Wishbone Ash has its roots in the English seaside resort of Torquay. Founding member Martin Turner (born Torquay October 1st 1947) had started playing guitar at the age of fourteen on a "beat up old Spanish instrument" before moving to bass, but had displayed a musical talent from a much earlier age, having sang in a church choir.

November 1963
Martin and his guitar playing brother Glenn Turner form their first band, The Torinoes, who soon build up a respectable following in the West Country area, playing the music of the Shadows, Johnny Kidd, Chuck Berry, the Everley Bros, Little Richard, Ray Charles and Wayne Fontana.  By 1966 The Torinoes had evolved into the Empty Vessels - a three piece outfit featuring Martin, Glenn plus drummer Adrian Smith.   Smith's stay, however, was to be shortlived.

The Empty Vessels

July 16th 1966
At an Exeter cafe called Dirty Dot’s, the Turner brothers meet Steve Upton (born Wrexham, May 24th 1946), a well known figure on the West Country music scene who already had a wealth of touring experience behind him, having played with several bands - one of whom had even toured the German club circuit.  Martin and Glenn Turner invited Steve to join their band, an offer Upton accepted. Just a week later the trio played their first gig together.

May 13th 1969
Martin and Glenn Turner, and Steve Upton move to London and turned fully professional, having already built up a reputation on the pub/ dance hall circuit in the Torquay/ Exeter area.  By this stage the Empty Vessels had changed their name to Tanglewood. Tanglewood spend the next couple of months playing club gigs around London and trying to secure professional representation.

July 1969
By this stage Glenn Turner had decided to return home to Torquay and Tanglewood played their final gig was at the Country Club, Hampstead in July 1969. It was here that Martin and Steve first met Miles Copeland III, an expatriate who had been brought up in Beirut by a Scottish mother and a southern American CIA agent father. Copeland offered to manage Martin and Steve and help them build a new group.   An ad was placed in “Melody Maker”, which read: "LEAD GUITARIST: Positive thinking, creative and adaptable, for strongly backed group with great future."

One of the replies to the ad came from Birmingham born guitarist David "Ted" Turner (born August 2nd 1950, no relation to Martin). Ted started playing guitar at the age of sixteen, but had little experience of playing in bands, except for a Birmingham blues band called King Biscuit. Another applicant the more experienced Andy Powell (born East London February 19th 1950), who had played with several semi-pro soul bands since taking up guitar aged eight. Although not originally intending to recruit two guitarists - the original idea had been to add a keyboard player to the line-up - Martin and Steve, unable to decide between Andy and Ted, invited both guitarists to rehearsals to see how they would play together. Ted and Andy's styles gelled perfectly, the search for a keyboardsman was abandoned and both guitarists were asked to join the band, creating the famous twin lead guitar sound that would subsequently be the band's trademark.

September/October 1969
The new band spend several weeks writing and rehearsing at Miles Copeland’s home. A new name is also decided on - Wishbone Ash - two words put together by Martin Turner from two separate lists of potential names the band had compiled.

November 10th 1969
Wishbone Ash perform their first gig in front of 500 people at Dunstable Civic Hall, supporting Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation, for which they are paid £5! The band continue to gig throughout 1969/70, including support slots for Slade, T-Rex, Taste, Caravan, Mott the Hoople and Smile (the latter featuring future members of Queen).

E-mail this page
Add to Favorites
Advanced Search