History
Having left Ducks Deluxe in early 1975, Garvey formed a band called The Snakes with Slaughter and vocalist Robert Gotobed, who would later form the punk band, Wire. Following the former group's quick demise (having released only one single before splitting) Garvey's manager Richard Ogden suggested that he form his own band. He contacted his former bandmate Andy McMaster (who had been working for a music publisher since leaving Ducks Deluxe) and they began recording demos together in January 1977. The Motors' debut live performance was at the Marquee Club in March 1977, and they recorded three songs for John Peel's weekly BBC Radio 1 show the same month (22 March 1977).
By May they had been signed to Virgin Records, and recorded material for another John Peel session on 12 September of that year.
Their first single was "Dancing the Night Away", which reached number 42 in the UK Singles Chart in 1977. Two other sizeable hits followed. In 1978 the band released "Airport" - which proved to be the band's biggest seller - and which peaked at number 4. The song was also a minor hit in the United States. The follow-up, "Forget About You", was released two months later.
The Motors' original recording line-up released two albums, both of which met with modest success; The Motors in 1977 and Approved By The Motors the following year.
The Garvey/McMaster/Tchaikovsky/Slaughter line-up split when Tchaikovsky left in mid 1978; largely due to his frustration with being on a retainer salary, rather than a full band member like Garvey and McMaster. Slaughter also left the group soon afterwards. Tchaikovsky would subsequently release three solo albums, the first of which took him into the American Top 40 with the power pop song "Girl of My Dreams".
Following the departure of Tchaikovsky and Slaughter, bassist Martin Ace and drummer Terry Williams (who had been the rhythm section for 1970s progressive rockers Man, drummer with Rockpile & later a stint with Dire Straits) were recruited to fill out the Motors' studio line-up. Following the release of the group's third album, 1980's Tenement Steps, which contained the minor chart hit "Love and Loneliness", Garvey and McMaster finally announced that they had dissolved the group in 1982.
Read more about this topic: The Motors
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