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Supertramp are a British rock band formed in 1969 under the name Daddy before renaming themselves in early 1970. Though their music was initially categorised as progressive rock, they have since incorporated a combination of traditional rock and art rock into their music. The band's work is marked by the inventive songwriting of Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson and the distinctive voice of Hodgson. Supertramp were also well known for their prominent use of the Wurlitzer electric piano and saxophone.
While the band's early work was mainstream progressive rock; they would enjoy greater critical, and commercial success when they incorporated more conventional and radio-friendly elements into their work in the mid-1970s, going on to sell more than 60 million albums. They reached their peak of commercial success with 1979's Breakfast in America, which has sold more than 20 million copies.
Though their albums were generally far more successful than their singles, Supertramp did enjoy a number of major hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including "Dreamer", "Bloody Well Right", "Give a Little Bit", "The Logical Song", "Breakfast in America", "Goodbye Stranger", "Take the Long Way Home", "It's Raining Again" and "Cannonball". The band attained significant popularity in the United States, Canada, most of Europe, South Africa, Australia, and Brazil. Since Hodgson's departure in 1983, founder Rick Davies has led the band by himself.
In 1969 Stanley 'Sam' August Miesegaes, a Dutch millionaire, gave his acquaintance Rick Davies a "genuine opportunity" to form his own band, with Miesegaes' financial backing. Davies assembled Supertramp with Roger Hodgson (bass and vocals), Richard Palmer (guitars), and Keith Baker (percussion) after placing an advertisement in the weekly music newspaper, Melody Maker. Since none of the other band members were willing, Palmer penned all their lyrics. The group initially dubbed themselves "Daddy". Baker was almost immediately replaced by former stage actor Robert Millar, and the band changed names to "Supertramp", a name inspired by The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp by William Henry Davies.
Supertramp were one of the first groups to be signed to the UK branch of A&M Records and their first album, Supertramp, was released on 14 July 1970 in the UK and Canada only (it would not be issued in the US until late 1977). Stylistically, the album was fairly typical of progressive rock of the era, and Supertramp's sound bore obvious similarity to their British prog rock predecessor Cressida. The album did not attract a large audience and few critics paid it any attention. Dave Winthrop (flute and saxophone) joined the group after the release of the first record and soon after Supertramp was able to earn a slot on the bill of the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. The membership continued to change as six months after the album's release, Palmer left the band feeling that he wasn't suited for its musical direction, followed shortly afterwards by Millar, who had suffered a nervous breakdown following a disastrous tour of Norway.
For the next album, Indelibly Stamped, released in June 1971 (in both the UK and US), Frank Farrell (bass) and Kevin Currie (percussion) replaced Millar and Palmer, while Roger Hodgson switched to guitar. From this album forward, Hodgson and Davies were no longer able to use a lyricist, and Davies served as a second lead singer. Sales failed to improve, and the record sold even less than their debut. In the aftermath, all members gradually quit except Hodgson and Davies and Miesegaes withdrew his financial support in 1972.
1973–78: Initial success and commercial breakthrough
A search for new members brought aboard Dougie Thomson (bass), who had done stand-in gigs with the band for almost a year before auditions resumed. In 1973, auditions restarted and introduced Bob Siebenberg (drums & percussion) and John Helliwell (saxophone, other woodwinds, occasional keyboards, backing vocals), completing the line-up. Hodgson would also begin playing keyboards (particularly the Wurlitzer electric piano) in the band in addition to guitar. Finally, the Davies/Hodgson songwriting partnership was dissolved; though all of Supertramp's songs would continue to be officially credited as "written by Rick Davies and Rodger Hodgson", most if not all of them were written by Davies or Hodgson individually.
Supertramp needed a hit record to continue working, and finally got one with Crime of the Century. Released in September 1974, it began the group's run of critical and commercial successes, hitting number 4 in Britain, number 38 in the USA, and number 1 in Canada. An ambitious progressive rock concept album, many of its songs were heavily orchestrated and sometimes even featured Davies and Hodgson singing in dialogue, such as on the 1975 top 20 single "Dreamer". Its B-side, "Bloody Well Right", hit the US Top 40 in May 1975, peaking at no. 35, and would be their only hit in the country for more than two years. Siebenberg would later comment that he thought the band hit its artistic peak on this album, though their greatest commercial success would come later.
The band continued with Crisis? What Crisis? released in November 1975, which broke both the UK Top Twenty and the USA Top Fifty without even one hit single behind it. The following album, Even in the Quietest Moments, released in April 1977, spawned a hit single with "Give a Little Bit" (no. 15 U.S., no. 29 U.K.). During this period, the band eventually relocated to the United States.
