Personalities | Badfinger | Sixties | Rock

(Vocal/instrumental group, 1965–75)

Although their best-known work was released in the 1970s, Badfinger had been around since 1965 as The Iveys in their native north Wales. In 1966, they toured the UK backing David Garrick. Signed to the Apple Records label in 1968 as The Beatles’ potential successors, Tom Evans (bass), Mike Gibbins (drums), Pete Ham (guitar, piano, vocals) and Joey Molland (guitar, replacing Ron Griffiths) released their first album as Badfinger, Magic Christian Music, containing songs from the Peter Sellers film of that name along with new music, in 1970. ‘Come And Get It’, a single written by Paul McCartney, had all the hallmarks of a Fab Four classic.

A track from 1970’s No Dice, ‘Without You’, was taken to the top of the UK/US charts by Harry Nilsson (and, two decades later by Mariah Carey) but frustrations with management and lack of funds led co-writer Pete Ham to commit suicide in 1975. In 1983, Tom Evans followed suit, making the band’s story one of the most tragic in rock history.

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Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

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