01 / The Story
The Family Band that Leicester Sent Out
A journey through time, in the years the band itself marked out.
The family rock band people search for as the family band were a family only in the sense that the name stuck: a producer called Kim Fowley thought the five of them dressed like mafiosos and said so, and the group that had been The Farinas since 1962 kept the word. They came out of Leicester in 1966, and within a year they had a singles deal, a drummer who had already walked out, and a direction nobody in the band fully agreed on.
What followed is one of the stranger runs in English rock. Roger Chapman sang blues and R&B phrasing over arrangements carrying saxophone, violin, cello and flute; the band changed bassist four times and keyboard player twice; and they still charted seven times in six years. The family group played the Royal Albert Hall months after their debut album, Hyde Park in front of a quarter of a million people, and the Isle of Wight in 1970 to an audience bigger than Woodstock.
1966
Leicester
The Farinas come apart and the same players regroup as Family. Producer Kim Fowley suggests the name - he thought their clothes made them look like mafiosos.
1967
First single
“Scene Through The Eye of a Lens / Gypsy Woman”, on a deal with Liberty Records. It goes nowhere. Ovenall leaves; Townsend takes the drum stool.
1968
Music in a Doll’s House
The debut lands at No. 35 and the reviews are excellent. In July the band plays the Royal Albert Hall, supporting Tim Hardin on a bill with Pink Floyd, The Nice, Soft Machine and The Move.
1969
America, and Hyde Park
Family Entertainment reaches No. 6. The first US tour goes wrong - Grech leaves mid-tour for Blind Faith, a microphone stand finds the Fillmore East promoter, and Chapman’s voice gives out. Two weeks later they play the Stones’ Hyde Park concert to a quarter of a million people.
1970
The peak
A Song for Me reaches No. 4, the highest they ever charted. They play Kralingen in the Netherlands, then the Isle of Wight on 28 August - an audience of 600,000 to 700,000, and the set includes “The Weaver’s Answer”. Anyway follows before the year is out.
1971
Fearless
Old Songs New Songs in March. Weider leaves for Stud and John Wetton, who has just turned down King Crimson, replaces him. Glastonbury’s second edition, then Fearless in September - the first Family record to chart in America.
1972
Bandstand
Wetton changes his mind about King Crimson and Jim Cregan comes in. The band supports Elton John across America to a cool reception, Palmer leaves, Tony Ashton arrives, and Bandstand closes the year.
1973
The last night
It’s Only a Movie is released and largely ignored. Family play their final concert on 13 October at the Hawthorn Building, Leicester Polytechnic - seven years and a few hundred yards from where they started.
2013
Shepherd’s Bush
Chapman, Palmer, Townsend and Cregan announce one reunion night at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire. It sells out fast enough that they add the evening before, and they keep playing until 2016.
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