1979-88: Superstars
The band's switch to a more pop-oriented approach peaked with their most popular album, Breakfast in America, released in March 1979, which reached number 3 in the UK and number 1 in the United States and Canada and spawned four successful singles: "The Logical Song" (no. 6 U.S., no. 7 U.K.), "Take the Long Way Home" (no. 10 U.S.), "Breakfast in America" (no. 9 U.K.), and "Goodbye Stranger" (no. 15 U.S., no. 57 U.K.).
The run of successes was capped with 1980's Paris, a 2-LP live album, in which the band stated their goal of improving on the studio versions of their songs. It included nearly every song from Crime of the Century. Initially, it was supposed to be a show recorded in Quebec City, Canada, but A&M vetoed the idea for a "more mainstream city". The live version of "Dreamer" was released as a single in the U.S., where it reached no. 15, even though the studio version had failed to even chart there.
In 1982, the band released ...Famous Last Words..., which contained the hits "It's Raining Again" and "My Kind of Lady". A worldwide tour followed in 1983. After the tour, Hodgson left the band. In an interview, he stated that the reason was to spend time with his two small children. Hodgson moved his family from the Los Angeles area to the mountains of northern California where he built a home and studio and focused on his family and spiritual life, but would occasionally produce solo albums. Hodgson has stated that there were never any real personal or professional problems between him and Davies, as some people thought.
The Davies-led Supertramp soldiered on to continued success, releasing Brother Where You Bound in 1985. This included the Top 30 hit single "Cannonball", along with the title track, a 16-minute exposition on Cold War themes highlighted by guitar solos from Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. The album reached no. 20 in the UK charts and no. 21 in the US charts. 1987's Free as a Bird experimented in heavily synthesized music, such as "I'm Beggin' You", which reached number 1 on the US dance charts. The stylistic change was generally not well-received, however, and the album itself reached only no. 93 in the UK and 101 in the USA, breaking a streak of seven consecutive top 100 efforts on the American charts. After 1988's tour, Dougie Thomson left the band over a disagreement with Davies about the use of Hodgson-penned songs during live performances and the group fragmented.
1996–2009: Later years
In 1996 Davies re-formed Supertramp with Helliwell, Siebenberg and Hart. The result was Some Things Never Change, an album that echoed the earlier Supertramp sound, released in March 1997. It reached no. 74 in the UK. In 1999 Supertramp released the live It Was the Best of Times, followed by Slow Motion in 2002 and a worldwide tour, after which the band went inactive once again. Another attempt to bring Hodgson back into the band failed in 2005.
In 2008 it was announced that Supertramp's music would be featured in the film adaptation of Irvine Welsh's best-selling novel Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance. In 2009 Hodgson said he could not see a Supertramp reunion ever happening: "We've looked at it and talked it over...I would never say never but Rick has pretty much retired right now and I'm in the prime of my life. The reaction I am getting from fans is 'please don’t reunite'."
On 21 April 2010 it was announced that Supertramp would give 35 concerts in late 2010. Dates were announced for concerts in Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy, France and other European countries. This tour called "70-10" was to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the group's first release. Roger Hodgson, who was not included in this tour, embarked on a solo 2010 tour to Australia, New Zealand, South America, Europe, Canada, and the US.
In 2011 both Hodgson and Supertramp continued to tour separately. When asked whether Roger Hodgson might appear on some of the 2011 dates Davies replied, “I know there are some fans out there who would like that to happen. There was a time when I had hoped for that too. But the recent past makes that impossible. In order to play a great show for our fans, you need harmony, both musically and personally. Unfortunately that doesn’t exist between us anymore and I would rather not destroy memories of more harmonious times between all of us.”
Current members
Rick Davies – vocals, keyboards, harmonica, composition, melodica (1970–1988, 1996–2002, 2010-present)
John Helliwell – woodwinds, keyboards, backing vocals (1973–1988, 1996–2002, 2010-present)
Bob Siebenberg – drums, percussion (1973–1988, 1996–2002, 2010-present)
Past members
Roger Hodgson – vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass, composition (1970–1983)
Richard Palmer-James – guitars, vocals, balalaika (1970–1971)
Bob Millar – percussion, harmonica (1970–1971)
Dave Winthrop – woodwinds, vocals (1970–1973)
Kevin Currie – percussion (1971–1973)
Frank Farrell – bass, keyboards, backing vocals (1971–1972)
Dougie Thomson – bass (1972–1988)
Mark Hart – vocals, keyboards, guitar (1985–1988, 1996–2002)
Tom Walsh – percussion (1996–1997)
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