Jigsaw

Jigsaw, a British pop ensemble, achieved their greatest commercial traction during the mid-1970s thanks largely to the worldwide success of “Sky High.” The band took its name from Manchester’s Jigsaw Club nightclub and was assembled in 1966 in Coventry and Rugby by guitarist Tony Campbell. In their earliest incarnation the quartet operated as a high-energy rock outfit famous for theatrical stage stunts that included fire-eating, detonating amplifiers, and setting drum kits ablaze; by the start of the following decade they had shifted emphasis toward concise, radio-oriented pop. Alongside Campbell and bassist Barrie Bernard, the principal songwriters were Clive Scott on keyboards and vocals together with Des Dyer on vocals and drums; the pair scored their first notable credit by writing Candlewick Green’s 1974 hit “Who Do You Think You Are.” Jigsaw recorded their own version for the fourth album, I’ve Seen the Film, I’ve Read the Book, yet the track was never released as a single and consequently did not chart. After parting ways with BASF Records, the group signed with Splash Records, the independent British label established by their manager and producer Chas Peate. Their first Splash single, “Sky High,” originated as the theme for the 1975 martial-arts feature The Man from Hong Kong starring George Lazenby and ultimately became the band’s biggest seller. Placed as the opening cut on an identically titled album, the song climbed into the U.K. Top Ten and registered major chart success in the United States, Australia, and Japan—where its adoption as the entrance theme for popular Mexican wrestler Máscaras caused it to re-enter the Japanese charts the following year. Buoyed by this visibility and by the additional 1976 American hit “Love Fire,” Jigsaw secured a U.S. contract; in 1977 they issued Pieces of Magic on Splash in Britain and a self-titled collection on 20th Century Fox in the States. That same year the American label financed sessions in Los Angeles for a projected album, Journey into Space, produced by Rick Jerrard, but the project remained unreleased. Back home the follow-up single “If I Have to Go Away” became another hit, and the band maintained an active touring and recording schedule, supplying ten original songs to the soundtrack of the British film Home Before Midnight. By 1979 both Bernard and Campbell had departed; Jigsaw stopped touring within the next two years. The reconfigured lineup recorded one final album, a disco-tinged self-titled set issued by Elektra in the United States, after which the group effectively ended its recording career. A last Splash single, “Love Isn’t at Home,” appeared in 1983, marking the official dissolution of the band.