Violinski

Violinski
Origin	UK
Genres	Rock, Progressive rock
Years active	1977–1984
Labels	Jet Records
Associated acts	Electric Light Orchestra Cow The Camden Rats Wizzard Necromandus
Past members	Mik Kaminski Mike de Albuquerque Barry Dunnery John Hodgson Paul Mann John Marcangelo Iain Whitmore Bob Brady Rod Butler Andy Brown Ronnie Caryl

Violinski was a rock band formed in 1977 by Electric Light Orchestra member Mik Kaminski on violins, and former member Mike de Albuquerque on guitar and vocals; plus Barry Dunnery (formerly of Necromandus), John Hodgson (drums), Paul Mann, John Marcangelo (keyboards) and Iain Whitmore (bass guitar and vocals), formerly with Starry Eyed And Laughing. At one point, former Wizzard member Bob Brady was lead vocalist, and Rod Butler, who played lead guitar for a while, also appeared on the BBC show, Top of the Pops. At the time Kaminski was still a member of the Electric Light Orchestra, who were then enjoying their greatest success. John Hodgson had been a member of Rick Wakeman's band, the English Rock Ensemble, performing on percussion. He appeared on The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and Lisztomania albums. He toured with Wakeman to North and South America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand during the period 1974-1976.

The group had been formed out of The Camden Rats, a group consisting of Kaminski, Hodgson, Geoff Crampton and two singers, one of them named Verdie. Kaminski and Hodgson then contacted ex-Cow member Marcangelo. The band Cow was formed while Kaminski, Hodgson and Marcangelo were students at Leeds College of music 1968-1970. With Andy Brown (bass and vocals) and Dunnery (guitar) the first Violinski line-up was complete. The first recording session started on 14 December 1977. Recordings for their first album continued throughout 1978 with Brown and Dunnery being replaced by de Albuquerque and Mann. The latter was replaced for their second album by Whitmore.

...
Wikipedia