Badfinger

Badfinger was a British rock group. They were first called The Iveys, but renamed themselves after a song title, "Badfinger Boogie", the original title of "With a Little Help From My Friends". The band's members were Peter Ham, Tom Evans, Mike Gibbins and Joey Molland. Badfinger recorded for Apple Records, which was a record label started by The Beatles, Warner Brothers, Elektra Records, and Radio Records.

Badfinger
Badfinger 2016
Background information
Also known as	The Iveys
Origin	Swansea, Wales; Liverpool, England
Genres	Power pop Rock Pop rock
Years active	1969 - 1975 1978 - 1984
Labels	Apple, Warner Bros., Elektra, Radio Records, Fuel 2000, Snapper Music
Associated acts	The Dodgers Natural Gas
Website	http://www.badfingersite.com/
Past members	Peter Ham Tom Evans Joey Molland Mike Gibbins Ron Griffiths Bob Jackson Joe Tansin Tony Kaye Glenn Sherba Al Wodtke Richard Bryans

Their first hit record was "Come And Get It", which was written by Paul McCartney. It appeared in a movie, The Magic Christian. The band followed McCartney's demo closely to make the record. The finished record sounded like a Beatles song. Later they made records that sounded different, and showed the band's own style. Todd Rundgren was the producer of some of their recordings.

Badfinger's other hit records included "No Matter What", "Day After Day", and "Baby Blue". Later they left Apple Records and recorded for Warner Bros. Ham and Evans were the band's main songwriters. One of their songs, "Without You", was recorded by the band, but was not a hit. A later cover version by singer Harry Nilsson became an international hit, and was the first of many such versions. Many recording artists have sung "Without You", including Mariah Carey.

In 1970 Badfinger made an agreement with an American businessman called Stan Polley who promised to help them earn more money. But instead of helping them, Polley kept their money away from them in an account and refused to tell them how to get it out. He also behaved dishonestly toward Warner Bros. Because of his dishonesty, the band's sixth album was removed from shops after being available for only seven weeks, and Warner Bros. refused to release their seventh album. As a result, the band did not earn any money for their hard work, which made Pete Ham feel very depressed. Feeling that he could not be a good husband or father without any money, Ham committed suicide by hanging himself in 1975.

Evans and Molland decided they still wanted to work together. Mike Gibbins, the drummer, wanted to as well, but could not. They found two more musicians to take the place of Ham and Gibbins, and recorded a new album called "Airwaves". They had only one very small hit, but continued to tour. They released another record called "Say No More". This record had cover art by artist Peter Max.

Tom Evans had problems like Ham's, and killed himself (eight years after Ham) in the same way.

Badfinger Media

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  Badfinger posing for a photo, sometime in the early 1970s

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  Warner Bros. Records' trade advertisement for the "Love Is Easy" single

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  Guitarist/keyboardist Bob Jackson in 1990