10cc

1963–1968: Early days; The Mockingbirds; The Mindbenders

Lol Creme, Kevin Godley, and Graham Gouldman were childhood friends in the Manchester area. As boys, Godley and Creme knew each other, and remained in touch while studying at separate art colleges; Gouldman and Godley attended the same secondary school, and their musical enthusiasm led to their playing at the local Jewish Lads' Brigade. Eric Stewart was born in Droylsden, a housing overflow area for neighbouring Manchester, and now part of Greater Manchester. Godley and Creme studied at art college until 1968. Creme was at Birmingham School of Art where he gained a BA degree, while Godley was at Stoke-on-Trent Regional College of Art (now Stoke-on-Trent College of Art).

While at art college, Godley played briefly in local band The Sabres (later to become The Magic Lanterns), while in 1963 Gouldman formed The Whirlwinds, which in 1964 released the first collaboration between any of the four future 10cc members when Gouldman and The Whirlwinds recorded the Lol Creme composition "Baby Not Like You", as the B-side of their only single, "Look At Me". The Whirlwinds then changed their name to The Mockingbirds, with Gouldman on bass, and Godley joining as drummer. The Mockingbirds recorded five singles in 1965 and 1966, including "That's How (It's Gonna Stay)" (1965), without any success, before dissolving.

Guitarist Eric Stewart became a member of Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, a group that hit No. 1 with "The Game of Love", and scored a number of other mid-1960s hits. When Fontana left the band in October 1965, the group became known simply as the Mindbenders, with Stewart as their lead vocalist. The band scored a hit with "A Groovy Kind of Love" (released December 1965) and made an appearance in the 1967 film To Sir, with Love with "It's Getting Harder All the Time" and "Off and Running". In March 1968, Gouldman joined Stewart in the Mindbenders, replacing bassist Bob Lang and playing on some tour dates. Gouldman wrote two of the band's last three singles, "Schoolgirl" (released November 1967) and "Uncle Joe the Ice Cream Man" (August 1968). Those singles did not chart, and the Mindbenders broke up after a short tour of England in November.

In June 1967, Godley and Creme got together and recorded a solitary single ("Seeing Things Green" b/w "Easy Life" on UK CBS) under the name "The Yellow Bellow Room Boom". In 1969, Gouldman took them to a Marmalade Records recording session. The boss of Marmalade Records, Giorgio Gomelsky, was impressed with Godley's falsetto voice and offered them a recording contract. In September 1969, Godley & Creme recorded some basic tracks at Strawberry Studios, with Stewart on guitar and Gouldman on bass. The song, "I'm Beside Myself" b/w "Animal Song", was released as a single, credited to Frabjoy and Runcible Spoon.

1968–1970: Birth of Strawberry Studios; the bubblegum era

In the dying days of the Mindbenders, Stewart began recording demos of new material at Inner City Studios, a Stockport studio then owned by Peter Tattersall, a former road manager for Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas. In July 1968, Stewart joined Tattersall as a partner in the studio, where he could further hone his skills as a recording engineer. In October 1968, the studio was moved to bigger premises and renamed Strawberry Studios, after the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever".

In 1969, Gouldman began using Strawberry to record demos of songs he was writing for Marmalade. He had become much more in demand as a songwriter than as a performer. By the end of the year, he too was a financial partner in the studios.

By 1969, all four members of the original 10cc line-up were working together regularly at Strawberry Studios. Around the same time, American bubblegum pop writer-producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry Katz of Super K Productions came to England and commissioned Gouldman to write and produce formulaic bubblegum songs, many of which were recorded at Strawberry Studios, and were either augmented or performed entirely by varying combinations of the future 10cc line-up. Among the recordings from this period was "Sausalito", a No. 86 US hit credited to Ohio Express and released in July 1969. The track had Gouldman on lead vocals, with vocal and instrumental backing by the other three future 10cc members.

In December 1969, Kasenetz and Katz agreed to a proposal by Gouldman that he work solely at Strawberry, rather than move constantly between Stockport, London and New York. Gouldman convinced the pair that these throwaway two-minute songs could all be written, performed and produced by him and his three colleagues, Stewart, Godley and Creme, at a fraction of the cost of hiring outside session musicians. Kasenetz and Katz booked the studio for three months.

