Free

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Free was an English rock band, formed in London in 1968 by the singer and guitarist Paul Rodgers, the guitarist Paul Kossoff, the bassist and keyboard player Andy Fraser and the drummer Simon Kirke. Kossoff and Kirke knew each other from Black Cat Bones. Kossoff heard Rodgers in an R&B club in Finsbury Park and asked if he could play along. Alexis Korner recommended Fraser and came up with the name Free. The first gig was on 19 April 1968 in Battersea. The band members were teenagers: Fraser was fifteen, Kossoff seventeen, Rodgers and Kirke eighteen.

Music and breakthrough

In November 1968 they recorded their first album, Tons of Sobs, which was released on Island Records in March 1969. Free followed that same year. Both records sold modestly, although the band was known for its live performances and ceaseless touring. The breakthrough came with Fire and Water in 1970, with the hit All Right Now. As a result the group was invited to play at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, before an audience of 600,000 people. Highway followed in 1970 and Free at Last in 1972. Fraser left in 1972, and after Heartbreaker in 1973 the band broke up.

Influence

Rodgers and Kirke then formed Bad Company, Kossoff Back Street Crawler. Kossoff died in 1976 at the age of twenty-five. Free played blues rock and was famous for its live shows. Rolling Stone called the band pioneers of British hard rock. All Right Now remains a fixture on the radio.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1969Free
• 1969Tons of Sobs
• 1970Fire and Water
• 1970Highway
• 1972Free at Last
• 1973Heartbreaker

See also

• Free