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The Tragic Story Of Badfinger

A band with talent, success and the patronage of the Beatles collapsed into financial ruin and death

By Alex MarkhamPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 6 min read
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Image by Daniel Wanke from Pixabay

Badfinger was the first signing to The Beatles’ Apple label. They had a distinctly Beatle sound that became even more pronounced due to their connections with the band.

Originally called The Iveys and from Wales and Liverpool, they were renamed Badfinger by The Beatles’ road manager, Neil Aspinal. Badfinger was a term commonly used by The Beatles to describe a wounded finger that hampered their playing.

Bad Finger Boogie was the working title of With A Little Help From My Friends because John Lennon was suffering from a damaged finger during the recording. The expression was also evident in the Get Back film when Lennon referred to a Badfinger hampering his guitar playing at one stage.

George Harrison said it was originally a nickname they gave to a stripper they knew in Hamburg in the ’50s. I don’t want to know why.

Back to Badfinger the band.

Despite selling 14 million albums in the early seventies, their success collapsed into acrimony, debt and death.

The Promise

The band signed to Apple as The Iveys. They had several personnel changes through their career but Badfinger’s most stable line-up was during their successful early ’70s period — vocalist and guitarist Pete Ham, vocalist and bassist Tom Evans, drummer Mike Gibbons and guitarist Joey Molland.

Their first single, still as the Iveys, was Maybe Tomorrow written by Pete Evans. It was a catchy Beatlesque song that even Paul McCartney was convinced would be a major hit. It became the title track of their debut album.

Despite being a hit in Japan and many European countries, Maybe Tomorrow was only a minor hit in the USA and flopped in their homeland.

They cut a follow-up called Dear Angie, written by then bass guitarist, Ron Griffiths. The single had a limited release that didn’t include the UK and USA. It seemed as if The Iveys were destined for failure.

Then Neil Aspinal changed their name, Griffiths left the band and Paul McCartney took an interest.

It started so well

Paul McCartney offered the band a song he‘d written during the White Album sessions called Come And Get It. Although he’d made a solo demo playing all the instruments, The Beatles had never got around to recording it as a band.

McCartney produced Badfinger’s version, played the tambourine on it and ensured they recorded it exactly as his unreleased version. Unsurprisingly, it was a hit around the world.

With their next two albums produced by The Beatles’ engineer, Geoff Emerick and some tracks produced by McCartney and Harrison, people noted their similarity to The Beatles. This did them no harm.

A new single from their 3rd album, No Dice, was written and sung by Pete Ham. The power-pop, No Matter What gave them a second hit single. And another Beatles-flavoured song.

They’d hit the big time.

More success flowed Pete Ham and Tom Evans’ way when Harry Nilsson heard the closing track from No Dice, thinking initially it was a Beatles’ track. Nilsson went on to have a global hit with Without You in 1972.

Badfinger’s version was not the sweeping ballad Nisson and Mariah Carey, recorded.

Nonetheless, Pete Ham’s songwriting skills were becoming clearly evident. Another track that demonstrated this was Midnight Caller. Despite never being a single, it became a fan and radio favourite.

The Beatles connection continues

Even after The Beatles split up, Badfinger’s members continued to work with them. They played on Harrison’s All Things Must Pass triple album, Starr’s single It Don’t Come Easy and the Imagine album from Lennon.

The band also supported George Harrison on his Bangladesh Relief Concert in Canada,

By 1971, they had completed their 4th album, Straight Up, produced initially by Emerick and George Harrison and completed by Todd Rungren. Two more hit singles came from the album — Day After Day:

And Baby Blue.

Both songs were again written by Pete Ham, who was now a seriously significant songwriter.

But the storm clouds were gathering. The Beatles’ Apple label was in steep decline and disarray. Apple's chaos was so bad at this time, Baby Blue was never released in the UK.

Badfinger had to move out from under the Beatles’ wings and this brought dire consequences.

Turmoil and financial disaster beckons

Badfinger completed their 5th album, Ass, with Apple. It innocently means donkey in the UK but they were undoubtedly more than aware of its alternative US meaning.

Before it was released, they left the disintegrating Apple and moved to Warner Records. This was not before a dispute with Tod Rundgren regarding payment for his production on Ass that led to him walking out before he’d completed it.

They immediately recorded their 6th album with Warner, Badfinger. With the songs written rapidly in the studio as they went along, Badfinger was released on exactly the same day as Ass.

This was not the cleverest of moves. They were now competing with themselves.

Unsurprisingly, neither the albums nor the singles from them had any significant success. Their success had faded rapidly.

By now, the band was in serious financial difficulty and suffering from internal political squabbles.

The band’s manager was Stan Polley. In 1971 Polley had been named by a US senate hearing as an intermediary in a case between criminal gangs and a US Supreme Court judge. You have to ask about their judgment.

By 1972, Warner had filed a lawsuit against Polley for misappropriation of financial advances to Badfinger. The drawn-out case crippled the band financially and Warner terminated their contract.

Polley was investigated by other agencies and, nineteen years later, he pleaded no contest to charges of financial irregularities. By then, it had long been all over for Badfinger.

Suicide

Badfinger terminated their relationship with Polley but it was too late. No one would touch them due to the financial turmoil surrounding the band.

In 1975, after receiving news that all his money had disappeared and he was in serious debt, Pete Ham went on a drinking spree. He returned home and hanged himself in his garage studio. He left a note apologising to his expectant partner and blamed Polley for his troubles.

Ham was 27 and had shown signs of mental deterioration prior to his suicide according to his partner.

Apple deleted Badfinger’s entire back catalogue and, without the band’s principal member or any chance of royalties, they dissolved.

Relaunch and more turmoil

In 1979, a reformed Badfinger, with Joey Molland and Tom Evans, released a couple of comeback albums before splitting in acrimony and each forming new bands. Both called Badfinger.

Unlucky or something else?

By 1983, Molland and Evans were in a serious dispute with each other over their Apple-era royalties. Molland, and others, also wanted a share of Evans’ Without You royalties. Evans was also being sued for $5M over a cancelled tour of the US.

Evans had had enough. In a tragic and eerie simile of his friend's death, Evans went into his back garden in southern England and hanged himself.

The unluckiest band of all time?

In 2005, drummer Mike Gibbins died in his sleep aged just 56. Joey Molland was now the sole surviving member from Badfinger’s successful Apple years. He continues to tour as Joey Molland’s Badfinger.

In keeping with the turmoil surrounding the band, there is another version of Badfinger also touring and led by Bob Jackson. Jackson was a bandmember for a period in ‘74/5, following Ham’s death, and again in ‘81/3.

Nothing can ever be straightforward for possibly the unluckiest band of all time.

(The article was first published on medium.com)

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About the Creator

Alex Markham

Music, short fiction and travel, all with a touch of humour.

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