Supertramp
Davies decided to form a new band and returned home from Switzerland to place an ad in the music magazine Melody Maker in August 1969. Roger Hodgson was auditioned and, despite their contrasting backgrounds – Davies’s working class upbringing and Hodgson’s public school education – they struck up an instant rapport and began writing virtually all of their songs together. The band was initially called Daddy, but renamed Supertramp in January 1970.
Supertramp became one of the first acts to sign to the emerging A&M Records, and by the summer of 1970 they had recorded their first album, simply called Supertramp. Hodgson performed the lion's share of the lead vocals on this first effort, but by the time of their second album Indelibly Stamped, Davies had stepped up as a singer, and he and Hodgson were sharing lead vocal duties equally.
After five years with Davies and Hodgson as the mainstays of a continuously changing group, Supertramp settled into a stable lineup and recorded Crime of the Century, which finally brought them critical and commercial success when it was released in 1974. It reached number four in the UK Albums Chart. Though their singles were only moderately successful, their albums consistently scored high in the charts. Davies's relationship with Hodgson had begun to deteriorate, and the two began writing most of their songs separately again, though they agreed to have them all credited to Davies/Hodgson by contract.
By 1977 they had relocated to the States, and it was there that they recorded their best-selling album, Breakfast in America. With more hit singles than their first five albums combined, it reached number three in the UK, and top of the charts in America. The album is reckoned to have sold over 20 million copies since its release on 29 March 1979.
In 1983, Hodgson quit. Davies's relationship with him had worn down to almost nonexistence, and the group's last hit before his departure, "My Kind of Lady", featured little involvement from him as either a writer or performer. The song was a showcase for Davies's vocal range, with him singing in everything from a booming bass to a piercing falsetto to his natural raspy baritone. With Davies now firmly at the helm, Supertramp returned to a more non-commercial, progressive rock-oriented approach. The band continued to tour and record for another five years before disbanding, with a mutual agreement between the members that Supertramp had run its course.
In 1997, during work on what would have been his first solo album, Davies decided to reform Supertramp. The group promptly returned to recording and touring, yielding another two studio albums before splitting again. Supertramp reunited in 2010 for their 70–10 tour.
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