Supertramp

Supertramp, are an English rock band formed in London during 1969. Though their music was initially categorised as progressive rock, they later incorporated a combination of traditional rock, pop and art rock into their music. The group’s music is known for the individual song-writing of founders Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies and the prominent use of Wurlitzer electric piano and saxophone. Though their early style was progressive, they had greater success when they incorporated more radio-friendly pop elements into their work during the mid-1970s, going on to sell more than 60 million albums. The band reached their commercial peak with 1979’s Breakfast in America, which sold more than 20 million copies. Supertramp were popular in the UK, US, Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Australasia. Davies has led the group by himself ever since the departure of co-founder Hodgson, during 1983. Stanley ’Sam’ August Miesegaes, a Dutch millionaire, had stopped financially supporting a band called The Joint during 1969, having become disillusioned with them. Sam offered Swindon-born keyboardist Rick Davies, whose talent he felt had been 'bogged down' by the group, the opportunity to form his own band, again with Miesegaes’s financial backing. Davies recruited Roger Hodgson (bass and vocals), Richard Palmer (guitars and vocals), and Keith Baker (percussion), after placing an ad in the weekly music newspaper, Melody Maker.Davies and Hodgson had radically different backgrounds and musical inspirations, Davies having been working class and fiercely devoted to blues and jazz, while Hodgson had gone straight from private school into the music business, being a fan of pop. Despite this, they got on well during the auditions, beginning writing virtually all of the band’s songs together, with Palmer as a third writer. Hodgson and Davies collaborated on the songwriting, while Palmer composed the lyrics.The group named themselves 'Daddy' at first, Baker having soon been replaced by former stage actor Robert Millar (b. 1950), then after several months of rehearsal at a country house in West Hythe, Kent, the band flew to Munich for a series of concerts at the P. N. Club. A 10-minute performance of 'All Along The Watchtower' was filmed there by Haro Senft for Supertramp Portrait 1970. The rehearsals had been unproductive, with their initial repertoire having comprised only 4 songs, 2 of which were covers.