The Animals

One of the toughest British Invasion bands, the Animals are remembered largely for the blues wails of frontman Eric Burdon. A Newcastle native, Burdon grew up attending art school, frequenting jazz clubs, hanging out with motorcycle gangs and getting into minor scrapes with the law. In 1962 Burdon joined an existing band, the Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Combo, which included organist Price, guitarist Hilton Valentine, drummer John Steel and bassist Bryan "Chas" Chandler. Soon after Burdon joined the name was changed to the Animals, a reference to his demeanor onstage. With a growing repertoire of R&B covers, the group moved to London soon after Beatlemania hit and were signed to UK Columbia; the first single ("Baby Let Me Take You Home") was a rewrite of a folk song ("Baby, Let Me Follow You Down") that Bob Dylan had recorded on his first album. Also on that Dylan album was another folk song that the Animals chose for their next single, "The House of the Rising Sun." With a power that surpassed Dylan's version-and arguably, all other versions before and since-the Animals' record was Number One in both the US and UK. (Interestingly the US single was a minute and a half shorter than the UK hit, which ran 4:29; the full version didn't see US release for two more years). Though they'd now broken America, the Animals' singles would invariably chart higher at home than in the US-even though two of their most memorable singles, "It's My Life" and "We've Gotta Get Out of this Place" both came from New York based Brill Building writers (respectively, Roger Atkins and the Barry Mann/Cynthia Weill team). They also scored with covers of Nina Simone's hit "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home To Me." However rifts were already developing, mainly between Burdon and Price. The latter left in 1965, with Dave Rowberry playing organ on the later hits. Meanwhile Chandler was getting into production and management, and in 1966 discovered an American guitarist named Jimi Hendrix. He managed Hendrix for the next two years and later saw further success managing Slade. The Animals were history by 1966, with Burdon forming an all-new band he dubbed Eric Burdon & the Animals. This lineup was more psychedelic than the first, and unlike the first group had its biggest hits with original songs ("When I Was Young" and Burdon's ode to hippiedom, "San Franciscan Nights"). This group ended in 1969; a pre-Police Andy Summers played guitar in the last lineup. The five original Animals reunited twice, for an album (Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted) in 1977 and an album and tour (Ark) in 1983; in both cases the Burdon/Price tensions flared back up.