Chris Youlden:
Main claim to fame: tophatted vocalist in furs with Savoy Brown for four albums ('68 - '70).
According to Mike Vernon of the record label BLUE HORIZON Chris Youlden is the U.K. singer closest to Bobby Bland. That's quite a praise...
Journalist Lester Bangs in "Creem" magazine June '72:
"...Chris Youlden, he of the omnipresent top hat and Muddyisms.
There has been a rumor circulating for several years to the effect
that Savoy Brown was a total bomb in America until some sharpie flack hit
on the brilliant stroke of the top hat, after which they became true, recognizably
exotic sons of the old Sod - who had long since succumbed to the ravages
of Guinness Stout - and went on to their historic and present heights of
popularity."
Before Savoy Brown he was a member of Shakey Vick's Big City Blues Band.
After Savoy Brown (which he left because of too heavy touring and the band's musical development towards the heaviness of a Led Zepppelin - not his cup of tea) he recorded two solo albums:
"Nowhere Road" DERAM SML 1099 (1973)
"City Child" DERAM SML 1112 (1974)
The "City Child" album featured eminent musicians like Derek Griffiths (from Artwoods and Mike Cotton Sound) and Jack Mills (of Brian Auger's Oblivion Express) on guitars and Pete Wingfield (of Jellybread) on keyboards.
Mr. Youlden then left music for sociology studies - but returned in the '80s to the London R&B scene. An advert for the "Station Tavern" in June '88 reveals Chris Youlden performing with The Slammers.
