1. Roy Wood was born on 8 November 1947 and is an English musician, singer and songwriter.
24 Facts About Roy Wood
1. 2.
Roy Wood was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard.
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Roy Wood was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 as a member of Electric Light Orchestra.
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Roy Wood was born on 8 November 1947 in Kitts Green, a suburb of Birmingham, England.
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Roy Wood then moved to Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders.
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Roy Wood attended the Moseley College of Art, but was expelled in 1964.
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In 1967, Roy Wood sang backing vocals on the track "You Got Me Floatin", on the Jimi Hendrix Experience's album Axis: Bold as Love.
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Roy Wood was keen on musical experimentation, and was an early proponent of combining rock and roll and pop music with other styles, such as classical music, or the big band sound, and introduced classically styled string and brass sections into the pop record.
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Roy Wood recorded his own version of "Songs of Praise", releasing it on the B-side of his 1973 single, "Dear Elaine".
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ELO's early live performances were chaotic, due to both poor sound quality of the string instruments competing against the guitars and drums, as well as Roy Wood's constant moving from instrument to instrument during the shows.
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Roy Wood formed a new group, Wizzard, which assembled cellists, brass players and a bigger rhythm section, with several drummers and percussionists.
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Roy Wood emulated the wall of sound production style of Phil Spector while successfully and affectionately pastiching the rock and roll style of the early 1960s.
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Roy Wood's 1973 album Boulders was an almost entirely solo effort, right down to the sleeve artwork, with Wood playing a wide variety of musical instruments.
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Roy Wood was a fan of Elvis Presley, but never succeeded in getting him to adopt one of his compositions.
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Roy Wood was untiring as a producer for other acts, most successfully doo-wop revivalists Darts.
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In 1976, Roy Wood recorded the Beatles songs "Lovely Rita" and "Polythene Pam" for the ill-fated musical documentary All This and World War II.
17.
Roy Wood made a one-off rock and roll medley single with Phil Lynott, Chas Hodges and John Coghlan, credited to The Rockers, "We Are The Boys", and played a leading role in the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986, on 15 March 1986, which was later partly televised by the BBC.
18.
Roy Wood wrote and recorded two tracks with Lynne in 1989, which were never released.
19.
Over Christmas 2007, Roy Wood appeared in a catalogue advertisement for Argos, where he played the part of a rowdy neighbour playing guitar along to Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", and the song entered the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No 16.
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Roy Wood later performed with Wizzard on the Christmas edition of Pointless Celebrities in December 2013.
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Roy Wood voted to leave the European Union in the 23 June 2016 referendum, and in May 2019 joined the Brexit Party.
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Roy Wood was engaged to Annie Haslam for four years, which she later described as "four of the funniest years of my life", prior to her own marriage in 1991.
23.
In 2008, Roy Wood was awarded an honorary doctorate for his contribution to rock and pop by the University of Derby.
24.
Roy Wood was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 as a member of Electric Light Orchestra.