Cream

Arguably the most famous trio in rock music, Cream comprised: Jack Bruce (b. John Symon Asher Bruce, 4 May 1943, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland; bass/vocals), Eric Clapton (b. Eric Patrick Clapp, 30 March 1945, Ripley, Surrey, England; guitar) and Ginger Baker (b. Peter Baker, 19 August 1940, Lewisham, London, England; drums). In their two-and-a-half years together, Cream made such an impression on fans, critics and musicians as to make them one of the most influential bands since the Beatles. They formed in the height of swinging London during the '60s and were soon thrust into a non-stop turbulent arena, hungry for new and interesting music after the Merseybeat boom had quelled. Cream were announced in the music press as a pop group, Clapton from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Bruce from Manfred Mann and Baker from the Graham Bond Organisation. Their debut single Wrapping Paper was a comparatively weird pop song, and made the lower reaches of the charts on the strength of its insistent appeal. Their follow-up single, I Feel Free unleashed such energy that it could only be matched by Jimi Hendrix. The debut FRESH CREAM confirmed the promise: this band are not what they seem. With a mixture of blues standards and exciting originals, the album became one of the records for any credible music fan to own. It reached number 6 in the UK charts. That same crucial year, DISRAELI GEARS with its distinctive day-glo cover went even higher, and firmly established Cream in the USA, where they would spend most of their touring life. This superb album showed a marked progression from their first, in particular the songwriting of Jack Bruce and his lyricist, former beat poet, Pete Brown. Landmark songs like Sunshine Of Your Love, Strange Brew and SWLABR (She Was Like A Bearded Rainbow), were performed with precision. Already rumours of a split prevailed as news filtered back from America of fights and arguments between Baker and Bruce. Meanwhile their live performances were nothing like they had thus far committed to vinyl. The long improvisational pieces, based around fairly simple blues structures were awesome. Each member had a least one party piece during concerts, Bruce with his frantic harmonica solo on Traintime, Baker with his trademark drum solo on Toad and Clapton with his strident vocal and fantastic solo on Crossroads. One disc of the superb two-record set WHEELS OF FIRE captured Cream live, at their inventive and exploratory best. Just a month after its release, while it sat on top of the US charts they announced they would disband at the end of the year following two final concerts. The famous Royal Albert Hall farewell concerts were fortunately captured on film, the posthumous GOODBYE repeated the success of its predecessors, as did to a lesser degree the remaining live scrapings from the bottom of the churn. The three members came together in 1993 for an emotional one-off performance at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame awards in New York. Cream came and went in one very long blink of an eye, leaving an indelible mark on rock music.