Marquee Club
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Location | London |
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Coordinates | 51°30′48″N 0°08′02″W / 51.5134°N 0.1339°W |
Type | Nightclub |
Genre(s) | Rock |
Opened | 19 April 1958 |
Closed | 2008 |
The Marquee Club was a music venue in London, England, which opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. It was a small and relatively cheap club, in the heart of London's West End.
It was the location of the first live performance by the Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962.[1][2]
Origins
The club was established by
The 1960s: Rock roots
In March 1964, the club moved a short distance to what became its most famous venue, with an entrance at 90 Wardour Street, and the actual music venue housed over two buildings. Almost every major rock band played on the tiny stage here over the next 25 years.
The Marquee in Wardour Street did not have an alcohol licence until 1970,[5] hence, Simon White (manager of the Marquee Studio) and music agent Kenny Bell [6] came up with the idea of opening a private bar called La Chasse Club[7] at 100 Wardour Street, which Jack Barrie managed. La Chasse became the watering hole of many musicians and operated until 1973. [8][9]
Band residencies during the late 1960s included
In 1964,
John Gee, a former accountant and journalist, became the manager of the Marquee Club during the 1960s and was a pivotal part of helping create what the Melody Maker termed "the most important venue in the history of pop music".[5] Gee championed certain groups that played at the club such as Ten Years After and Jethro Tull, and wrote the liner notes for Ten Years After's eponymous 1967 debut album. Jethro Tull named the B-side of their second single, "A Song For Jeffrey", a jazz-flavoured instrumental, "One for John Gee". Gee introduced the bands to the audience before they appeared on stage. He left the Marquee Club in 1970 to take a job in the offices of Radio Luxembourg. Jack Barrie, who was the manager of the Soho bar La Chasse, took over as the manager of the Marquee in 1970.[5]
The 1970s
The Marquee Club also nurtured a large social scene based around the record industry, with record company heads and their
The Faces performed at The Marquee on 7 December 1970. Queen performed at the club three times in the beginning of their career. First on 8 January 1971, then on 20 December 1972, and on 9 April 1973, as their first gig after signing with the Trident record company.[12][13] In 1972, Status Quo took to the stage with a blistering set, including "Paper Plane", the video for which was filmed during this gig. On 18, 19 & 20 October 1973, Be-Bop Deluxe and String Driven Thing appeared on the same bill in 1974, David Bowie filmed The 1980 Floor Show at the Marquee for the American NBC TV late night show The Midnight Special.[14] NBC used the Marquee Studios (housed beside the venue) as dressing rooms for the cast.
Although never a seminal punk venue, the club nevertheless embraced the burgeoning punk rock movement of the late 1970s and regularly promoted punk and new wave nights into the 1980s. Mainstream rock acts appeared regularly at the venue.
The 1980s
During the early to mid-1980s the Marquee became an important venue to the
The Marquee was the central venue of the progressive rock revival of the early 1980s. It was here that the then-unsigned
During this period the club held heats and the final of Melody Maker's "band contests". New wave and indie bands appeared, including "Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please" one-hit wonders Splodgenessabounds and the almost-cult band the Hummers. In 1985, Wham! filmed the video for "I'm Your Man" there, clearly showing the Marquee name.
The band Genesis also performed at the Marquee during their 1982 Abacab Encore tour. At the Marquee, they signed as Garden Wall.
Final location, closure and subsequent re-use of the name
In 1988, Harold Pendleton sold the club to Billy Gaff, the former manager of
The Marquee was relocated in 2001 by Billy Gaff and entrepreneur Doug Palfreeman to Angel, Islington, in a purpose-built space. It was then sold on to Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. However, with Stewart's team this hit financial difficulties and closed in 2003, less than a year after it had opened. It is now O2 Academy Islington.
Under new owner entrepreneur Nathan Lowry, the Marquee Club re-opened in 2004 in Leicester Square above MTV's TRL studio. Jimmy Page re-opened the club. The opening night was called the Breakthrough Weekender featuring dozens of new and unsigned artists. A Jimi Hendrix exhibition ran for three months featuring a large collection of original guitars and unseen footage at the club, before being auctioned by Mick Fleetwood's auction company Fleetwood Owen. The club featured over 500 new and established bands during its time here, including Razorlight, the Feeling, and the Magic Numbers. Many music industry launches were held at the club including the Download Festival featuring Ozzy, Green Day, Billy Idol and Snow Patrol. Both MTV and the club closed with the Marquee citing licensing problems with Westminster Council. It continued as a pop up in St Martin's Lane for another year until closing in 2008. Lowry continues to hold the brand rights.
General and cited references
- ISBN 1-900924-41-2
- B.B. King
- ISBN 0-7043-2696-5. First Edition: Blowing The Blues – Fifty Years Playing The British Blues
- Christopher Hjort Strange Brew: ISBN 1-906002-00-2
- Paul Myers: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues, Vancouver: GreyStone Books, 2007
- Harry Shapiro Alexis Korner: The Biography, London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 1997. Discography by Mark Troster
Citations
- ^ "The Rolling Stones 40 years anniversary Marquee Club, London, July 12, 1962", The Rolling Stones Fan Club of Europe. It's Only Rock'n Roll.
- ^ Jim Farber (12 July 1962). "The Rolling Stones – The Rolling Stones celebrate 50 years". New York Daily News. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
- ^ Barroso, K. "Marquee Promotions' Festivals". TheMarqueeClub.net. Archived from the original on 2 July 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Solly, Bob (April 2014). "The Crucible". Record Collector. No. 426. pp. 38–46.
- ^ a b c "Journalist and manager who helped make the Marquee Club in Soho the epicentre of British rock in the 1960s". The Independent. 26 July 2014.
- ^ Article about Kenny Bell La Chasse Club, The Marquee, and David Bowie, written by a former Marquee employee
- ^ "Kenny Bell obituary". The Times. 14 August 2023. p. 42.
'Music promoter who booked some of rock's biggest acts and helped David Bowie to fund and record his first demos'
- ^ "The Quietus | News | GALLERY: Rowan Bulmer". Thequietus.com. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ Thompson, Howard (5 November 2008). "La Chasse". North Fork Sound. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
- ISBN 9780224062404.
- ^ Barroso, K. (January 2007). "Interview with Peter Banks of Yes". TheMarqueeClub.net. Archived from the original on 28 October 2007.
- ISBN 5900809013.
- ^ "Queen Concerts 20.12.1972". QueenConcerts.com.
- ^ "The Ziggy Stardust Companion - The 1980 Floor Show (1/2)". 5years.com. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ "The Bioscope: the cinema king". Thebioscope.net. 19 November 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
External links
- Official website
- "The Marquee plays it again – and Hendrix is top of the bill". Independent.co.uk. 7 August 2004. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- "Marquee Club Returns To London". Billboard.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- "London's Marquee Goes Live". Billboard.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- Kennedy, Maev (11 August 2004). "Hendrix exhibition helps to relaunch London music club". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- "wnews". Thecnj.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- "Marquee Club returns with Leicester Square venue". Spabusiness.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- "Marquee Club returns with Leicester Square venue". Leisureopportunities.co.uk. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- "Queen Concerts – 20.12.1972 – Queen live at the The Marquee Club, London, UK". Queenconcerts.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.