Philip Rambow

Philip Rambow launched a short solo career after British pub-rock outfit the Winkies disbanded, yet the venture never matched the promise many had detected in him. Canadian by birth, Rambow had already performed with New York group Saturday Night before relocating to England and launching the Winkies in 1973. Their sound stayed rooted in plain, Stones-derived pub rock, but extravagant glam costumes lifted them above the surrounding acts and drew the interest of Brian Eno, then exiting Roxy Music. Eno recruited the Winkies as his touring band for early 1974; although his collapsed lung ended the run prematurely, the association won the group a Chrysalis contract. The Winkies released their sole album in 1975, which sold poorly and led to the band’s breakup by year’s end. Rambow moved back to New York and took a minor role in the city’s rising punk circles, placing his own “Night Out” on the 1976 Max’s Kansas City sampler and recording a version of Darlene Love’s “Why Do Lovers Break Each Other’s Hearts?” for the punk Phil Spector tribute Bionic Gold. He returned to England before the decade closed, formed the Phil Rambow Band, and issued his first solo album, Shooting Gallery, on Capitol in 1979. The record received lukewarm notice, yet Rambow built a separate reputation as a songwriter, supplying songs to Ellen Foley’s Night Out and penning “A Star (In Her Own Right)” for Nick Gilder. He also co-wrote several tracks with Kirsty MacColl, including the hit single “There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop (Swears He’s Elvis),” and contributed guitar to her debut album Desperate Character. Rambow completed his solo discography with the more streamlined Jungle Law, issued by EMI in 1981, an album whose roots-leaning approach recalled new-wave contemporaries such as Elvis Costello and Graham Parker. He reemerged to perform at the 2002 Kirsty MacColl tribute concert held after the singer’s accidental death.