Badfinger

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Badfinger was a British rock group. They were first called The Iveys, but renamed themselves after a song title, "Badfinger Boogie". The band's members were Peter Ham, Tom Evans, Mike Gibbins and Joe Molland. Badfinger recorded for Apple Records, which was a record label started by The Beatles.

Their first hit was "Come And Get It", which was written by Paul McCartney. It appeared in a movie, The Magic Christian. The band followed McCartney's demo closely to make the record. The finished record sounded like a Beatles song, and the band were called "protegés" of the Beatles. Later they made records that sounded different, and showed the band's own style. Todd Rundgren was the producer of some of their recordings.

Badfinger's other hit records included "No Matter What", "Day After Day", and "Baby Blue". Later they left Apple Records and recorded for Warner Bros.. Ham and Evans were the band's main songwriters. One of their songs, "Without You", was recorded by the band, but was not a hit. A later cover version by singer Harry Nilsson became an international hit, and was the first of many such versions. Dozens of recording artists have sung "Without You", including Mariah Carey.

The band members found that fame does not always bring happiness. Peter Ham had problems in his life, and suffered from depression. He committed suicide in 1975, when Badfinger went through a slow period. Tom Evans had similar problems, and later also killed himself.

The remaining band members, Gibbins and Molland, decided they still wanted to work together. They found two more musicians to take the place of Ham and Evans, and recorded a new album. The songs sounded like Badfinger's songs, and they got permission from Ham's and Evans's families to keep using the Badfinger name. They had no more hits, but continued to tour and sometimes make new records. One record had cover art by artist Peter Max.