Badfinger

Badfinger was a popular British pop-rock band in the early '70s. Originally called the Iveys, the group signed with Apple Records in late 1968 after its demo tape found its way into Paul McCartney's hands. In 1969 McCartney supervised the quartet's soundtrack work on the Ringo Starr-Peter Sellers film, The Magic Christian, for which he wrote "Come and Get It," Badfinger's first hit (#7, 1970).

During the early '70s Badfinger had three more hit singles: "No Matter What" (#8, 1970), "Day After Day" (#4, 1972), and "Baby Blue" (#14, 1972). Pete Ham and Tom Evans’ “Without You,” covered by Harry Nilsson on Nilsson Schmilsson, became a #1 single in February 1972; in 1994 it was a hit again, this time for Mariah Carey. The group frequently backed the ex-Beatles on tours and records, appearing at George Harrison’s 1971’s benefit concert for Bangladesh and on his album All Things Must Pass, on John Lennon’s Imagine, and on Ringo Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy.”

After its fourth album, 1973’s Ass, sold disappointingly, Badfinger moved to Warner Bros. the following year for a reported $3 million advance. It proved a disastrous relationship. The group’s second album for its new label, Wish You Were Here, was selling a brisk 25,000 copies a week when Warners, claiming (erroneously, it would turn out) that $600,000 in a band escrow account was missing, pulled the album from stores. In frustration over management problems, Molland quit. A despondent Ham, the leader and chief songwriter, hanged himself in his London home on April 23, 1975. Badfinger collapsed. Soon thereafter, Molland formed a group called Natural Gas in L.A. with former Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley; Evans returned to England to join the Dodgers. By 1978 Molland was installing carpets for a living, while Evans was a pipefitter. Together they revived Badfinger, releasing Airwaves in 1979 and Say No More in 1981. Each produced a minor hit in “Love Is Gonna Come at Last” and “Hold On,” respectively. Business problems continued to haunt the group, which didn’t see royalties from its days with Apple Records until 1985. Tragically by then Evans had committed suicide in the same manner as Ham. Molland and drummer Gibbins, now both living in America, still tour as Badfinger; Molland also has recorded several solo albums. The late ’90s saw a renewed interest in the group’s records, and a documentary film, Badfinger, appeared in 1997. The ’90s Ham solo releases consist of demos from the ’60s and ’70s.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)