Biography
During the opening years of the 1970s Eric Stewart ranked among the leading figures on England’s pop and rock landscape, sharing that prominence with his 10cc colleagues Graham Gouldman, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme. Eric Michael Stewart entered the world in early 1945 in Droylsden, just outside Manchester, and first took up the guitar in the opening stretch of the 1960s as a member of Jerry Lee & the Staggerlees, the outfit that later adopted the name Emperors of Rhythm. For the next two years Stewart remained active throughout Manchester’s club circuit until an unforeseen opportunity suddenly altered his path. Early in 1963 he happened to be present at the Oasis club in Manchester on the evening when local vocalist Wayne Fontana was due to audition before a record-company scout, only to discover that his drummer and guitarist had not shown up. Stewart and drummer Ric Rothwell stepped in as replacements, enabling Fontana to secure a contract on the condition that the musicians who had accompanied him that night remain part of the lineup. Although the proposed name the Jets proved unavailable, the participants, drawing inspiration from a contemporary British film title, settled instead on the Mindbenders. Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders spent a period attempting to gain traction, yet their fourth single, “Stop, Look and Listen,” finally generated sales, while their fifth, “Um Um Um Um Um Um,” climbed into the Top Five. Their sixth release, “The Game of Love,” attained the number-two position in England and the number-one spot in America during the spring of 1965.
Success proved a mixed experience for Stewart. The frenzied American audiences that surrounded the band struck him as overwhelming and at times frightening, while the B-sides of two singles had already demonstrated his and his bandmates’ songwriting ability, prompting him to favor studio work over constant touring. He also disliked the label-driven move away from the group’s original R&B style toward pop ballads. In late 1965 the Mindbenders parted ways with Fontana and carried on without him, with Stewart assuming lead-vocal duties. Despite strong albums and an appearance in the successful film To Sir with Love, momentum faded, and by 1968 the band found itself accepting cabaret bookings, the final resort for fading acts. Stewart’s subsequent departure brought the group to an end.
That same summer Stewart accepted an invitation from producer and manager Peter Tattersall to become a partner in Inner City Studios, a modest facility in Stockport where he had already been cutting demos. The operation soon relocated to larger premises that Stewart christened Strawberry Studios after the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Later in the year Graham Gouldman, already an established songwriter and formerly a member of the Mockingbirds as well as the Mindbenders’ last bassist, joined as another partner. Shortly afterward producer Giorgio Gomelsky approached Stewart about supplying lead guitar for the duo of Lol Creme and Kevin Godley. Stewart and Gouldman began offering the pair regular session work at Strawberry Studios, and the four musicians soon found themselves working together as partners.
December 1969 brought a deal with American producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz of Super K Productions, specialists in bubblegum material, arranged to generate revenue and upgrade the studio. For three months Stewart, Godley, Creme, and Gouldman wrote and recorded under various Super K-owned names, including the Ohio Express and Crazy Elephant. Stewart, Godley, and Creme also issued the two-million-selling single “Neanderthal Man” on the Pye label under the alias Hotlegs, after which they toured briefly with the Moody Blues, an engagement that yielded no further opportunities. A subsequent series of sessions for Neil Sedaka persuaded the four musicians—Gouldman having returned from his own American work with Super K—that they possessed a distinctive collective sound, leading directly to the formation of 10cc. The quartet quickly captured the attention of the rock press and, across the four-year span from 1972 through 1976, ranked among England’s most discussed pop and rock acts, issuing numerous hit singles and albums that reached listeners worldwide. Godley and Creme departed in 1976, yet Stewart and Gouldman continued as a potent songwriting partnership. From the moment of the split Stewart also established himself as a producer, overseeing projects for Justin Hayward and John Lodge of the Moody Blues, among them their single “Blue Guitar,” as well as for Neil Sedaka and for Agnetha Faltskog during her post-ABBA years. An automobile accident in early 1979 briefly threatened his emerging solo path, yet he recovered and, while continuing to produce other artists, issued two solo albums in the early 1980s—Girls in 1980 and Frooty Rooties in 1982—before the release of Do Not Bend in 2003 after more than two decades. Stewart’s fourth solo album, Viva la Difference, appeared in January 2009.
Success proved a mixed experience for Stewart. The frenzied American audiences that surrounded the band struck him as overwhelming and at times frightening, while the B-sides of two singles had already demonstrated his and his bandmates’ songwriting ability, prompting him to favor studio work over constant touring. He also disliked the label-driven move away from the group’s original R&B style toward pop ballads. In late 1965 the Mindbenders parted ways with Fontana and carried on without him, with Stewart assuming lead-vocal duties. Despite strong albums and an appearance in the successful film To Sir with Love, momentum faded, and by 1968 the band found itself accepting cabaret bookings, the final resort for fading acts. Stewart’s subsequent departure brought the group to an end.
That same summer Stewart accepted an invitation from producer and manager Peter Tattersall to become a partner in Inner City Studios, a modest facility in Stockport where he had already been cutting demos. The operation soon relocated to larger premises that Stewart christened Strawberry Studios after the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Later in the year Graham Gouldman, already an established songwriter and formerly a member of the Mockingbirds as well as the Mindbenders’ last bassist, joined as another partner. Shortly afterward producer Giorgio Gomelsky approached Stewart about supplying lead guitar for the duo of Lol Creme and Kevin Godley. Stewart and Gouldman began offering the pair regular session work at Strawberry Studios, and the four musicians soon found themselves working together as partners.
December 1969 brought a deal with American producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz of Super K Productions, specialists in bubblegum material, arranged to generate revenue and upgrade the studio. For three months Stewart, Godley, Creme, and Gouldman wrote and recorded under various Super K-owned names, including the Ohio Express and Crazy Elephant. Stewart, Godley, and Creme also issued the two-million-selling single “Neanderthal Man” on the Pye label under the alias Hotlegs, after which they toured briefly with the Moody Blues, an engagement that yielded no further opportunities. A subsequent series of sessions for Neil Sedaka persuaded the four musicians—Gouldman having returned from his own American work with Super K—that they possessed a distinctive collective sound, leading directly to the formation of 10cc. The quartet quickly captured the attention of the rock press and, across the four-year span from 1972 through 1976, ranked among England’s most discussed pop and rock acts, issuing numerous hit singles and albums that reached listeners worldwide. Godley and Creme departed in 1976, yet Stewart and Gouldman continued as a potent songwriting partnership. From the moment of the split Stewart also established himself as a producer, overseeing projects for Justin Hayward and John Lodge of the Moody Blues, among them their single “Blue Guitar,” as well as for Neil Sedaka and for Agnetha Faltskog during her post-ABBA years. An automobile accident in early 1979 briefly threatened his emerging solo path, yet he recovered and, while continuing to produce other artists, issued two solo albums in the early 1980s—Girls in 1980 and Frooty Rooties in 1982—before the release of Do Not Bend in 2003 after more than two decades. Stewart’s fourth solo album, Viva la Difference, appeared in January 2009.
Albums
