Badfinger

Badfinger were a British rock band formed in Swansea in 1961. Their best-known lineup consisted of Welshmen Pete Ham (rhythm guitar and lead vocals), Mike Gibbins (drums), and Englishmen Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (lead guitar). Initially known as the Iveys, the band renamed themselves Badfinger, after the working title for the Beatles' 1967 song "With a Little Help from My Friends" ("Bad Finger Boogie"). From 1968 to 1973, Badfinger recorded five albums for Apple Records and toured extensively before they became embroiled in the chaos of Apple's dissolution. They are recognised for their influence on the 1970s power pop genre and are estimated to have sold 14 million records.Badfinger had four consecutive worldwide hits from 1970 to 1972: "Come and Get It" (written and produced by Paul McCartney, 1970), "No Matter What" (produced by Mal Evans, 1970), "Day After Day" (produced by George Harrison, 1971), and "Baby Blue" (produced by Todd Rundgren, 1972). Their song "Without You" (1970) has been recorded many times, and became a UK and US No. 1 hit for Harry Nilsson in 1972 and a UK No. 1 for Mariah Carey in 1994. In 1972, "Without You" saw co-writers Ham and Evans receive the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically from the Songwriters Guild of Great Britain.After Apple Records folded in 1973, Badfinger struggled with a host of legal, managerial, and financial problems mostly due to fraud by their manager Stan Polley, leading to Ham's suicide in 1975. The surviving members struggled to rebuild their personal and professional lives against a backdrop of lawsuits that tied up the songwriters' royalty payments for years. Their subsequent albums floundered, as Molland and Evans alternated between cooperation and conflict in their attempts to revive and capitalize on the Badfinger legacy. Evans died by suicide in 1983, Gibbins died from a brain aneurysm in 2005, and Molland died from complications of diabetes in 2025. At the time of his death, Molland was the last surviving member of the group's classic lineup."Baby Blue" was featured in the finale of the American television series Breaking Bad, reviving its popularity among a new generation of listeners.The Iveys formed in 1961 in Swansea, Wales from the Panthers, whose line-up consisted of Pete Ham (lead guitar), Ronald "Ron" Griffiths (bass guitar), David "Dai" Jenkins (rhythm guitar), and Roy Anderson (drums). After playing under various names, including the Black Velvets and the Wild Ones, by 1964 they had settled on the Iveys, after a street in Swansea called Ivey Place.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.