According to a brief notice on a BBC website, and other published articles, Spooky Tooth lead vocalist Mike Harrison died on March 25, 2018. The report on a local page of the BBC website, simply said, “The Carlisle-born rock musician Mike Harrison, founder and lead singer of the band Spooky Tooth, has died at the age of 72.”
No cause of death or place of death have been reported. Harrison’s passing was confirmed today by a friend of Harrison’s, who requested anonymity.
Mike Harrison was born in Carlisle, England, on Sept. 3, 1945, and formed a band called the V.I.P.’s with guitarist Luther Grosvenor (later of Stealers Wheel and Mott the Hoople), Greg Ridley (later the bassist of Humble Pie), keyboardist Keith Emerson (the Nice, Emerson, Lake and Palmer) and drummer Mike Kellie. Upon Emerson’s departure in 1967, the remaining members changed their name to Art and released one album, Supernatural Fairy Tales.
Listen to “Better By You, Better Than Me” from Spooky Two
With the addition of American keyboardist Gary Wright and a name change to Spooky Tooth, the group was signed to Island Records by Chris Blackwell and released its debut album, It’s All About, in 1968. Spooky Two followed in 1969 (released on A&M in the United States). That album marked the end of the original lineup with the departure of Ridley. Ceremony, a 1969 collaboration with electronic composer Pierre Henry, proved to be a detour and for 1970’s The Last Puff, which included the band’s highly regarded cover of the Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus,” the billing was changed to Spooky Tooth featuring Mike Harrison, due to the departure of Wright.
Spooky Two album cover
Spooky Tooth split for a while in 1970, then re-formed in 1972. Harrison stayed on for 1973’s You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw (truly one of the great album titles), which included the return of Wright, with future Foreigner guitarist now in the lineup. Following that same year’s Witness and 1974’s The Mirror, Harrison exited the band, which subsequently broke up.
By that time, Harrison had already released two solo albums, a self-titled 1971 set and 1972’s Smokestack Lightning. He released Rainbow Rider in 1975 and then dropped out of the music scene until the late ’90s, when he, Grosvenor, Ridley and Kellie reunited for the first Spooky Tooth album in more than two decades, Cross Purpose. Harrison joined a blues group in 1999 and reunited with Gary Wright and Kellie for a Spooky Tooth tour in 2004. In 2006, Harrison released his last solo album, Late Starter, followed by Spooky Tooth tours in 2008-09. Kellie died in 2017.
Watch Spooky Tooth perform “I Am the Walrus” and “Wrong Time” live in 1971
No Comments so far
Jump into a conversationNo Comments Yet!
You can be the one to start a conversation.