The Smoke (English band)

The Smoke
Origin	York, England
Genres	Psychedelic pop, pop music
Years active	1965–1976
Labels	Island Records Columbia (EMI) Metronome Records (Germany),
Associated acts	Boney M.
Members
Mick Rowley (vocals) Mal Luker (guitar) John "Zeke" Lund (bass) Geoff Gill (drums)

The Smoke was an English pop group from York. Their biggest hit was "My Friend Jack" (German Charts: #2, UK charts: #45). They consisted of Mick Rowley (lead vocals) (born Michael Rowley, 29 June 1946, Scarborough, Yorkshire), Mal Luker (lead guitar) (born Malcom Luker, 3 March 1946, New Delhi, India), "Zeke" Lund (bass) (born John Lund, 13 November 1945, York, Yorkshire) and Geoff Gill (drums) (born Geoffrey Robert Gill, 15 May 1949, York). Lund went on to be a sound engineer for Boney M., who recorded "My Friend Jack".

The band originally performed around Yorkshire as "The Moonshots", changing their name to "The Shots" when they moved to London. There were two bands playing R & B and other cover versions, one was called Tony Adams and the Viceroys, who included John 'Zeke' Lund on bass; Mal Luker on guitar and David Gill on drums. The other band was The Moonshots, who included Mick Rowley on lead vocals and Phil Peacock on guitar. The band then came together as The Shots and made a single for Columbia - 'Keep A Hold Of What You've Got' which flopped. At some point Peacock left the band, who then changed their name to The Smoke.

Discography

Albums

• 1967: It's Smoke Time (Metronome, Germany-only)

Singles

as The Shots

• 1965: "Keep A Hold Of What You've Got" / "She's A Liar" (UK)
• 1965: "There She Goes" / "Walk Right Out The Door" (UK)

as The Smoke

• 1967: "My Friend Jack" / "We Can Take It" (D)
• 1967: "High In A Room" / "If The Weather's Sunny" (D)
• 1967: "If The Weather's Sunny" / "I Would If I Could, But I Can't" (UK)
• 1967: "Victor Henry's Cool Book" / "Have Some More Tea" (D)
• 1967: "It Could Be Wonderful" / "Have Some More Tea" (UK)
• 1968: "Utterly Simple" / "Sydney Gill" (UK)
• 1968: "Sydney Gill" / "It Could Be Wonderful" (D)
• 1970: "Dreams Of Dreams" / "My Birth" (UK)
• 1971: "Ride, Ride, Ride" / "Guy Fawkes" (UK)
• 1972: "Sugar Man" / "That's What I Want" (D)
• 1972: "Jack is Back" / "That's What I Want" (F)
• 1974: "Shagalagalu" / "Gimme Good Loving" (D)
• 1974: "My Lullaby" / "Looking High" (UK)
• 1976: "My Friend Jack" (1976 version) / "Lady" (F)

References

External links

• http://www.marmalade-skies.co.uk/smoke.htm
• http://www.myspace.com/thesmokeuk Fan page
• The Smoke discography at Discogs