Biography
Luther Grosvenor ranked among his era's most innovative guitarists, emerging in the late 1960s alongside a wave of flamboyant young players who upended conventions. Together with Brian May, Mick Ronson, and Paul Kossoff, he dismantled the established playbook for guitarists by insisting that enjoyment mattered as much as technical skill.
Raised in Evesham, England, he formed early groups with Jim Capaldi before the two headed to London, where Deep Feeling drew interest from producer Giorgio Gomelsky. Their paths diverged from there: Capaldi helped launch Traffic while Grosvenor joined Spooky Tooth, a British rock outfit whose late-'60s and early-'70s work proved highly influential.
The band issued four albums, among them the million-selling Spooky Two, and toured widely across the United States and Europe, cultivating a devoted following that reached the Rolling Stones, who approached Grosvenor in 1969 about replacing Brian Jones. He declined.
After departing Spooky Tooth in 1972, Grosvenor issued his debut solo effort, Under Open Skies, yet soon found the solo route unappealing. A short stint with Gerry Rafferty in Stealers Wheel led to an offer from Mott the Hoople, widely viewed as the decade's counterpart to the original Rolling Stones, and he accepted without pause, adopting the name Ariel Bender for the occasion.
As Ariel Bender he embodied the quintessential rock guitarist, pushing visual and sonic excess further than peers already draped in makeup and theatrical attire. Singer Lynsey de Paul, a like-minded friend, supplied the moniker to match his conception of the world's most flamboyant guitarist, and it suited him perfectly; his chords could shatter aerials outright rather than merely bend them.
In the studio Bender revitalized Mott, powering the 1974 album The Hoople, a dynamic live record, and several enduring hit singles. Onstage his impact proved even stronger, with his flowing hair and competitive pursuit of Ian Hunter's spotlight yielding riffs that were both boisterous and unruly. Later archival releases, notably the 30th-anniversary edition of Live expanded from a single LP into two full CDs, have underscored the ferocity of his performances.
Grosvenor exited Mott in 1974, with Mick Ronson stepping in, and promptly assembled the hard-rock band Widowmaker, which gained immediate attention by opening the Who's subsequent U.K. tour. That peak proved short-lived; although Widowmaker produced what Grosvenor still describes as "two great albums," he grew weary of the surrounding nonsense by 1979 and abandoned not only the group but the entire music business, retreating into legend for the next seventeen years.
Early 1996 brought him back for two tracks, "Crying Won't Bring You Back" and "Merry Go Round," on the Rattlesnake Guitar tribute to Peter Green. Reuniting with Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood, Jess Roden, and former Spooky Tooth drummer Mike Kellie under the Ariel Bender Band banner, he finally documented songs written during his absence on the 1996 album Floodgates. Weak promotion caused it to fade until a 2001 expanded reissue on the U.K. Angel Air label revived the set with bonus material that encompassed the two Rattlesnake Guitar cuts, three numbers from a 1997 Spooky Tooth reunion, and an unreleased 1966 Deep Feeling recording from the Gomelsky sessions.
Grosvenor maintained a lower profile afterward, continuing occasional live appearances and studio contributions such as a powerful reinterpretation of "Roll Away the Stone" for the 2005 Mott the Hoople Family Anthology.
Raised in Evesham, England, he formed early groups with Jim Capaldi before the two headed to London, where Deep Feeling drew interest from producer Giorgio Gomelsky. Their paths diverged from there: Capaldi helped launch Traffic while Grosvenor joined Spooky Tooth, a British rock outfit whose late-'60s and early-'70s work proved highly influential.
The band issued four albums, among them the million-selling Spooky Two, and toured widely across the United States and Europe, cultivating a devoted following that reached the Rolling Stones, who approached Grosvenor in 1969 about replacing Brian Jones. He declined.
After departing Spooky Tooth in 1972, Grosvenor issued his debut solo effort, Under Open Skies, yet soon found the solo route unappealing. A short stint with Gerry Rafferty in Stealers Wheel led to an offer from Mott the Hoople, widely viewed as the decade's counterpart to the original Rolling Stones, and he accepted without pause, adopting the name Ariel Bender for the occasion.
As Ariel Bender he embodied the quintessential rock guitarist, pushing visual and sonic excess further than peers already draped in makeup and theatrical attire. Singer Lynsey de Paul, a like-minded friend, supplied the moniker to match his conception of the world's most flamboyant guitarist, and it suited him perfectly; his chords could shatter aerials outright rather than merely bend them.
In the studio Bender revitalized Mott, powering the 1974 album The Hoople, a dynamic live record, and several enduring hit singles. Onstage his impact proved even stronger, with his flowing hair and competitive pursuit of Ian Hunter's spotlight yielding riffs that were both boisterous and unruly. Later archival releases, notably the 30th-anniversary edition of Live expanded from a single LP into two full CDs, have underscored the ferocity of his performances.
Grosvenor exited Mott in 1974, with Mick Ronson stepping in, and promptly assembled the hard-rock band Widowmaker, which gained immediate attention by opening the Who's subsequent U.K. tour. That peak proved short-lived; although Widowmaker produced what Grosvenor still describes as "two great albums," he grew weary of the surrounding nonsense by 1979 and abandoned not only the group but the entire music business, retreating into legend for the next seventeen years.
Early 1996 brought him back for two tracks, "Crying Won't Bring You Back" and "Merry Go Round," on the Rattlesnake Guitar tribute to Peter Green. Reuniting with Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood, Jess Roden, and former Spooky Tooth drummer Mike Kellie under the Ariel Bender Band banner, he finally documented songs written during his absence on the 1996 album Floodgates. Weak promotion caused it to fade until a 2001 expanded reissue on the U.K. Angel Air label revived the set with bonus material that encompassed the two Rattlesnake Guitar cuts, three numbers from a 1997 Spooky Tooth reunion, and an unreleased 1966 Deep Feeling recording from the Gomelsky sessions.
Grosvenor maintained a lower profile afterward, continuing occasional live appearances and studio contributions such as a powerful reinterpretation of "Roll Away the Stone" for the 2005 Mott the Hoople Family Anthology.
Albums
