Steve Hyams

Even if one has committed every detail of Pete Frame's Family Trees to memory, this British rock veteran is unlikely to register any recognition. His most notable period came when he took the positions of lead singer and rhythm guitarist in Mott the Hoople during the band's final stretch after Ian Hunter had left. He also performed with musicians drawn from Van Der Graaf Generator, Spooky Tooth, Fleetwood Mac, and Ian Dury's Blockheads, though no recordings resulted from those lineups. In the mid-'70s he issued the ordinary rock album Mistaken Identities, which never progressed beyond the promotional stage, yet the same tracks, expanded by several bonus cuts, reached compact disc in 1997. With hindsight, his chief contribution appears to have been exposing Mott the Hoople to David Bowie's music years before he joined the group, thereby creating a link that proved decisive for the band's subsequent path.