Badfinger

Badfinger was a British rock group. They were first called The Iveys, but renamed themselves after a song title, "Badfinger Boogie", the original title of "With a Little Help From My Friends". The band's members were Peter Ham, Tom Evans, Mike Gibbins and Joey Molland. Badfinger recorded for Apple Records, which was a record label started by The Beatles, Warner Brothers, Elektra Records, and Radio Records.

Their first hit record was "Come And Get It", which was written by Paul McCartney. It appeared in a movie, The Magic Christian. The band followed McCartney's demo closely to make the record. The finished record sounded like a Beatles song. Later they made records that sounded different, and showed the band's own style. Todd Rundgren was the producer of some of their recordings.

Badfinger's other hit records included "No Matter What", "Day After Day", and "Baby Blue". Later they left Apple Records and recorded for Warner Bros. Ham and Evans were the band's main songwriters. One of their songs, "Without You", was recorded by the band, but was not a hit. A later cover version by singer Harry Nilsson became an international hit, and was the first of many such versions. Many recording artists have sung "Without You", including Mariah Carey.

In 1970 Badfinger made an agreement with an American businessman called Stan Polley who promised to help them earn more money. But instead of helping them, Polley kept their money away from them in an account and refused to tell them how to get it out. He also behaved dishonestly toward Warner Bros. Because of his dishonesty, the band's sixth album was removed from shops after being available for only seven weeks, and Warner Bros. refused to release their seventh album. As a result, the band did not earn any money for their hard work, which made Pete Ham feel very depressed. Feeling that he could not be a good husband or father without any money, Ham committed suicide by hanging himself in 1975.

Evans and Molland decided they still wanted to work together. Mike Gibbins, the drummer, wanted to as well, but could not. They found two more musicians to take the place of Ham and Gibbins, and recorded a new album called "Airwaves". They had only one very small hit, but continued to tour. They released another record called "Say No More". This record had cover art by artist Peter Max.

Tom Evans had problems like Ham's, and killed himself (eight years after Ham) in the same way.

References

Category:Musical groups established in 1969
Category:1960s establishments in England
Category:20th-century establishments in Wales
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1975
Category:1970s disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Category:1980s disestablishments in England
Category:Musical groups established in 1978
Category:1978 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:1970s establishments in England
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1984
Category:1984 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Category:1960s British music groups
Category:1970s British music groups
Category:1980s British music groups
Category:British rock bands
Category:1975 disestablishments in Europe