Godley recalled:We did a lot of tracks in a very short time – it was really like a machine. Twenty tracks in about two weeks – a lot of crap really – really shit. We used to do the voices, everything – it saved 'em money. We even did the female backing vocals.

1970–1971: Hotlegs; Doctor Father; The New Wave Band; Festival

When the three-month production deal with Kasenetz-Katz ended, Gouldman returned to New York to work as a staff songwriter for Super K Productions and the remaining three continued to dabble in the studio.

With Gouldman absent, Godley, Creme and Stewart continued recording singles. The first, "Neanderthal Man", released under the name Hotlegs, began life as a test of drum layering at the new Strawberry Studios mixing desk, but when released as a single by Fontana Records in July 1970, climbed to No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and became a worldwide hit, selling more than two million copies. Around the same time, the trio released "Umbopo" under the name of Doctor Father. The song, a slower, longer and more melancholic version of the track earlier released under the name of Crazy Elephant, failed to chart.

Using the successful band name Hotlegs, in early 1971 Godley, Creme and Stewart recorded the album Thinks: School Stinks, which included "Neanderthal Man". They then recalled Gouldman for a short tour supporting the Moody Blues, before releasing a follow-up single "Lady Sadie" b/w (Backed With) "The Loser". Philips Records reworked their sole album, removing "Neanderthal Man" and adding "Today", and issued it as Song. Stewart, Creme and Godley released another single in February 1971 under yet another name, The New Wave Band, this time with former Herman's Hermits member Derek "Lek" Leckenby on guitar. The song, a cover version of Paul Simon's "Cecilia", was one of the few tracks the band released that they had not written. It also failed to chart.

The band continued outside production work at Strawberry, working with Dave Berry, Wayne Fontana, Peter Cowap and Herman's Hermits, and doing original compositions for various UK football (soccer) teams. In 1971 they produced and played on Space Hymns, an album by New Age musician Ramases; in 1972–73 they co-produced and played on two Neil Sedaka albums, Solitaire and The Tra-La Days Are Over. The experience of working on Solitaire, which became a success for Sedaka, was enough to prompt the band to seek recognition on their own merits. Gouldman—who by 1972 was back at Strawberry Studios—said:

It was Neil Sedaka's success that did it, I think. We'd just been accepting any job we were offered and were getting really frustrated. We knew that we were worth more than that, but it needed something to prod us into facing that. We were a bit choked to think that we'd done the whole of Neil's first album with him just for flat session fees when we could have been recording our own material.

1972–1976: Original line-up

Undeterred by Apple's rejection, the group decided to plug another song which had been written as a possible B-side to "Waterfall", a Godley/Creme composition titled "Donna". The song was a Frank Zappa-influenced 1950s doo-wop parody, a sharp mix of commercial pop and irony with a chorus sung in falsetto. Stewart said: "We knew it had something. We only knew of one person who was mad enough to release it, and that was Jonathan King." Stewart called King, who drove to Strawberry, listened to the track and "fell about laughing", declaring: "It's fabulous, it's a hit."

King signed the band to his UK Records label in July 1972 and dubbed them 10cc. By his own account, King chose the name after having a dream in which he was standing in front of the Hammersmith Odeon in London where the boarding read "10cc The Best Band in the World". A widely repeated claim, disputed by King and Godley, but confirmed in a 1988 interview with Creme, is that the band name represented ten cubic centimetres, a volume of semen that was the average amount ejaculated (according to Creme), thus emphasizing their potency or prowess.

However, in a 2025 interview, Gouldman stated: "We got bored with giving the long-winded reason for how we got the name, then someone told us the average male ejaculation was 9cc. Since we were 1cc more, we started saying it was the average male ejaculation. Is it a real fact? I have no idea! But it is now." "Donna", released as the first 10cc single, was chosen by BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Tony Blackburn as his Record of the Week, helping to launch it into the Top 30. The song peaked at No. 2 in the UK in October 1972.

