Lieutenant Pigeon

Lieutenant Pigeon are a British pop band from Coventry, by their number -one hit " Mouldy Old Dough " enjoyed brief fame, especially in the early 1970s.

2.1 1972
2.2 2006

3.1 Stavely Makepeace
3.2 Lieutenant Pigeon

4.1 External links
4.2 Literature

Band History

Stavely Makepeace

Rob Woodward ( keyboards) and Nigel Fletcher ( drums) were school friends and had made already in the early 1960s music together. When they met again in 1968, they decided to jointly set up a recording studio for demo tapes. Rob's mother, Hilda, trained pianist and piano teacher, introduced to a space in their semi-detached house in Coventry available. A few friends came to it, and the band Stavely Makepeace saw the light of the world.

1969, the group released their debut single " I Wanna Love You Like a Mad Dog " on Pyramid Records. The line-up at this time: Woodward, Fletcher and Don Ker (guitar) and Pete Fisher (bass ). The song was played on the radio, but was not a hit, but is known for having the shortest B- side that there were up to now, namely only 32 seconds of work " Greasy Haired Woman ".

Musical experiments

In 1970, guitarist Steve Tayton the band, who also played woodwind instruments. Bassist Steve Johnson replaced Pete Fisher. The five continued the musical experimentation with the demo recording studio in Hilda's house. In the spring, they released the single " Edna " on Concord Records - again not an official chart hit; but " Edna " did Staveley Makepeace at least the first time on TV ( Top of the Pops ), reaching at least to the hit parade of the Melody Maker ranked 46th Two more singles followed in Concord that left few traces.

One of the B-side was an instrumental piece. Woodward and Fletcher came up with the idea einzuspielen more. This happened with two pianos, bass and drums. But these instrumental pieces should not be running under the band name - the pseudonym Lieutenant Pigeon was invented. The second piano player of this band was Rob's mother, Hilda.

The number -one hit

Woodward / Fletcher turned the recordings on Decca Records. There, liked the idea, and the record company chose " Mouldy Old Dough " as the first single release. The title ( in German: " Gammliger old dough " ) was no significance, only one acoustic association to the " vo -dee -o -do" vocal harmonies of jazz numbers in the 1920s and 1930s. ( " Dough ", however, can also stand for " dough " in the sense of money - the title could have been minted on the then current conversion of UK pound currency to the decimal system. ) In the spring of 1972, the disc came on the market - and no one wanted them. The actions of the main band Staveley Makepeace continued to run in parallel, but also their new single was again no success.

But since the spring of 1972 a Belgian television station " Mouldy Old Dough " was used as the theme song. Thousands wanted this music - the single was released in Belgium in the stores and climbed in the summer in the top ten of the Belgian singles chart. The single has now been re-released in the UK. In September, she was in the top 20 and on October 10, 1972, she climbed the chart summit, where it remained for four weeks.

Also in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and a few more countries came Lieutenant Pigeon in the charts. A total of more than 2,000,000 copies were sold; in the UK was " Mouldy Old Dough " the zweitbestverkaufte Single of the Year in 1972 after " Amazing Grace" by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. Rob Woodward and Nigel Fletcher received for the written piece of them the Ivor Novello Award for songwriting.

Back to Normal

The band did not expose Tour stress the now almost 60 -year-old Hilda, so that live performance has been rather well measured. The follow-up single, "Desperate Dan ", but reached number 17 on the British charts. But that was over; more shots as a remarkable rendition of " I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen ", the number 2 in Australia was no longer managed in the hit parade in the home. However, the band had, especially in the Benelux countries and Australia in the years that loyal fans.

1978, the last original single " Bye Bye Blackbird" was published and Lieutenant Pigeon gave in September 1978 in Luxembourg last concert. Stavely Makepeace also have to 1983 every now and then published discs without going to achieve further success. Fletcher and Rob Woodward devoted themselves afterwards studio productions for the commercial radio.

Hilda Woodward died on 22 February 1999 at the age of 85 years.

Steve Johnson awoke with new musicians the name of Lieutenant Pigeon 1989 to new life. Although Johnson, the band then left again to continue toured a group of that name (without any of the original members) through all the world, to give the old songs. 2001 Rob has joined the band again. Rob is touring in 2006 still with Chris Allen ( formerly The Animals, Denny Laine Band), Simon Van Downham ( ex- Mindbenders, Thin Lizzy ) and Geoff Hammond ( ex- Easybeats, Denny Laine Band). Occasionally, Pete Barton ( ex- Mindbenders ) with times, in 2006 singer of the Animals.

Band Members

1972

Rob ( ert ) Woodward - Keyboards
Steve Johnson - Bass
Nigel Fletcher - Drums
Hilda Woodward - Keyboards

2006

Rob ( ert ) Woodward - Keyboards
Chris Allen - Bass
Simon Van Downham - Guitar
Geoff Hammond - drums

Discography

Stavely Makepeace

I Wanna Love You Like a Mad Dog / Greasy Haired Woman (1969 )
Edna (Let Me Sing My Beautiful Song) / Tarzan Harvey (1970 )