Saturday, July 20, 8 p.m.
The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA
An early pioneer of the 1960s' British Invasion and a bona-fide rock-and-roll legend plays Davenport's Redstone Room on July 20, with the venue hosting the area arrival of singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Denny Laine, the 74-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee who co-founded The Moody Blues and the Paul McCartney-led outfit Wings.
Born in Tyseley, Birmingham, England, Laine gave his first solo performance as a guitarist at age 12, and began his career as a professional musician fronting Denny Laine & the Diplomats, which also included future Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan. Shortly after leaving the Diplomats in 1964, he received an offer from Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder form a new band called The M&B 5 – whose moniker was eventually changed to The Moody Blues – and sang the group's first big hit “Go Now,” which went on to top the U.K. Charts. Laine's other early highlights with the band included the hits “I Don't Want To Go On Without You,” “From the Bottom of My Heart (I Love You),” and “Everyday” (the latter two written by Laine and Pinder), and after leaving The Moody Blues in 1966, the musician formed The Electric String Band, which also featured The Move's Trevor Burton on guitar and Pretty Things' Viv Prince on drums.
It was in 1971 that Laine joined McCartney to form Wings, staying with the group for 10 years until it disbanded in 1981. Laine provided lead and rhythm guitars, lead and backing vocals, keyboards, bass guitar, and woodwinds, and the most acclaimed Wings album Band on the Run was written and recorded by Wings as the trio of Laine, McCartney, and McCartney's wife Linda. Laine was also the most frequent contributor to the songwriting process and as lead vocalist, writing and singing several songs himself (“Time to Hide,” “Again and Again and Again”), and singing lead vocals on McCartney’s songs either in full (“The Note You Never Wrote”) or in part (“I Lie Around,” “Picasso's Last Words,” “Spirits of Ancient Egypt”). Over the nearly four decades since Wings disbanded, Laine has released nine albums as a solo artist, most recently 2008's critically acclaimed The Blue Musician, and in 2018 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Moody Blues.
Denny Laine will fill the Redstone Room with classic rock starting at 8 p.m. on July 20, admission is $25-30, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)326-1333 or visiting RiverMusicExperience.org.
