Denny Laine

Early years

Laine was born in Birmingham, where he attended Yardley Grammar School, and took up the guitar as a boy, inspired by gypsy jazz legend Django Reinhardt. He gave his first solo performance as a musician at the age of 12 and began his career as a professional musician fronting Denny Laine & the Diplomats, which also included future Move and Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan.

The Moody Blues

In 1964, Laine left the Diplomats to join Mike Pinder in the Moody Blues and sang the group's first big hit, "Go Now"; other early highlights included I Don't Want To Go on Without You, another UK hit, and the two minor UK chart hits "From The Bottom of My Heart (I Love You)" and "Everyday" (both written by Laine and Pinder). He also notably sang on "Can't Nobody Love You" and the harmonica-ripping "Bye Bye Bird" (a big hit in France). A self-titled EP and 'The Magnificent Moodies' LP on Decca followed. Laine and Pinder wrote most of The Moody Blues 'B' sides during the 1965-66 period, such as "You Don't (All the Time)", "And My Baby's Gone" and "This Is My House". However, Laine's tenure with the MB's was relatively short-lived and, after a number of comparative chart failures, Laine quit the band in October 1966. He was replaced by Justin Hayward. The last record issued by the Moody Blues that featured Laine was "Life's Not Life"/"He Can Win" in January 1967.

Electric String Band and early solo career

After leaving the Moody Blues, Laine formed the Electric String Band in December 1966, which featured himself on guitar and vocals, Trevor Burton (of the Move) on guitar, Viv Prince (ex-Pretty Things) on drums and electrified strings in a format not dissimilar to what Electric Light Orchestra would later attempt. In June 1967, the band shared a bill with the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Procol Harum at the Saville Theatre in London. However, it did not achieve national attention, and the Electric String Band broke up. (There was apparently a third single recorded called "Why Did You Come?". Why it was never released is unknown, but there have been rumors that the finished track - and probably the B side as well - was mailed to Decca and was lost.)

At the same time, Laine recorded two singles as a solo artist: "Say You Don't Mind"/"Ask The People" (April 1967, Deram) and "Too Much in Love"/"Catherine's Wheel" (January 1968, Deram). Both failed to chart, although "Say You Don't Mind" became a #15 hit in 1972 when recorded by former Zombies frontman Colin Blunstone.

Balls and Ginger Baker's Air Force

Laine and Burton then went on to the band Balls from February 1969 until the band's breakup in 1971, with both also taking time to play in Ginger Baker's Air Force in 1970.

Only one single was issued by Balls: "Fight for My Country"/"Janie, Slow Down" on UK Wizard Records. The top side was re-edited and reissued on UK Wizard and issued in the UK on Wizard and in the United States on Epic under the name of Trevor Burton; Laine and Burton shared lead vocals on the B side. The single was reissued again as B.L.W. as "Live in the Mountains" for a small Pye-distributed label, "Paladin". Twelve tracks were recorded for a Balls album, but it has never been released.

Wings

In 1971, Laine joined Paul McCartney to form Wings, and stayed with the group for 10 years until it disbanded in 1981. Laine provided lead and rhythm guitars, lead and backing vocals, keyboards, bass guitar and woodwinds, as well as writing or co-writing some of the group's material. Laine, McCartney, and McCartney's wife, Linda McCartney formed the nucleus of the band. With Wings, Laine enjoyed the biggest commercial and critical successes of his career, including co-writing the hit "Mull of Kintyre", which reached #1 in the UK in 1977, and became the UK's highest-selling single until that time. Laine also co-wrote and sang lead vocal on "Deliver Your Children", which was released as a Wings B-side but charted in the Netherlands.

In January 1980, McCartney was arrested for possession of marijuana on arrival at an airport for a tour in Japan. The tour was cancelled and the band members, except Linda, returned to England. After returning to England, McCartney decided to release his solo album, McCartney II, and plans for an autumn U.S. tour were dropped. Meanwhile, Laine released the single "Japanese Tears" and released a solo album, Japanese Tears, that December. He also formed the short-lived Denny Laine Band with Steve Holley. On 27 April 1981, Laine announced he was leaving Wings due to McCartney's reluctance to tour in the wake of John Lennon's murder.

Solo career

Laine signed with Scratch records and began working on a new album, Anyone Can Fly. He then went on to record other solo albums such as Hometown Girls, Wings on My Feet and Lonely Road before returning to Scratch to do his Wings at the Sound of Denny Laine. He has also had three fanzine publications, Ahh Laine, wrote the musical Arctic Song and released two more albums, Master Suite and Reborn.

From 1997 to 2002, he toured with the rock supergroup World Classic Rockers. Later he joined and toured with the Cryers.

Personal life

He was briefly married to singer, model and legendary groupie Jo Jo Laine, with whom he had a son, Laine Hines, and a daughter, Heidi Hines. He has three other children from other relationships: Lucianne Grant (with Helen, daughter of Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant), Damian James (with model Catherine James) and Ainsley Laine-Adams.

Laine moved to the United States in the 1990s.

With The Moody Blues