Originating in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1969 from the ashes of the semi-professional band The Shadettes, Nazareth -- Dan McCafferty (vocals), Manny Charlton (guitar), Pete Agnew (bass) and Darrell Sweet (drums) - made it big after relocating to London and landing a recording contract with Pegasus records. They released their self titled debut album in 1971 and a second album Exercises 1972. It was their third release Razamanaz, in early 1973, that resulted in their first charting singles, "Broken Down Angel" and "Bad Bad Boy", both of which made it into the UK Top Ten.
They followed this in late 1973 with, Loud 'N' Proud and then Rampant in 1974 both seeing equal success. But it was the release, in 1975, of Hair of the Dog that saw Nazareth's biggest hit with the title track - most commonly but mistakenly known as "Son of a Bitch" due to the chorus lyrics - which, thanks to regular air play, helped the album to achieve platinum status. The US release version of the album contained the additional track "Love Hurts", a remake of the The Everly Brothers song. Nazareth's melodic hard rock sound and frontman Dan McCafferty's whisky saturated, raw, emotive vocals kept Nazareth on the public radar for the of the rest of the 70s. And despite several incarnations of Nazareth they are still touring today.
