Chick Churchill Pg. 1

 

1946 to 1949

Michael George "Chick" Churchill was born on January 2, 1946, in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England. Unlike many of the musicians whose childhoods would later become part of rock mythology, relatively little has been published about Chick's earliest years or family life.

What is known is that music entered his life at an early age. Before long, the piano would become the instrument around which his musical development revolved, eventually providing the foundation for a career that would take him from classical studies in Derbyshire to some of the largest rock stages in the world.

The 1950s

Chick Churchill's musical education began when he started playing piano at the age of six. Unlike many future rock musicians who learned primarily by listening to records and experimenting on their own, Chick received formal training and spent much of his childhood studying classical music.

Those years gave him a strong technical foundation at the keyboard. He continued his classical studies throughout the remainder of the decade and into his teens, developing the technique and musical understanding that would later allow him to move comfortably between piano and organ.

By the close of the 1950s, Chick was still several years away from beginning his professional career. Rock and blues would soon pull him away from classical music, but the training he received as a boy would remain an important part of the distinctive keyboard style he later brought to Ten Years After.

The 1960s

By the beginning of the 1960s, Chick Churchill's musical interests were moving away from the classical training of his childhood and toward the blues and rock and roll that were transforming British popular music. After ending his classical studies around the age of fifteen, he joined his first band, a Nottingham group called Sons of Adam. It was through the local music scene that he met guitarist Alvin Lee, whose band, The Jaybirds, already included bassist Leo Lyons and would later add drummer Ric Lee.

Chick initially joined The Jaybirds not as a musician, but as their road manager. When the group moved to London and secured work backing the successful vocal group The Ivy League, however, keyboards were needed and Chick stepped into the role. The change proved permanent, bringing together the classic lineup of Alvin Lee, Leo Lyons, Ric Lee, and Chick Churchill.

After striking out on their own, the musicians experimented with several names while establishing themselves on the London club circuit. An important break came when Chick secured an audition at the Marquee Club. They performed the audition under the name The Bluesyard, the only time they would use that name, before becoming Ten Years After.

The newly named band quickly developed a reputation as a formidable live act. In 1967, an appearance at the Windsor Jazz Festival brought favorable attention from the music press and helped secure a recording contract with Deram Records. Their self-titled debut album appeared later that year, introducing listeners to a sound built around Alvin's guitar and vocals, Leo and Ric's driving rhythm section, and Chick's piano and organ.

Ten Years After's real strength, however, was onstage. Their second album, Undead, released in 1968, was recorded live and captured the freedom the musicians found when they were able to stretch out on blues and rock material. Chick's keyboards added depth and texture without competing with Alvin's increasingly prominent guitar work, helping give the quartet a much fuller sound than its four-man lineup might suggest.

Success brought extensive touring, particularly in the United States, where Ten Years After rapidly built a devoted following. The 1969 albums Stonedhenge and Ssssh pushed the band further up the American charts, but nothing could have prepared them for what happened that August.

Ten Years After performed at the Woodstock festival on August 17, 1969. Their furious rendition of "I'm Going Home" became one of the event's defining performances and, when it appeared in the Woodstock film the following year, transformed the band into international stars. Although the cameras and much of the attention naturally centered on Alvin Lee, the performance depended equally upon the relentless drive of Leo Lyons and Ric Lee and Chick's keyboards filling out the band's sound.

By the end of the 1960s, Chick Churchill had traveled an extraordinary distance from his classical piano lessons in Derbyshire. In less than a decade, he had gone from a local Nottingham musician and road manager to the keyboard player in one of Britain's most successful blues-rock bands, with Woodstock opening the door to an even bigger decade ahead.

The 1970s

Ten Years After entered the 1970s riding the enormous wave of attention created by Woodstock. The festival had transformed the group from a successful British blues-rock band into an international attraction, and the years that followed brought an exhausting schedule of recording and touring, particularly in the United States. Chick Churchill, whose keyboards had sometimes been overshadowed by Alvin Lee's guitar, became increasingly important as the band's music expanded beyond its blues beginnings.

In 1970, Ten Years After released two studio albums, Cricklewood Green and Watt. Cricklewood Green displayed a broader and more adventurous studio sound, with Chick contributing organ, piano, and harpsichord. His keyboards were especially effective on songs such as "Love Like a Man," while his piano work helped reveal the jazzier side of the band's music. Later that year, Ten Years After appeared before another enormous audience at the Isle of Wight Festival.

A Space in Time followed in 1971 and marked another important step in the band's development. The album moved toward a more melodic and atmospheric sound and produced "I'd Love to Change the World," Ten Years After's best-known studio recording and biggest American hit. For Chick, the band's expanding musical palette provided opportunities to use keyboards more subtly, adding color and texture rather than simply competing with Alvin's increasingly prominent guitar.

The band returned to a harder rock sound with Rock & Roll Music to the World in 1972. Chick continued experimenting with keyboards, including synthesizers, while the relentless touring schedule that had followed Woodstock began taking its toll. Ten Years After had become particularly successful in America, eventually making an extraordinary 28 U.S. tours in only eight years.

By 1973, the members were ready for some breathing room...

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