathie, “She seemed to take Joey’s glory as her own.”
Emerick worked at the Abbey Road studios from about 1962; for as a tape operator and later on as engineer. He worked with George Martin and The Beatles on all their albums, except possibly "Help"
Emerick always wanted to produce music himself and his first opportunity came with Badfinger in 1970. He was chosen to produce their first album with Joey Molland. These session had already begun with Mal Evans, but most of the "No Dice" album was produced by Emerick. In 1971 E. also produced the follow-up album with Badfinger which to this date has not been released in full. The album which usually is referred to as "The Original Straight Up" contained still unreleased gems such as "Sing For The Song" and "Baby Please". Most of the songs from the album have been released as bonus-tracks on the CD-reissues of "No Dice" and "Straight Up".
After his work with Badfinger Emerick has produced albums for artists as Tommy Keene and Elvis Costello ( Imperial Bedroom ).
Evans, Bob
Around 1981/82 guitarist and songwriter Bob Evans worked with Tom Evans, Mike Gibbins and a couple of unknown musicians. They rehearsed for a short while at his house and they actually performed a few times as Badfinger; not very succesfully. Evans had taped some of these performances and recently he has released a double CD called "The Badfinger Anthology Vol. 1 and 2." This release has caused some controversy because of the songwriting credits given on this CD - Bob has given himself co-writer credit to some of Tom Evans' songs. It is also doubtful that Evans has the legal rights to sell and release stuff as "Badfinger". On a cassette tape that is part of this "Anthology" Bob Evans explains his version of Badfinger-history - some of his statements there are obviously not true; this may be due to bad memory or wild imagination from Evans' side.
Evans has been in bands called "Straight Up" and "Export E" and there is no doubt that he has some songwritings skills. He is also a great fan of Badfinger who really wishes he had been part of the band - and to some very small degree he actually has been so. I think most fans consider him a bit of a farce.
Evans, Mal
In 1975 Evans was killed by the police under influece of drugs and holding a Winchester replica rifle in his hands. This was a tragic unneccesary misunderstanding.
Evans, Marianne
M.E. was the wife of Tom Evans and the mother of their son Stephen. Marianne had known Tom since around 1968; and she came to live with the “Badfinger-family” on 7 Park Avenue. In 1972 she and Tom moved together in a house in Surrey. In May 1973 she married Tom Evans.
Evans, Tom
Tom Evans was a founder member of Badfinger. He was born on June 5, 1947 in Liverpool. He had been in various bands before he joined The Iveys in 1967 to replace guitarist Dai Jenkins. He had a marvelous voice and sang a lot of The Iveys’ material. During his time with The Iveys, and later with Badfinger, T.E. developed a great abilty to write melodic pop/rock songs. He wrote or co-wrote many Badfinger favourites like “Without You”, “When I Say” and “Blind Owl”. He also wrote The Iveys’ first single “Maybe Tomorrow” and he continued to write songs throughout his lifetime. Hopefully more of his unknown recordings will be released in the future. In 1993 a collection of some of his last recordings was released (“Over You”) on Marianne Evans and Tom’s old friend Rod Roach’s initiatives. Roach had co-written some of the songs with Tom and he also did some overdubs on some of the recordings before their release. This is a terrific album really showing Tom’s ability to both write and sing catchy pop ballads and great power pop/rock tunes. During his last years ( 1981-83 ) Tom had been in various strong versions of Badfinger, but none of them made it to record an album after “Say No More” in 1981. In November 1983 Tom Evans took his own life and with him the hope of seeing a succesful Badfinger again died. With both Pete Ham and Tom Evans gone there could be no real Badfinger. Fortunately Mike Gibbins, Ron Grifftihs, Joey Molland, Bob Jackson and other previous Badfinger members have continued to make good music; but it’s not been “Badfinger-music”.
Garrick, David
Britsih pop-singer who had a few minor hits in the 60’s. The Iveys backed him on live-performances for a short period in 1966.
