Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular records include Wishbone Ash (1970), Argus (1972), There's the Rub (1974), and New England (1976). They were one of the first of many bands to come who used twin lead guitars.
Wishbone Ash are considered to be one of the major innovators of the harmony twin lead guitar format. Their contributions helped in Powell and Turner being voted "Two Of The Ten Most Important Guitarists In Rock History" (Traffic magazine 1989), and part of the "Top 20 Guitarists Of All Time" (Rolling Stone magazine). Melody Maker (1972) described Ted Turner and Andy Powell as "the most interesting two guitar team since the days when Beck and Page graced The Yardbirds".
Formed in Devon, United Kingdom, in 1969, out of the ashes of trio The Empty Vessels (originally known as The Torinoes, later briefly renamed Tanglewood in 1969), which had been formed by Wishbone Ash's founding member Martin Turner (bass/vocals) in 1963 and completed by Steve Upton (drums and percussion) in 1966. The original Wishbone Ash line-up was completed by guitarists/vocalists Andy Powell and Ted Turner. In 1974, Ted Turner left the band, and was replaced by Laurie Wisefield. The band continued on with strong critical and commercial success until 1980.
After revolving line-ups featuring former members from King Crimson, Trapeze, and Uriah Heep, Laurie Wisefield quit in 1985. In 1987, however, the original line-up reunited for several albums - "Nouveau Calls", "Here to Hear", and "Strange Affair" - until 1990, when Steve Upton quit the band. After Martin Turner was replaced in 1991, the band recorded "Live In Chicago", before Ted Turner quit in 1993. Since 1995, the band have continued with mixed critical and commercial success, changing members on several albums. In 2004, Martin Turner formed his own version of Wishbone Ash, and tours frequently.
The Biography appearing in this section is attributed to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wishbone_Ash.
Portions of this Biography may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or
any later version, available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/.
Additional terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.