Although their second single, a similarly 1950s-influenced song called "Johnny Don't Do It", was not a major chart success, "Rubber Bullets", a catchy satirical take on the "Jailhouse Rock" concept, became a hit internationally and gave 10cc their first British No. 1 single in June 1973. They consolidated their success a few months later with "The Dean and I", which peaked at No. 10 in September. They released two singles, "Headline Hustler" (in the US) and the self-mocking "The Worst Band in the World" (in the UK) and launched a UK tour on 26 August 1973, joined by second drummer Paul Burgess, before returning to Strawberry Studios in November to record the remainder of their second LP, Sheet Music (1974), which included "The Worst Band in the World" along with other hits "The Wall Street Shuffle" (No. 10, 1974) and "Silly Love" (No. 24, 1974). Sheet Music became the band's breakthrough album, remaining on the UK charts for six months and paving the way for a US tour in February 1974.

1976: Split

Frictions mounted between the group's two creative teams during the recording of How Dare You, with each pair realising how far apart their ideas had become. At the beginning of the sessions for the band's fifth album, further creative differences occurred; and Godley and Creme left 10cc to work on a project that eventually evolved into the triple-LP set Consequences (1977), a sprawling concept album that featured contributions from satirist Peter Cook and jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughan.

The first of a series of albums by Godley & Creme, Consequences began as a demonstration record for the "Gizmotron", an electric guitar effect they had invented. The device, which fitted over the bridge of an electric guitar, contained six small motor-driven wheels attached to small keys (four wheels for electric basses); when the key was depressed, the Gizmotron wheels bowed the guitar strings, producing notes and chords with endless sustain. First used during the recording of the Sheet Music track "Old Wild Men", the device was designed to further cut their recording costs: by using it on an electric guitar with studio effects, they could effectively simulate strings and other sounds, enabling them to dispense with expensive orchestral overdubs.

In a 2007 interview with the ProGGnosis—Progressive Rock & Fusion website, Godley said: "We left because we no longer liked what Gouldman and Stewart were writing. We left because 10cc was becoming safe and predictable and we felt trapped." But speaking to Uncut magazine 10 years earlier, he expressed regret about the band breaking up as they embarked on the Consequences project:We'd reached a certain crossroads with 10cc and already spent three weeks on the genesis of what turned out to be Consequences ... The stuff that we were coming up with didn't have any home, we couldn't import it into 10cc. And we were kind of constrained by 10cc live ... We felt like creative people who should give ourselves the opportunity to be as creative as possible and leaving seemed to be the right thing to do at that moment.

Unfortunately, the band wasn't democratic or smart enough at that time to allow us the freedom to go ahead and do this project and we were placed in the unfortunate position of having to leave to do it. Looking back, it was a very northern work ethic being applied to the group, all for one and one for all. If we'd been a little more free in our thinking with regard to our work practices, the band as a corporate and creative entity could have realised that it could have been useful rather than detrimental for two members to spend some time developing and then bring whatever they'd learned back to the corporate party. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be.

1977–1983: Second era

After the departure of Godley and Creme, Stewart and Gouldman continued as 10cc, working with drummer Paul Burgess, who up to that point had been their tour backup drummer. Their first album as a three-piece band was Deceptive Bends (1977), named after a sign on the Mickleham bends on the A24 between Leatherhead and Dorking in Surrey. The album, recorded at the newly completed Strawberry South Studio in Dorking, Surrey, reached No. 3 in Britain and No. 31 in the US and yielded three hit singles, "The Things We Do for Love" (UK No. 6, US No. 5), "Good Morning Judge" (UK No. 5, US No. 69) and "People in Love" (US No. 40). Stewart later said he and Gouldman felt vindicated by its success: "I was out to prove also that we could write a hit album without Kevin and Lol ... we did!"

In 1977, 10cc embarked on an international tour with guitarist Rick Fenn, keyboardist Tony O'Malley (Kokomo), and an additional drummer Stuart Tosh (ex-Pilot). This six-member 10cc recorded a live album, "Live and Let Live" (1977), which mixed the hits with material by Stewart and Gouldman from 10cc's career (alongside two songs written with Godley and Creme). Fenn, Tosh, Burgess and keyboardist Duncan Mackay, who replaced Tony O'Malley after the tour, were now full members of the band and performed on 1978's Bloody Tourists, which provided the band with their international No. 1 single, the reggae-styled "Dreadlock Holiday", which became their third UK No. 1. Both Bloody Tourists and "Dreadlock Holiday" were very successful around the world; however, additional songs released as singles became only minor hits, with the second UK single "Reds in My Bed", featuring lead vocals by Tosh, failing to chart.

