Smokie were indeed a Bradford band. My brother went to school with 'em at St. Bedes. They were once called the Elizabethans coz they wore ruffled collars. Nice!

The 'famous' line-up was...

Chris Norman - Lead Vocals
Alan Silson - Guitar
Terry Utley - Bass
Pete Spencer - Drums

Chris, Alan and Terry were all at school with our kid and Pete came from Leeds. When they released their first album 'Pass it Around' the spelling was 'Smokey' but they changed it to 'Smokie' to avoid any confusion with Smokey Robinson.

I saw them play live a number of times in the mid 70s when they were just hitting the charts. They did a blinding gig supporting Pilot at Leeds Town Hall in 1975. Personally I thought their own songs were stronger than Chinn/Chapman covers they did.

Living Next Door to Alice was orginally recorded by New World in 1973 and was by no means Smokie's best effort, although perhaps the one song that people remember them by.

If you need to know more there's loads on Wikipedia.

Not really what you'd call a folk thread but they influenced me and probably many other musicians starting out in the 70's. They could sing and they could play. Now there's a thing!


Gerry :-)