Denny Laine
by Graham Sclater
Denny Laine was born (Brian Frederick Hines) in Birmingham in October 1944 and was inspired to take up the guitar by gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. Initially he planned to name his first band Brian Frederick Hines and the Diplomats. But he changed his name to Denny Laine, using the surname Laine, after Frankie Laine, who at the time was his sister’s idol. His band finally named Denny Laine and the Diplomats included Bev Bevan and in 1964 they were approached by Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder to form a new band. He became the lead singer and guitarist of the Birmingham band, The Moody Blues.
Go Now written by Milton Bennet and Larry Banks and was recorded by Bessie Bank and released in the USA on the Tiger label in the USA in 1964. The Moody Blues signed to Decca Records and recorded their version of the song in mid-1964. It was released in November 1964 and reached number one in January 1965. However, the title, was released with the addition of the exclamation mark, Go Now! Following the UK success, in February 1965 it entered the Billboard top 100 in the USA.
Laine left the band in 1966 and was replaced by Justin Hayward. It would be three years until the new line-up of the band, without Laine, would return to the charts with Nights in White Satin.
After leaving the band Laine formed the Electric String Band using electrified strings which would later be used by fellow Birmingham musicians, Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne, who went on to use them with the ELO.
The Electric String Band achieved little success and soon disbanded but whilst he was with them Laine recorded two singles as a solo artist, which were released on the Deram label, a subsidiary label of Decca in 1967 and ‘68. One of songs he recorded and released was Say You Don’t Mind and that song was to go on and become a massive hit for the Zombies, lead vocalist, Colin Bluntstone in 1972.
Trying to emulate the earlier success Laine joined the band Balls from 1969 until 1971 releasing one single on the Wizard label while at the same time in 1970 he was also a member of Ginger Baker’s Airforce. The Wizard record release Fight for My Country and Janie, Slow Down have since been released a number of times on various labels and under different band names.
Soon after, Laine joined Paul and Linda MacCartney as the third member of Wings and was to remain with them for ten years until their break up on 1981. He was an integral part of their recordings and live dates around the world, contributing lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals, keyboard and, bass guitar and woodwind. He also co-wrote many of the band’s hits. The biggest being Mull of Kintyre, which allowed Laine to enjoy the biggest commercial and critical successes of his career. It was a number one hit in the UK as well as being the biggest selling single between 1977 and 1984. Strangely the track didn’t appear on their albums and that may be the reason for its longevity and great success. He also sang lead vocals on some of the bands many album tracks.
During his time with Wings, Laine released two solo albums and two of those tracks were also recorded by Wings. He achieved success in Holland as a solo performer with the double “A” side, Deliver Your Children and I’ve Had Enough, taken from the Wings album London Town where it charted at Number 11.
In January 1980 when McCartney was arrested for the possession of
marijuana in Japan Laine used the time to record and release his third
solo album, Japanese Tears. He continued to work with McCartney and
co-wrote some of the tracks on the albums Tug of War and Pipes of Peace.
Since 1980, Laine has signed with various record labels but was unable to
recreate his earlier success and from 1997 until 2002 he toured with rock
supergroup World Classic Rockers. He now tours under his own name as
The Denny Laine Band. Laine now lives in the USA and his most recent
solo release was the 2008 album The Blue Musician.
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