The band suffered a major setback in January 1979 when Stewart was seriously injured in a car crash. Due to his injuries he was unable to work on music, and 10cc had to be put on hold. This led to the cancellation of part of a tour, and to other band members working on solo projects. Stewart later told the BBC:

It flattened me completely. I damaged my left ear, I damaged my eye very badly. I couldn't go near music. I couldn't go near anything loud and I love music and motor-racing. I had to stay away from both things for a long time, for about six months. And the momentum of this big machine that we'd had rolling slowed and slowed and slowed. And on the music scene, the punk thing had come in a big way. The Sex Pistols, The Clash, lots of things like that. So by the time I was fit again to play, I think we'd just missed the bus. It'd gone. And whatever we did after that, we got a few tickles here and there and we could continue touring forever on the strength of the past hits, but it didn't feel right again, we just didn't have that public with us.

1984–1991: Separate projects

After 1983, the band went into recess as Stewart produced recordings for Sad Café and Gouldman produced tracks for the Ramones. Stewart continued his association with Paul McCartney; he had already appeared on Tug of War in 1982 and Pipes of Peace in 1983. During 1984, he appeared in the video for the US single "So Bad" which also featured Ringo Starr and the feature film/soundtrack for Give My Regards to Broad Street. He then co-wrote much of the Press to Play album (1986), though he was critical of the album's production. He also produced the album Eyes of a Woman (1985) by Agnetha Fältskog of ABBA.

Gouldman, meanwhile, teamed with Andrew Gold to form the duo Common Knowledge, which after two unsuccessful singles changed their name to Wax. The duo's albums included Magnetic Heaven (1986), American English (1987) and A Hundred Thousand in Fresh Notes (1989). The duo scored some success, including a Spanish No. 1 single and their only British hit, "Bridge to Your Heart" (1987), which reached No. 12. Gouldman also assembled and produced the charity single "You'll Never Walk Alone" by The Crowd in aid of the Bradford City stadium fire. Released in 1985, the single reached No. 1 on the UK chart. A compilation album, Changing Faces – The Very Best of 10cc and Godley & Creme, was released in 1987 and gave the band their biggest hit album since 1978. A four CD box set, Greatest Songs and More, was issued in Japan in 1991, which included many b-sides available on CD for the first time.

1991–1995: 10cc reunited

In 1991, the original four members reunited to record ...Meanwhile (1992), an album produced by Gary Katz of Steely Dan fame. Katz was suggested by the record label Polydor who wanted 10cc to enjoy success in America, and because of his links to Steely Dan—a similar-sounding 1970s band. All the album's songs were written by Stewart and Gouldman (with the exception of one track which was co-written by Stewart and Paul McCartney in the late 1980s with additional writing from Gouldman). Creme and Godley agreed to guest on the album to fulfil their obligation to Polydor—both had owed Polydor one album when they split in the late 1980s. Godley and Creme sang background vocals on several tracks on the album. Godley also sang the lead on one song, "The Stars Didn't Show".

...Meanwhile did not spawn any major hits, but was relatively well received in Japan and in Europe. It prominently featured session musicians Jeff Porcaro of Toto on drums, Freddie Washington on bass, Michael Landau on lead and rhythm guitar, and Bashiri Johnson on percussion. Also appearing on the album were Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) on piano, David Paich (also of Toto fame) on keyboards, longtime 10cc collaborator Andrew Gold on guitar and many other renowned session musicians and singers. ...Meanwhile is believed to be Porcaro's last session work before he died of a heart attack. Dr. John was recommended by producer Gary Katz and invited along to the sessions.

Gouldman, in a 1995 interview conducted by Justin Hayward on BBC Radio 2, was philosophical about the album: "When we finally did come back to record again, it was based on market research that our record company had done, that said a new 10cc album would do really, really well. And, ah, history has proved that wrong." Yet according to Stewart, both he and Gouldman had approached the album positively. "We wrote in a three-month period, 22 songs. Every day we were coming up with new ideas, and they were getting better and better, as far as we were concerned. And they sounded like 10cc songs again."

A tour in 1993 followed the album, with former members Rick Fenn and Stuart Tosh returning alongside new players Steve Piggot (keyboards, synthesisers) and Gary Wallis (drum, percussion). This tour was captured on the live album and DVD Alive.

