Denny spreads his Wings

By Rebecca Peppiatt

EX-Moody Blues member and co-founder of Wings Denny Laine will be on stage in Westcliff early next month.

The songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is best known for his roles as former guitarist and lead singer of the Moody Blues and, later, co-founder with Paul McCartney of Wings. But the Birmingham-born musician is still going strong and after a colourful career now performs solo.

On Thursday, February 7, Denny will be on stage at the Riga Music Bar alongside Jeff Allen on drums and Jon Mackenzie on bass.

His prolific career began as a boy when influenced by jazz legend Django Reinhardt, Denny took up the guitar.

At 12 years old, he did his first solo performance and went on to front Denny and the Diplomats, which also included future Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan.

In 1964, Laine left The Diplomats to join Mike Pinder in the Moody Blues and sang their first big hit, Go Now. Other hits included From The Bottom Of My Heart, Can't Nobody Love You and Bye Bye Bird.

However, he quit the band in 1966 and formed the Electric String Band. They made two singles and in June 1967 shared a bill with the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Procol Harum at the Saville Theatre in London.

But the band soon split up and Denny went on to appear in Balls and Ginger Baker's Air Force before hooking up with Paul McCartney in 1971 to form Wings.

He stayed with the group for ten years until they officially disbanded in 1981. Denny provided lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals, keyboards, bass, writing and co-writing skills, as well as being a solid solo performer.

Together with Paul and his wife, the late Linda, they formed the nucleus of the band and it was with Wings that Denny enjoyed the biggest commercial and critical successes of his career, including co-writing the smash hit Mull of Kintyre. But by 1981 the group had gone their separate ways and Denny went on to launch a solo career.

Although he produced a large amount of records and received a certain amount of success, by the mid-Eighties Denny had allegedly filed for Bankruptcy after selling his lucrative co-publishing rights to Mull of Kintyre to co-author McCartney.

Today he is still making new music and performing his extensive back catalogue live at venues throughout the country.

Click here for link to original article

Britains No.1 newspaper 'The Telegraph' has printed a wonderful piece on Denny's holiday memories regarding "Mull of Kintyre", a Christmastime Number One single for Wings.

Click here for the full article by Georgia Dehn.

True or false right or wrong
A beating heart still going strong
The memory is all we have
Sometimes we cry and then we laugh
And far below the waterline
Out of sight of prying eyes
We see the world is doing fine
Without the need of a disguise
On the surface it may seem
Like a twisted mixed up dream
And words can't say the things we mean
So look below the waterline

Who would know and who can say
We can't go back to yesterday
We had to turn our lives around
Bury the past beneath the ground
And just below the waterline
Our reflections go floating by
Waiting there for the sun to shine
Through the clouds in the sky
Did we make it to the shore
Or sink down to the ocean floor
Were we lost for evermore
Far below the waterline

We only see the mountain top
But just like time it doesn't stop
Beneath the waves it goes for miles
Beyond our tears hiding our smiles
Down below the waterline
Depending on how deep we dive
Although it may be hard to find
What we had is still alive
Some might say it makes no sense
Revisiting our innocence
I put it down to experience
To stay below the waterline

Win or lose sink or swim
That changing tide keeps rolling in
Where does it end or begin
Down below the waterline
----

Denny Laine - 2007

December 8, 2007 - Paul and Denny backstage at Wembley Arena

Denny would like to thank Bill Heckle, proprietor of The Cavern in Liverpool, for being such a gracious host during his recent run of dates at the venerable venue. Bill went above and beyond with all he did, and for that we wanted to give a special nod of appreciation!

Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, the Sept 14 & Sept 15 dates are hereby postponed. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes, but please be assured that they will be rescheduled at the very earliest possible time.

We want to thank all of you, our "street team" for making us aware of the cyber-attack that was launched on our MySpace Site! As soon as it came to our attention, measures were taken to rectify the situation. We apologize for the disturbance. Oh well… so much for technology

Denny wants to thank everyone from the bottom of his heart who attended the Cavern shows last week . He reports that being back home in England was a long overdue joy.

Unfortunately the tour was marred with some personal bad news that his brother had passed away. Accordingly Denny had to rearrange many of the previously laid plans, which included the extended meet-and-greet that proceeds or follows his performances. Thus, we understand that many in attendance did not have the opportunity to chat and have pictures taken with him. As any true Denny Laine fan knows, a show for him is not complete until he's met the people who have supported him throughout his career. For this he is deeply sorry, and wants everyone to know that he has plans to return to his beloved U.K. in the very near future. In fact, based on your overwhelming and gracious response to these recent shows, Denny plans to tour throughout Europe and beyond.

Are you a Denny Laine fan?  Have you recently met him at one of his many personal appearances like the recent Fest For Beatles Fans??  Did you snap that all-important photo with him? 

Well then we want you. Actually, we want your photo.  You might have already noticed a new album in the photo section labeled FANS. We want to compile the most comprehensive collection of pictures with Denny and his fans as possible. Simply send them via MySpace Message, or to our webmaster at donnnie@gmail.com and you too will be featured!!!!!

Welcome to the first installment of what will be an official monthly Denny Laine blog / newsletter, exclusively for MySpace. As one can imagine, Denny is constantly performing, recording, and making public appearances. Although such projects leave time for little else, his fans are never far from his thoughts. Accordingly, these periodic pieces will be a wrap-up of his continuing adventures, completely approved and authorized by Denny himself.

First off, Denny wishes to express his utter appreciation for everyone who came out to The Fest for Beatles Fans on July 1-3 at The Mirage in Las Vegas. Personally meeting and interacting with such devoted music lovers is always the highlight of his appearances, and this by far was no exception! What made this particular event all the more significant was the once-in-a-lifetime reunion with his old Wings bandmates Denny Seiwell (drums) and Lawrence Juber (guitar). For Denny it was as if no time had even passed, and the tight lineup clicked together without ever missing a beat.

Denny also mentions that Ray & Sharon Court's Hollywood Autograph & Memorabilia Signing in February was an amazing event, once again having a great opportunity to connect with so many of his fans, whom he feels more than anything else truly defines his career. He hopes to be able to see you all on his upcoming tour at HippieFest, a multi-city series of concerts which also includes Eric Burdon and Mountain.

Of course all of this traveling has put a very temporary halt to the recording of Denny's first album in almost a decade "Valley of Dreams". The 14-track release is a concept album, spotlighting his own personal experiences of living in the US over the past 9 years from the San Fernando Valley to the Vegas Valley. Currently the project is about 2/3 complete and Denny assures it will be available by late Fall.

And finally there is some truly exciting news coming out of the Denny Laine camp, and he wants his MySpace fans to be among the first to know. Although the plans are still quite tentative, Denny has been approached by one of entertainment's most esteemed literary agents about compiling a much-anticipated autobiography. In the past, scores of other dubious offers all came with questionable motives on behalf of those putting it together. Denny would have none of it. But this time, he revisited the issue because the entire project will be done on Denny's terms, not on those looking to make a quick buck with a salacious yarn.

Many more details to follow, so stayed tuned!