Badfinger

Born out of Swansea based band The Iveys, Bandfinger were a band which contained three excellent song writers (most notably Pete Ham) who were talented musicians, and were ‘blessed’ by the Beatles and yet somehow fate dealt them a very poor hand.

Formed in 1968 Badfinger were signed by Paul McCartney to the Apple label. They had a transatlantic hit with McCartney’s Come and Get it and three further top 20 singles in the US (two in the UK). In addition Ham and Evans co-wrote Without You which was to be a global hit for Nilsson. Furthermore, members of the band were to appear on three of the Beatles solo projects in the early 70’s. Describing their style is difficult; light rock or ‘power pop are probably closest, although they were equally accomplished at heavy rock or sensitive ballads.

Despite all this success Badfinger never seemed to realise the monetary fruits for their labours. Frustrated broke and bitter Ham left the group only to rejoin after a short absence. Tragically this hugely talented songwriter committed suicide by hanging himself in his garage in 1975. Bizarrely Evans also to kill himself in a similar fashion in 1983, his spirit broken by years of frustration and depression.A great band that are immensely underrated.

Badfinger recorded 7 albums while Pete Ham was with the band. Pete Ham was an unusually gifted musician and songwriter, which the Badfinger albums document. Sadly the band was never really recognized in their time; moreover the band was abused by an unscrupulous manager. The brilliant "Wish You Were Here" was withdrawn by Warner Brothers due to financial irregularies, and in spite of having received great reviews from the press. One more album,"Head First", was recorded but this great album was not released until year 2000. In 1975 music lost one of its greatest talents when Pete Ham hung himself economically ruined and disillusioned. Now we can only rejoice in the relatively large amount of dazzling music and songs he left behind