Denny Laine - Biography

Biography

Laine was educated at Yardley Grammar School in Birmingham, and took up the guitar as a boy under the influence of Gypsy jazz (jazz manouche) legend Django Reinhardt; he had his first solo performance as a musician at the age of twelve and began his career as a professional musician fronting Denny Laine & The Diplomats, which also included future Move and 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 early highlights included 'I Don't Want To Go On Without You', another UK hit, plus the further two minor UK chart hits "From The Bottom Of My Heart ( I Love You)", 'Everyday' (both written by Laine & Pinder), "Can't Nobody Love You" and the harmonica-ripping "Bye Bye Bird" (a big hit in France). A self titled EP and 'The Magnificent Moodies' LP on Decca followed. Laine & Pinder wrote most of The Moody Blues 'B' sides during the 1965-66 period, such as; 'You Don't (All the Time)', 'And My Baby's Gone' & 'This is My House'. However, Laine's tenure with the MB's was relatively short-lived and, after a number of comparative chart failures, Laine quit the band in August 1966. The last record issued by the Moody Blues that featured Laine was "Life's Not Life"/"He Can Win" in January 1967, after Justin Hayward had just replaced him in the band.

After leaving the Moody Blues in early October 1966, he formed the Electric String Band in December 1966, which featured himself on guitar and vocals, Trevor Burton (another former member of The Move) on guitar, Viv Prince on drums, and electrified strings in a format not dissimilar to what Electric Light Orchestra would later attempt. They made two singles, "Say You Don't Mind"/"Ask The People" (April 1967, Deram) and "Too Much In Love"/"Catherine's Wheel" (January 1968, Deram); and, in June 1967, they shared a bill with The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Procol Harum at the Saville Theatre in London. However, national attention was not to be, and the pioneering Electric String Band broke up. (There was apparently a third single recorded called "Why Did You Come?". Why it never released is unknown, but there have been rumours that the finished track - and probably the B side as well - was sent by post to Decca and was lost.) Laine and Burton then went on to the band Balls from February 1969 until the band's breakup in 1971, with both also taking time to play in Ginger Baker's Air Force in 1970.

Only one single was issued by Balls: "Fight For My Country"/"Janie, Slow Down" on UK Wizard Records. The top side was re-edited and reissued on UK Wizard and issued in the UK on Wizard and in the US on Epic under the name of Trevor Burton; Laine and Burton shared lead vocals on the B side. The single was reissued again as B.L.W. as "Live In The Mountains" for a small Pye distributed label, "Paladin". Twelve tracks were recorded for a Balls album, but it has never been released. Laine's 1967 song "Say You Don't Mind" was a hit when recorded in 1972 by ex-Zombie, Colin Blunstone.

In 1971, Laine joined Paul McCartney to found Wings, and stayed with them for a full ten years until they officially disbanded in 1981. Laine provided lead and rhythm guitars, lead and backing vocals, keyboards, bass guitar, and woodwinds, as well as writing or co-writing some of their material. Together with Paul and his wife, Linda, they formed the nucleus of the band, being called that "strange, 3-winged beast". It was with Wings that Laine enjoyed the biggest commercial and critical successes of his career, including co-writing the smash hit "Mull of Kintyre".

In January 1980, McCartney was arrested for possession of marijuana upon arrival at an airport for a tour in Japan. The tour was cancelled and a press release by McCartney in early 1981 officially announced that Wings had broken up. Laine holds no ill-will toward McCartney over breaking up Wings and is working with McCartney on a biographical book that will include the Wings era.

In 1986, Laine played at the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986, raising money for the Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Laine filed for bankruptcy in the mid-1980s after selling his co-publishing rights of "Mull of Kintyre" to co-author McCartney. However, he has continued to record music and has appeared at Beatles conventions and on tributes to both the Beatles and Wings. He is currently working on an autobiography.

He was briefly married to Jo Jo Laine, with whom he had a son, Laine Hines, and a daughter, Heidi Hines. He has three other children from other relationships: Lucianne Grant, Damian James and Ainsley Laine-Adams. He then dated Rosha but they split back in 2009.

Laine still performs regularly, most recently at the Memorial Tribute Concert for Gordon Waller, at the Cannery Casino and Hotel in North Las Vegas on 29 May 2010.