Supertramp

The group formed in London when Rick Davies broke up his band The Joint and placed an ad in a UK music paper looking for musicians to form a band. The group was financed by a Dutch millionaire named Sam Miesegaes, who put up the money after seeing Davies play in The Joint. Singing with A&M Records, they released their first (self-titled) album in 1970, and also played the Isle Of Wight Festival that year. Miesegaes pulled his financing in 1972, and the band settled on a new lineup, with just Davies and Roger Hodgson remaining as original members. Their third album, Crime of the Century, was a breakthrough, making #4 in the UK on the strength of hits "Dreamer" and "Bloody Well Right."

Davies and Hodgson did all the songwriting, and even though they wrote most of their songs separately, they agreed to share composer credit on all the songs, just like Lennon/McCartney or Jagger/Richards. Like the Lennon/McCartney arrangement, whoever wrote the song sang lead. Hodgson's song were spiritual and introspective: "Give A Little Bit," "The Logical Song," "Take The Long Way Home." Davies' were more pragmatic: "Goodbye Stranger," "Bloody Well Right," "Crime of the Century."

In our interview with Roger Hodgson, he explained: "In terms of Rick and I, we were very, very different as writers. I think it's good having another writer in the band, because then you have the friendly competition which helps bring out the best in each other, and I think that was the case with the two of us."

In 1979, Supertramp became one of the most successful bands in America, thanks to an album (Breakfast in America) that explored the country from the perspective of an Englishman. The band moved to California in the mid-'70s; Hodgson loved it and lived there permanently. Davies was less enthusiastic about California ("I don't think that's a place where anybody wants to settle down, not even Americans," he said), and moved to Long Island. Moving to America allowed them to keep a lot more of their income, as they would have been heavily taxed in England.