Fact #117452
When:
Short story:
Local music biz manager and musician Jim Simpson starts a weekly blues club, Henry's Blues House, in The Crown pub, Birmingham, England, UK, Europe. Earth play on the opening night. Their vocalist is Ozzy Osbourne, and they will soon re-name themselves Black Sabbath.
Full article:
Jim Simpson : The blues boom was coming to an end, really, too many blues bands playing the same songs. Anyway, they wanted to get a foot on the ladder, so I rented a room upstairs in a pub called The Crown and put a blues night on every Tuesday night, called Henry's Blues House, with Bakerloo as the resident band. They started to take off quite quickly, so I started booking other bands in, all the obvious ones, Status Quo, Ten Years After, Jethro Tull, Rory Gallagher, but we also got American acts like Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup.
On the very first night, Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne (later to form Black Sabbath) joined as members. They came along most weeks and we chatted about their band, which was called Earth, and they asked if they could maybe do an opening spot. So I put them on with Ten Years After, and they sounded great, so we put them on a few more times and then they asked if I would manage them.
I guess I was the obvious choice. I was enjoying the fruits of having had a hit with my own band, Locomotive, who were the only big band out of Birmingham at the time, and I was running the venue.
Henry's got a name as being the first progressive music venue outside London, even though we were regressing to the blues.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black)
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On the very first night, Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne (later to form Black Sabbath) joined as members. They came along most weeks and we chatted about their band, which was called Earth, and they asked if they could maybe do an opening spot. So I put them on with Ten Years After, and they sounded great, so we put them on a few more times and then they asked if I would manage them.
I guess I was the obvious choice. I was enjoying the fruits of having had a hit with my own band, Locomotive, who were the only big band out of Birmingham at the time, and I was running the venue.
Henry's got a name as being the first progressive music venue outside London, even though we were regressing to the blues.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black)