The session guitarist behind glam, punk and rockabilly's biggest names, who briefly became a leather-clad pop star with 'Motor Bikin'.
MOODS · versatile · understated · road-worn · glam-tinged · workmanlike · transatlantic · rock and roll journeyman · leather and grease · session-honed · genre-hopping
BIOGRAPHY
Chris Spedding, born Peter Robinson in Derbyshire in 1944 and raised in Sheffield and Birmingham, became one of England's most in-demand session guitarists by the early 1970s. He started out with the Vulcans in 1959, later joining the Battered Ornaments and backing Jack Bruce on 1969's Songs for a Tailor before releasing his own instrumental record, Songs Without Words, in 1970. From 1972 to 1974 he anchored the band Sharks alongside ex-Free bassist Andy Fraser, recording two albums and touring with Roxy Music.
In 1975 Spedding scored a UK Top 20 solo hit with 'Motor Bikin', performing it on Top of the Pops in full motorcycle gear. When further hits didn't follow, he returned to session work, playing with Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music, Elton John, Brian Eno, Nick Mason, Art Garfunkel and others, and later toured with rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon in New York after relocating to the US.
WHY THEY'RE COOL
Spedding's career reads like a hidden history of British rock: he produced the Sex Pistols' first demos in 1976, backed Jack Bruce, toured with Roxy Music, and turned up on records by Elton John, Brian Eno and Art Garfunkel, all while briefly becoming a leather-clad glam-rock idol with 'Motor Bikin'. AllMusic calls him one of the UK's most versatile session guitarists, a musician who moved fluidly between glam, punk, rockabilly and pop without ever settling into just one lane, making him a connective thread running through several decades of rock history.
GEORGE'S PLAYS
First time on the station.
PLAYED ON WOKE1
