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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z10 CCUK pop group formed c.1970 as Hotlegs. Graham Gouldman, vocalist, bassist, keyboardist (b 10 May 1946, Manchester), had met vocalist/ guitarist Eric Stewart in a late edition of Wayne Fontana's Mindbenders, had written top ten hits for the Yardbirds, Hollies, Herman's Hermits; worked with Kasenetz-Katz in NYC, made The Graham Gouldman Thing late '60s, formed Hotlegs in UK with fellow Mancunians Stewart, guitarist/vocalist Lol Creme (b 19 September 1947), drummer/vocalist Kevin Godley (b 7 October 1945), had no. 2 UK hit 'Neanderthal Man' '70; made demo of Godley-Creme song 'Donna'. Jonathan King claimed to rename them 10cc after the average male ejaculation, which sounds like him. 'Donna' was no. 2 hit '72, followed by 10 more top 10 hits '73-8 including 'Rubber Bullets' '73, 'I'm Not In Love' '75 at no. 1; latter (with 256 vocal overdubs) was no. 2 USA; 'The Things We Do For Love' no. 5 '77 (6 UK); their pop was seen as witty, above-average stuff. All writers enjoying the studio work, they refused to tour; Godley and Creme left, promoted their Gizmo (an electronic sustaining device for guitars) and made a good living producing promo videos for other groups, had top 10 UK hit 'Wedding Bells' '82, LPs Consequences '77, L '78, Ismism '81. Stewart and Gouldman carried on with more hits, recruited Rick Fenn, Duncan MacKay, Tony O'Malley and Stuart Tosh; had third no. 1 'Dreadlock Holiday' '78 from top 3 LP Bloody Tourists; then suddenly nose-dived for no very evident reason. Their other top 10 LPs UK were Sheet Music '74, The Original Soundtrack '75, How Dare You? '76, Deceptive Bends '77; several more did less well; 10 Out Of Ten '81 did not chart and Windows In The Jungle '83 reached no. '73. They went out of fashion, but had good innings. Andrew Gold contributed to the '81 LP; Gouldman and Gold teamed as Wax '85. |