Gibbins, Gaynor
G.G. is the ex-wife of Mike Gibbins. She was a friend of Sue Wing’s who knew The Iveys through working at a booking office in Swansea. In 1970 she married Mike Gibbins. She lived with the band at 7 Park Avenue, where Pete often would play his new songs for her to hear her opinion about them. For a period in 1971 she moved with Badfinger to Clearwell Castle. Gaynor; “It was such a nice place. There was the outdoor life, the band could unwind, they had their studio they were building in the basement. I had my child there; it was a great place for kids. We had a great time.” Gaynor became a very close friend of Pete Ham’s. Gaynor on Pete; “ He was like a big brother. He really cared. He loved to joke around. He’d hide my clothes, or I’d be cooking and ingredients would come up missing; he’d swap salt for sugar. Pete and I didn’t really party or do drugs as often as the others did. Pete was as good as it gets, an absolute wonderful man. He loved his family, his friends, he was great with kids, a true gentleman. I’ve never stopped
thinking about him. When I think of Pete, I think of the guitar being an extension.”
Gleason, Terry
Drummer with Pete Ham’s early band “The Wild Ones”. Later he was in the first version of The Iveys till he was replaced by Mike Gibbins
Griffiths, Ron
R.G. was bassist in The Iveys and on the first Badfinger album “Magic Christian Music”.
Ron was born on October 2, 1946 in Swansea. He replaced bassist John Horrel in Pete Ham’s band “The Wild Ones” in 1965. They shortly thereafter change the name to “The Iveys”. Like the rest of the Iveys members Ron wrote songs, but not nearly as many as Pete and Tom. His most well-known and popular song is “Dear Angie” from “Maybe Tomorrow” and “Magic Christian Music”; but there are several of his songs recorded that remain unreleased. In June 1969 he married June Griffiths. During the recordings of “Magic Christian Music” Ron was ill for a period and he missed the opportunity to sing on Pete’s “Midnight Sun”; a song Ron had sung on earlier occasions. Shortly after Ron left Badfinger as both he and some of the others felt that he could not combine being a married man and father of a newborn child with being part of a popular pop/rock act like Badfinger. Ron has said about Pete Ham;” I think if Pete had lived, he would’ve become known as one of our all-time great songwriters.”
Hall, David “Tag”
D.H. was Badfinger roadie from early 1973. During Pete Ham’s last years he and David played some tennis together. David recalls that Pete “was taking his frustrations out on the court.” After Pete’s death he D.H. has said about him; “ Pete Ham was a fantastic person. He was a very gentle person, very even tempered. He’d get frustrated when things didn’t go right, but he’d never snap at you - He liked to joke and laugh - when the time was right - but then he would go deep inside . . . He cared about everybody. As far as I’m concerned he was like a saint.” About Joey Molland “Tag” has said; Joey was a stereotypical Liverpool person. A very dry sense of humour.”
Ham, Pete
P.H. was guitarist, pianoplayer, singer, composer and founding member of both The Iveys and Badfinger. He was born on April 27, 1947 in Swansea. From an early age music was Pete’s passion. He played in various amateur bands from around 1961; this eventually developed into The Iveys. Pete had an extraordinary talent for writing songs and he wrote numerous from 1965 and throughout his short lifetime. His talent was unquestionable on the same level as recognized writers as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Carole King etc. Pete Ham was also an extremely gifted guitarist and he had an unforgettable voice. Pete wrote 3 of Badfinger’s hitsingles and co-wrote the classic “Without You” with Tom Evans.
Obviously The Iveys and later Badfinger could not nearly record all Pete’s songs, even though many of them were much superior to some of the material they did record. The group’s democratic ideals demanded that all bandmembers should be allowed to contribute to their albums - and all member did have a talent for songwriting. This meant that a lot of Pete’s song were left unrecorded or unfinished. Fortunately many songs have been rediscovered and released by producer Dan Matovina who compiled the first Pete Ham album “7 Park Avenue” in 1997 and the second “Golders Green” in 1999. Matovina has stated that there is enough quality material for more albums in the future.
By 1974/75 when things had begun to go wrong both commercially and financially Pete Ham grew more and more depressed and he lost his faith in the future. In April 1975 he committed suicide by hanging himself in his garage. Everybody who knew him remembers him as an unusually great person. Words like caring, thoughtful, good, extremely talented, a genuine and beautiful soul, a true gentleman, “great with kids” are often chosen to describe Pete Ham’s personality.