Supertramp Biography

Supertramp is a British Art Rock and pop band that had a series of top-selling albums in the 1970s.

Their early music included ambitious concept albums, but they are best known for their later, somewhat Beatlesque pop songs, including "Dreamer", "Goodbye Stranger", "Give a Little Bit" and "The Logical Song". Despite chart success, the band never attained superstardom in the UK (although they did in Canada, the United States and the rest of Europe); it was remarked at the height of their popularity that Supertramp was the best-selling group in the world whose members could walk down any street and not be recognised.

Original members:

Backed by a Dutch millionaire named Stanley August Miesegaes, vocalist and pianist Rick Davies (born July 22, 1944 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England) used newspaper advertising to recruit an early version of the band in 1969, an effort which brought aboard vocalist/guitarist and keyboardist Roger Hodgson (born March 21, 1950 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England). Other members of this embryonic Supertramp group included Richard Palmer (guitar, balalaika, vocals) and Robert Millar (percussion, harmonica). Initially, Roger Hodgson sang and played bass guitar (and on the side, guitar, keyboards, cello and flageolet).

The first album Supertramp, although very interesting musically, proved a commercial disappointment. Desperate to achieve success, Davies and Hodgson changed their style and lineup for the next album. Frank Farrell (bass), Kevin Currie (percussion) and Dave Winthrop (flute and saxophone) replaced Millar and Palmer, Roger Hodgson switched to guitar and the new album Indelibly Stamped featured rocking Beatlesque tunes, a more commercial approach and eye-catching cover artwork. Supertramp had established themselves as a "cult" band. Sales, however, did not improve much, which lost them the support of Miesegaes and caused another re-shuffling of the band. Hodgson and Davies were back at square one. In fact, Supertramp briefly disbanded.

After being persuaded to carry on, Davies and Hodgson went on an extensive search for replacements to be brought aboard in Dougie Thomson (born March 24, 1951 in Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland) (bass), Bob Siebenberg (born October 31, 1949 in Glendale, California, USA, drums, and often credited as Bob C. Benberg), and John Helliwell (born February 15, 1945 in Todmorden, Yorkshire, England) (saxophone, other woodwinds, occasional keyboards, backing vocals), joining original members Davies and Hodgson, completing the line-up that would create the group's defining albums.

Crime of the Century, released in 1974, began the group's run of critical and commercial successes, hitting number four in England, supported by the top-10 single "Dreamer". Its B-side "Bloody Well Right" hit the US Top 40 in May 1975. Siebenberg would later note that he thought the band hit its artistic peak on this, their third album, though their greatest commercial success would come later.

The band continued its run with Crisis? What Crisis? (1975) and Even in the Quietest Moments (1977). During this period, the band eventually relocated to the United States and moved steadily from the progressive styles of their early albums towards a more song-oriented, pop sound.

This trend reached its zenith on their most popular album, Breakfast in America (1979), which reached Number 3 in the UK and Number 1 in the United States and spawned four successful singles, "The Logical Song", "Take the Long Way Home", "Goodbye Stranger" and "Breakfast in America". The album has since sold over 18 million copies worldwide.

The run of successes was capped with 1980's Paris, a 2-LP live album, in which the band stated its goal of improving on the studio versions of their songs. Interestingly, instead of focusing on songs from the hugely successful Breakfast in America, it included nearly every song from Crime of the Century, another testament to the importance of that album in the group's development.

Hodgson and Davies' differing singing and songwriting styles provided these albums with an interesting counterpoint, contrasting Davies' determined blues-rockers and songs of broken relationships ("Another Man's Woman", "From Now On", "Goodbye Stranger") with Hodgson's wistful introspection ("Dreamer", "School", "Fool's Overture", "The Logical Song"), but Hodgson felt constrained by the arrangement and left the band after the tour for their next album, ...Famous Last Words... (1982) which contained the Top 20 hit "It's Raining Again" and the Top 40 hit "My Kind of Lady". In an interview in the 90s, Roger stated that one of the main reasons he left the band was not so much his not getting along with Rick Davies; but his wife at the time and Rick's wife did not get along at all. It ended up causing so much tension for them and the band, he decided it would be better if he left Supertramp!

Having left the band in 1983 Hodgson immediately began a solo career, his biggest hit "Had A Dream (Sleeping With the Enemy)" coming from his first solo album In the Eye of the Storm, in 1984.

The Davies-led Supertramp soldiered on, releasing Brother Where You Bound the same year. This included a Top 30 hit single, "Cannonball", along with the title track, a 16-minute exposition on Cold War themes highlighted by guitar solos from Pink Floyd's David Gilmour; the album reached #21 on the US charts. 1987's Free as a Bird included more straightforward Davies rockers, including "I'm Beggin' You", which reached Number 1 on the US dance charts, a curious accomplishment for an "art rock" band.

After 1987's tour, Thomson left the band due to a strong disagreement with Davies about the use of Hodgson-penned songs during live performances: these songs were usually sung by Crowded House's Mark Hart (Hodgson's replacement on stage), and the Scottish bass player was firmly against this move. When Supertramp reunited in 1997, Thomson declined an invitation to return and eventually quit playing for good.

By then, Supertramp were actually disbanded, though releasing two successful compilations in the early 1990s.

In 1993, Davies and Hodgson tried to bring the band back together, but this attempt failed after Hodgson's final withdrawal.

In 1997, Davies finally managed to re-form Supertramp with former members Helliwell, Siebenberg, and Hart and a bunch of new musicians. The result was Some Things Never Change, a polished effort which echoed the earlier Supertramp sound.

Early 2002 saw the release of another album, Slow Motion.