For this Friday Five, bands that had brothers. How did it work out? Sometimes brothers are tight and build an alliance, other times they fight like alley cats, other times one brother is the band leader and the other brother finds it necessary to leave in order to get their own music heard.
Here are five, but the list of bands with brothers is longer than I thought. Sorry, no Gibbs, Gallaghers, Jacksons, Bachmans, Everlys, Porcaros, Nelsons, Van Halens or Young’s. Maybe next time.
Dave Davies, The Kinks
The battling Davies. Dave was forever in the shadow of his brother Ray, the frontman and main songwriter of The Kinks. Dave played lead guitar and occasionally wrote and sang lead on those songs. As The Kinks downshifted their career, Dave stepped up his solo career, which has been very prolific.
Dave should be recognized as one of rock’s most innovative guitarists for his early use of feedback and distortion, along with using power chords in early Kinks songs like “You Really Got Me.”
Dave suffered a stroke in 2004, which put him out of action for two years as he relearned basic skills and playing the guitar. Having made a full recovery, he’s had a busy solo career and has hinted that he and Ray are on good terms and are busy on Kinks archives.
“Death of a Clown” “Imaginations Real”
David Knopfler, Dire Straits
David Knopfler played the second guitar in the band and sang backing vocals. He would leave Dire Straits after two albums, although he worked on what would be Making Movies, but his guitar parts were replaced by his brother.
David began a solo career, which he’s still enjoying. He’s released over a dozen studio albums and several live recordings. He’s worked with other artists along the way. In the 1980s, he provided music for some films, and later released a book of poetry.
David lives in Devon, England where he is active in local politics and unsuccessfully stood for election to the town council. He testified in a highly contested planning case against a large developer. At the hearing he said:
“I would just like the record to show that while I’m proud of my lifelong achievements as a rather more humble musician, the reality is I’m a 73-year-old pensioner, an economics graduate and former social worker living in a semi-detached, who happened to spend three years in a rock band almost fifty years ago. I’ve spent my entire life being misrepresented like this so it came as no surprise that this would be thrown opportunistically into their claim.”
“To Feel That Way Again” “Falling” “How Many Times”
Carl Wilson, the Beach Boys
Carl played lead guitar and occasionally sang lead, but was always a part of the rich, layered Beach Boy harmonies. Carl seemed to get lost in the Brian Wilson-Mike Love drama. After Brian withdrew from the band, Carl, along with Dennis and Al Jardine stepped forward, writing, singing and shaping the band’s musical direction.
Carl had the smoothest of voices among the Wilson brothers. “All This is That” “God Only Knows” “Good Vibrations”
Carl had a solo career, two solo albums and an album with Gerry Beckley and Robert Lamm. Carl Wilson died from cancer in 1998.
“Givin’ You Up” “I Wish For You”
Gregg Allman, the Allman Brothers Band
Gregory Allman was famous for many reasons, one of them being that he was Duane Allman’s younger brother. Duane was the star of the band, he was the leader, and very in-demand as a session guitarist. Eric Clapton asked him to join his band. Gregg was recruited to join what became the ABB as an organist, singer and main songwriter. The early focus was on Duane’s on stage performances.
Then Duane died in a motorcycle accident. Gregg had the band, but he was now alone, and grieving. Within a year, bass player Berry Oakley also died in a motorcycle accident. The band recruited two new members and carried forth.
“I was mad at him for dying. I was mad at life,” Gregg said of his brother’s death. “You never know how much you’re leaning on somebody until they die.”
“He had this real magic about him that would lock us all in, and we’d all take off. He really had that quality,” he said. “It wasn’t brothers as you would think ‘brothers.’ He really respected what I did, and I respected what he did…. Every time I walk up on the stage, I still feel like he’s standing right there next to me.”
A solo career began, but the difficulties were soon emerging. Gregg went hard into drugs and booze. He started a high profile relationship with Cher. The band began to struggle and internal conflicts broke up the ABB.
“Hot Lanta” “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”
Over next few decades, ABB would reconcile, split, reconcile, split and reconcile until they decided to retire the band. Gregg and Dickie Betts were locked into a competition for band leadership, as both men developed heavy substance abuse problems.
Gregg spent a lengthy part of his life dealing with death and divorce. Leading a band was difficult for multiple reasons, it was a very dark period.
Betts was eventually dismissed from the band. Gregg kept a solo career going even though he had serious health issues, including needing a liver transplant.
Gregory Allman died in 2017 at age 69 from complications of liver cancer.
Tom Fogerty, Creedence Clearwater Revival
Like David Knopfler, Tom Fogerty had the bad luck to be in a band with a talented brother who took the spotlight and never surrendered it. Tom Fogerty played rhythm guitar in a band where his brother wrote the songs, sang lead and produced the albums. There wasn’t much for Tom to do. Tom had originally been the lead singer. He left the band in 1971, after the sixth CCR album, for a solo career.
According to Wikipedia: “From Tom’s departure from the band in 1971 until his death, his relationship with his brother John was strained, woven into the complex legal and personal battles that John had with Fantasy Records owner Saul Zaentz. Tom’s continued association with Zaentz, and even taking his side in lawsuits, business disputes, and retrospective analyses of the band’s difficulties, led to an irreconcilable impasse in their relationship.”
“Joyful Resurrection” “Goodbye Media Man”
According to brother John, the two of them never really reconciled, even as Tom was dying and John visited him. Tom Fogerty died of tuberculosis and complications from AIDS.
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