Roy Wood rose to fame as the leader of The Move (I refer you to the post, ‘The Move’) in the 1960s before becoming the co-founder of The Electric Light Orchestra with Jeff Lynne. When Roy departed from the latter group, he took keyboardist, Bill Hunt and cellist, Hugh McDowell with him. This trio was joined by Rick Price, who was formerly a bassist in The Move, as well as drummers, Charlie Grima and Keith Smart.
This new British glam-rock band, which was based in the English city of Birmingham, took the collective name of Wizzard and performed live for the first time at Wembley Stadium, in August of 1972. In December, Wizzard debuted on the British charts with the single, “Ball Park Incident”, which was to peak at No.6. It was followed by the group’s most successful recording, “See My Baby Jive”, which spent four weeks at No.1 in Britain, and, in rising to No.11 in Australia became the group’s only entry to the charts in that country.
“Angel’s Fingers” also briefly reached No.1 and before 1973 had finished the almost obligatory festive number, “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” peaked at No.4.
http://youtu.be/idsdcF3_WJs
http://youtu.be/r89CjMZDQpQ
As Roy Wood was simultaneously pursuing a career as a soloist, the excessive pressure began to affect his health. He released the album, ‘Boulders’ and the singles, “Dear Elaine” (No.18) and “Forever” (No.8), were on the charts along with those from Wizzard.
http://youtu.be/PwBMT1unh9w
Although a tour of the United States failed to generate success there, back in Britain Wizzard posted its last two singles, namely “Rock ‘N Roll Winter” and “Are You Ready To Rock”, which peaked at Nos. 6 and 8 respectively. The latter reminds me of the days of Bill Haley and his Comets, with bagpipes added.
http://youtu.be/kBkegBqo9gQ
The era of punk, which was to bring The Sex Pistols seven British Top Ten hits, was approaching and, without success abroad, Wizzard disbanded in 1975.