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Nirvana (British band)
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===1966–1971: Early years=== Nirvana was created as the performing arm of the London-based songwriting partnership of Irish musician [[Patrick Campbell-Lyons]] and Greek composer Alex Spyropoulos (born George Alex Spyropoulos, 1941, Athens) and English producer [[Ray Singer (record producer)|Ray Singer]] (born 1946). On their recordings, Campbell-Lyons, Ray Singer and Spyropoulos supplied all the vocals. Campbell-Lyons contributed on guitars, and Spyropoulos contributed on some keyboards. Musically, Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos blended rock, pop, [[folk music|folk]], [[jazz]], Latin rhythms and [[classical music]], primarily augmented by [[baroque]] [[chamber music|chamber]]-style arrangements. In October 1967, they released their first album, a [[concept album]] produced by Chris Blackwell titled ''[[The Story of Simon Simopath]]''.<ref>Jim Irvin, Phil Alexander Mojo collection: the ultimate music companion 2007 Page 115 "Nirvana The Story of Simon Simonpath Sumptuous soft-psych classic from the original UK Nirvana. The brainchild of songwriters Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos and Ray Singer, Nirvana was originally conceived as a group but devolved into a ..."</ref> The album was one of the first narrative [[concept album]]s ever released, predating story-driven concept albums such as [[Pretty Things]]'s ''[[S.F. Sorrow]]'' (December 1968), [[The Who]]'s ''[[Tommy (The Who album)|Tommy]]'' (April 1969) and [[The Kinks]]'s ''[[Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)|Arthur]]'' (September 1969). [[Island Records]] launched Nirvana's first album "with a live show at the Saville Theatre, sharing a bill with fellow label acts [[Traffic (band)|Traffic]], [[Spooky Tooth]], and [[Jackie Edwards (musician)|Jackie Edwards]]."<ref name="Brian Hogg 1992">Brian Hogg, Sleeve Notes to the compilation ''Travelling on a Cloud'', 1992.</ref> Unable to perform their songs live as a duo, Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos decided to create a live performing ensemble, the Nirvana Ensemble, and recruited four musicians.<ref>Donald Clarke, ''The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', 1990. p. 859; "NIRVANA Psychedelic rock band formed in UK '67, led by Patrick Campbell-Lyons (b Waterford, Eire) and Alex Spyropoulos (b Greece). Songwriter Campbell-Lyons had moved to England to attend university, instead joined Second Thoughts"</ref> Though hired to be part of the live performance group rather than as band members, these four musicians were also included in the photograph alongside the core duo on the album cover of their first album to assist in projecting an image of a group rather than a duo. However, within a few months, Nirvana had reverted to its original two-person lineup. The four musicians who augmented Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos on their live appearances and television shows for those few months were [[Ray Singer (record producer)|Ray Singer]] (guitar), Brian Henderson (bass), Sylvia A. Schuster (cello) and Michael Coe (French horn, viola). [[Sue and Sunny]] also participated in providing their vocals.<ref>{{Discogs artist|4809078-The-Nirvana-Ensemble|4809078-The-Nirvana-Ensemble}}</ref> The band appeared on French television with [[Salvador Dalí]], who splashed black paint on them during a performance of their third single, "Rainbow Chaser". Campbell-Lyons kept the jacket but regretted that Dalí did not sign any of their paint-splashed clothes. Island Records allegedly sent the artist an invoice for the cleaning of Schuster's cello.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Smithsonian |last2=Meisler |first2=Stanley |title=The Surreal World of Salvador Dalí |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-surreal-world-of-salvador-dali-78993324/ |access-date=2024-07-13 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> Following the minor chart success of "Rainbow Chaser", "live appearances became increasingly rare" and the songwriting duo at the core of Nirvana "decided to disband the sextet" and to rely on session musicians for future recordings.<ref name="Brian Hogg 1992" /> Spyropoulos cited Schuster's departure due to [[pregnancy]] as the instigator for the band returning to its core membership. Campbell-Lyons also cited the high cost of having the additional members as a reason for their departure.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z14bxIJuGIc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Z14bxIJuGIc| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Nirvana UK |publisher=YouTube |date=18 August 2008 |access-date=18 April 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Schuster later became the principal cellist of the [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]].<ref>"Dali" spoken word track on ''Secret Theatre''</ref> In 1968, Nirvana recorded their second album, ''All of Us'', which featured a similar broad range of musical styles as their first album. After the release of the album, Ray Singer left the group to produce Peter Sarstedt. Their third album, ''Black Flower'', was rejected by Blackwell, who compared it disparagingly to [[Francis Lai]]'s ''[[A Man and a Woman]]''. Under the title ''To Markos III'' (supposedly named for a "rich uncle" of Spyropoulos who helped finance the album), it was released in the UK on the [[Pye International Records|Pye]] label in May 1970, though reportedly only 250 copies were pressed and it was deleted shortly after. One track, "Christopher Lucifer", was a jibe at Blackwell.<ref>"Melanie Blue" (attr.)liner notes, ''To Markos III''</ref> In 1971, the duo separated, with Campbell-Lyons the primary contributor to the next two Nirvana albums, ''Local Anaesthetic'' (1971), and ''Songs of Love And Praise'' (1972), the latter featuring the return of Sylvia Schuster. Campbell-Lyons subsequently worked as a solo artist and issued further albums: ''Me and My Friend'' (1973), ''The Electric Plough'' (1981), and ''The Hero I Might Have Been'' (1983).
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