The Loved Ones (Australian band)
The Loved Ones were an Australian rock band formed in 1965 in Melbourne following the British Invasion. The line-up of Gavin Anderson on drums, Ian Clyne on organ and piano, Gerry Humphrys on vocals and harmonica, Rob Lovett on guitar and Kim Lynch on bass guitar recorded their early hits. Their signature song, "The Loved One", reached number two on Australian singles charts and was later covered by INXS. In 2001 it was selected as number six on the Australasian Performing Right Association's (APRA) list of Top 30 Australian songs of all time. Their debut album, The Loved Ones' Magic Box, was released late in 1967 and included their other hit singles, "Ever Lovin' Man" and "Sad Dark Eyes". They disbanded in October 1967 and, although the band's main career lasted only two years, they are regarded as one of the most significant Australian bands of the 1960s. They reformed for a short tour in 1987 which provided the album Live on Blueberry Hill. Humphrys lived in London from the mid-1970s until his death on 4 December 2005. On 27 October 2010, the Loved Ones were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame.
History[edit]
1965–1966: Formation and debut EP[edit]
The Loved Ones were formed in Melbourne in October 1965 by Gerry Humphrys (originally from London) on vocals and harmonica, Kim Lynch on bass guitar and Ian Clyne on organ and piano.[1][2] They were all former members of a trad jazz group, the Red Onion Jazz Band, in which Humphrys played clarinet and sang and Lynch played tuba.[3] Red Onions Jazz Band was released as an eponymous album in 1964 on W&G Records blue label.[1] Following the British Invasion, led by the Beatles' tour of Australia in mid-1964, the band split as the three members wanted to switch to R&B and felt they had drifted towards more mainstream 1940s jazz.[4][5] The Loved Ones were named after Evelyn Waugh's short and darkly satirical novel The Loved One.[4][6] To round out the line-up, Humphrys, Lynch and Clyne recruited former Wild Cherries guitarist Rob Lovett.[5][7] Their first drummer, Terry Nott, was soon followed by Gavin Anderson.[4][8]
The Loved Ones became renowned as an exciting, if erratic, live act in a Rolling Stones/Animals mould and rose to prominence in the local club and dance scene.[1][6] The group's visual impact was heightened by their striking mod stage attire and the band had a strong focal point thanks to the charismatic stage presence, saturnine good looks and growling blues-influenced baritone voice of Humphrys, who is widely acknowledged as one of Australia's finest male pop-rock vocalists.[6][9] The Loved Ones were also one of the first Australian pop bands to use the electric piano (a Hohner pianet) as part of their regular stage set-up and their distinctive keyboard-based sound set them apart from most of their contemporaries.
Early in 1966, they signed to the In Records label, a subsidiary of W&G Records.[9] Their debut single was "The Loved One", which reached number nine on the singles charts in May.[10] The song was written by Clyne, Humphrys and Lovett.[11][12] It has a complex double rhythm, which is joined by hand clapping, and Humphrys' bluesy and soaring vocals.[13][14] According to Lovett, the inspiration for the hand claps came from Clyne, who went to a nightclub to talk to another musician:[14]
Awards and nominations[edit]
ARIA Music Awards[edit]
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. The Loved Ones were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010.[44]