In 1995, the band released Mirror Mirror, produced by Gouldman, Stewart and Adrian Lee of Mike + The Mechanics, and without participation from Godley or Creme. Despite initial objections by Gouldman, Mirror Mirror included an acoustic version of "I'm Not in Love" which became a No. 29 UK hit single, but overall the album did not fare very well. Gouldman has described Mirror Mirror as "almost like two-halves of an album", largely a result of the fact that he and Stewart recorded in separate countries. "I don't like to say we hoodwinked the people, but you could say it's not quite what it appears to be, and anyone with any sense, who reads the credits, could see that," he told Goldmine magazine. Their recording arrangement also provided further evidence of a fractured relationship between Stewart and Gouldman: aside from "I'm Not in Love", Stewart did not appear on any of the tracks Gouldman played or sang on, while Gouldman did not appear on any of Stewart's tracks. In the spring of 1995, the band toured Europe and Japan with a line-up of Stewart, Gouldman, Fenn, Tosh, Alan Park (keyboards, synthesisers) and Geoff Dunn (drums, percussion).

1999–present: 10cc touring band, GG/06

In 1999, Gouldman convened a 10cc line-up consisting of himself, Fenn, Paul Burgess, and new recruits Mick Wilson (vocals, guitar) and Mike Stevens (vocals, keyboards, sax, guitar). This version of the band played their first gig at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Birmingham and then began touring regularly in 2002. This iteration of the group toured both the UK and overseas, playing 10cc hits plus a section of songs from Gouldman's songwriting career Wax. Wilson handled the majority of the lead vocals, taking over from Eric Stewart on that front. Founding guitarist Lol Creme, discussing his newest live act in 2012, opined:

I understand Graham's need and want to go on the road and tour but maybe he could call the show, 'Graham Gouldman of 10cc' instead of just 10cc. I feel that as things are, the name is quite misleading to the fans. I know that Eric still gets emails from fans who were disappointed that he wasn't at these "10cc" shows. It really gets under his skin. I've still got a lot of respect for Graham and he was certainly an integral part of 10cc."

In January 2004, Godley and Gouldman reconvened to write more songs. The band started offering the new songs through their website in 2006 and eventually released the EP GG/06: EP – 1. A few of the songs were added to the 10cc live set, while the song "Son of Man" later became the opening theme for 10cc shows with Godley providing the video. Kevin Godley also joined 10cc live on several occasions.

A new 10cc touring member, Keith Hayman (keyboards), switched with Mike Stevens in 2006 and continued to do so until 2011. The band released a live album and DVD titled Clever Clogs in 2008 featuring Kevin Godley on several songs, including GG/06's "BeautifulLoser.com". In early 2009, Gouldman's 10cc launched its website, 10ccworld.com (now 10cc.world). Since the release, the website offered various live recordings of the shows through its online store. Regarding new 10cc studio releases, Gouldman has said that without Stewart, Creme or Godley, there will never be another 10cc album, though he is happy to play past albums in concert. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the band's formation, 10cc performed a concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 10 May 2012 with Kevin Godley performing several songs with the band. Universal Music also issued two box sets for this occasion. The first one titled Tenology, a four-CD/one-DVD retrospective, was released on 19 November 2012. All four original members helped choose the track listing and gave interviews to Paul Lester as part of the project. The second box set titled Classic Album Selection featured albums from The Original Soundtrack to Live and Let Live along with bonus tracks.

Personnel

Current members

Graham Gouldman – bass guitar, lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, percussion (1972–1983, 1991–1995, 1999–present)

Rick Fenn – lead guitar, backing and lead vocals, bass guitar, keyboards (1976–1983, 1993–1995, 1999–present)

Keith Hayman – keyboards, bass guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2006–2011, 2016–present)

Iain Hornal – lead and backing vocals, guitar, percussion, keyboards, mandolin (2017–present; substitute 2014–2017)

Ben Stone – drums, percussion (2025–present)

Filmography

Concert films

Ultimate Greatest Hits Tour (2022) – Recorded at the New Theatre Oxford on 27 October 2022, the Ultimate Greatest Hits Tour concert film was released as a live concert stream on 1 December 2022.