Pete Haycock (62) – Founding Climax Blues Band guitarist- was born in Stafford, England on 4 March 1951. As a child, he was impressed by the guitar solos of Hank Marvin of The Shadows. He played his first electric guitar at a miners club when he was 12. He then played guitar at school and college dances. Along with local boys, he formed a blues band, the Mason–Dixon Line.
Climax was formed by Colin Cooper and Pete Haycock from the ashes of Gospel Truth and Hipster Image which had set the local soul and R&B scene, but they really found their home with a change of direction to blues. Bassist Derek Holt was also an original founder member.
However, their second album ‘Plays On’ shot off in many directions (some of them bewildering) which revealed that they were far more than a blues band and a precedent was set for a band that would use the blues as a base, but carve their own style drawing on many influences along the way. Indeed, the ‘Blues Band’ part of the name was dropped for the next couple of albums.
It wasn’t until the album ‘Rich Man’ in 1973 that the band settled into a line-up which became permanent through the rest of the 70s and early 80s, comprising of Colin Cooper (saxes, harmonica and deep down vocals), Pete Haycock (guitars and vocals), Derek Holt (bass guitar and high-end vocals) and John Cuffley (drums and percussion).
‘FM Live’, released as a single LP in the UK and a double in the States in 1974. It reflected a fantastic night at New York’s Academy of Music, captured as a live broadcast and its release was a real turning point for the band.
‘Sense Of Direction’ was the next studio album and then in 1975 ‘Stamp Album’ saw the return of keyboard player Richard Jones who had been involved right at the start of the band.
Momentum still building in the States, 1976 saw the release of ‘Gold Plated’. The album stayed on the Billboard chart for 44 weeks, and the hit single ‘Couldn’t Get It Right’ peaked at number 3 in early 1977 having reached the Top Ten in the UK in the Autumn of 1976. With the band firing on all cylinders as a five-piece unit the sound on ‘Gold Plated’ was slicker and smoother, but still retaining an edge. ‘Couldn’t Get It Right’ with its immediate hooks in the chorus and the guitar/sax runs didn’t fail to impress and it became the song that music fans all over the world loved and brought the name Climax Blues Band to a new level.
The next Climax album was ‘Shine On’. Richard Jones had left the band and was replaced by Peter Filleul on keyboards.
In 1979 Climax recorded ‘Real To Reel’ in Montserrat, the first band to use the Caribbean Island recording studios there. ‘Flying The Flag’ was released in 1980 and the first single ‘Gotta Have More Love’ dented the charts in the UK and US. Pete Filleul had left the band and Nicky Hopkins took over keyboard role on this and the next album. A rich variation of styles filled the album, and the song that hit the heights in America was ‘I Love You’. Written and sung by Derek Holt, it was an instant hit and the perfect wedding song to this very day, much in demand. Sadly it also provided a rift between band members as it was seen as unrepresentative of the Climax sound.
The 1982 album ‘Lucky For Some’ was the last to feature the Cooper / Haycock / Holt / Cuffley line up which had been together for nine years. Derek Holt was soon to leave the band and then John Cuffley also moved on.
In 1984 the album ‘Sample And Hold’ was released on Virgin, the nucleus of the band being Colin Cooper, Pete Haycock and George Glover with session players on drums and bass. On tour the rhythm section comprised of Jeff Rich and John ‘Rhino’ Edwards, who eventually went on to feature in Status Quo for many years. In 1985 Peter Haycock left the band to pursue a solo career.
Haycock went on to record several solo projects, the first of which was the album Total Climax (1986) recorded with his new band, Pete Haycock’s Climax. Pete Haycock’s Climax toured extensively in Europe, including Communist East Germany, as well as a well-received tour in Australia, also releasing The Soft Spot (1987). During this period, Haycock was asked by former Climax Blues Band manager, Miles Copeland, to record an instrumental album for I.R.S. No Speak, Guitar and Son, and Night of the Guitars, a live album from the tour of the same name. After that tour, in 1989, Haycock teamed up with Holt and guitarist Steve Hunter to record an album under the name the H Factor. The Pete Haycock Band consisted of the musicians from the Total Climax lineup, and went on to record a live album titled Livin’ It in 1992.
Haycock was approached by Bev Bevan, formerly of Electric Light Orchestra, to join the newly formed Electric Light Orchestra Part II. The group toured and recorded with Haycock in the early 1990s, releasing both a live CD and video of their performance with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. They recorded and toured together until 1993.
In the early 1990s, Haycock was asked by Hans Zimmer to collaborate on film scores for K2 (1991), and Toys (1992). Other film scores they worked on were for Drop Zone (1994), and The Dilemma (2011), among others. Haycock’s slide guitar contributed to Thunderbird, the theme music for the 1991 film, Thelma & Louise. Haycock was asked by Zimmer to re-create his performance, with a live symphony orchestra for the recording of Wings of a Film, which was a compilation album of Zimmer’s successful film scores. During this time Haycock moved to Germany to work on these film scores as well as began composing music of his own for film and television. Along with Holt, he composed music for the 1992 film One False Move. More scores would follow, and Haycock helped produce recordings for other artists. He contributed a lot of work and studio time to charity projects through the 1990s and early 2000s, mostly benefitting battered women support organizations.
Earlier 2013 he formed a group entitled Pete Haycock’s Climax Blues Band featuring Robin George. However, Haycock’s health issues severely limited the outfit’s activities. Haycock built a recording studio in Frankfurt, Germany where he lived for several years until his death. Pete Haycock died of a heart attack on 30 October 2013 in Frankfurt. He was 62.
