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With Les’s brother, Pete, on drums the group were offered a recording contract in 1968. Les, Rob and Ray decided to turn professional but Pete saw his career elsewhere and left the group. With a vacancy for a drummer the guys called on their mate Dave and the Mud line-up was finalised.
Mud played their first professional gig at the Marquee in 1968 and then released two singles, ‘Flower Power’ and ‘Up The Airy Mountain’ on CBS. Both singles failed to make the charts and the group moved to Philips where they released another couple of singles, ‘Shangri-La’ (1969) and ‘Jumping Jehosaphat’ (1970). While this time they managed to catch the attention of DJs the singles once again failed.
The group continued to gig across the country but after failing to break the charts with two record companies their recording future looked bleak until they came under the wing of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Already flush with success from writing hits for the Sweet and Suzi Quatro, Chinn and Chapman had connected with the Glam image and ethos and were looking for a new group to linkup with. Mud stepped up to the challenge and found themselves not only with new songwriters and management but also a new image, a new record company (RAK) and a new single, ‘Crazy’. Released at the start of 1973 it made it into the top twenty and gave Mud what they had sorely needed – a hit.
The image, however, was still not quite right and after some tweaking they re-emerged at the end of 1973 in teddy-boy outfits (the colours and OTT image suited the Glam genre perfectly) and a more traditional rock and roll sound. With this image their next release was destined to become a hit, ‘Dynamite’ made the top five. In the eyes of the popular music press Mud were an overnight success.
1974 started even better with ‘Tiger Feet’ hitting number one in the charts. This song, with its catchy beat that led to bones being broken in the middle of the North Sea, was to become the biggest selling single of the year. Refusing to rest on their laurels the group followed up with ‘The Cat Crept In’, ‘Rocket’ and their first LP ‘Mud Rock’.
The boys were making the most of their time in the limelight with regular appearances on TV and relentless gigging across the UK and Europe, all they needed was another number one. That came at the end of 1974 as they captured the coveted Christmas number one slot with ‘Lonely This Christmas’.
The following year the group kept up the pace with ‘The Secrets That You Keep’ (top three) and further touring. They also added acting (of a sort) to their repertoire when they featured with the Rubettes and the Glitter Band in ‘You’re Never Too Young To Rock’. The film was never going to set the world on fire but it was an experience and something for the CV! In April 1975 they scored their third and final number one with a reworking of The Crickets 1957 hit ‘Oh Boy’.
The relationship however between the band and Chinn & Chapman was all but over. Another couple of singles were released and a second LP but realistically the band was just working its time out.
The split with Chinn, Chapman & RAK was marked by an addition to the Mud line-up when they brought in Andy Ball on keyboards. Their first single on their new label (Private Stock) was ‘L-L-Lucy’ and it made the top ten in October 1975. This was closely followed by ‘Show Me You’re A Woman’ hitting the top ten in November. Mud had shown they that didn’t have to rely on ChinniChap to make hit records.
The end of chart success was however in sight. Punk was on the horizon and Mud’s goodtime rock style didn’t fit in with the changing musical agenda. While they managed two chart hits during 1976 it was obvious that Mud’s time in the spotlight had ended.
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