Albert Hammond Biography

Albert Hammond is one of the more successful pop/rock songwriters to come out of England during the 1960's and 1970's, and has also enjoyed a long career as a successful recording artist, his work popular in two languages on three continents across four decades. Hammond was born in London in 1944 -- his family actually came from the British colony on Gibraltar, but wartime considerations caused his mother to be evacuated to London, where she gave birth. He spent his childhood and youth in Gibraltar, where he was raised fluent in both English and Spanish, and displayed an interest in music even as a boy. He came of age just as rock & roll was taking hold on British youth, even in the colonies, and in his teens, he took up the guitar and started playing on Gibraltar and in Spain.
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By his own account, Hammond also played and sang in a Moroccan strip club -- in an interview with John Tobler, he recalled performing in front of audiences of American servicemen, singing Dion repertory such as "The Wanderer." He was part of a duo during the late 1950's and in 1960, with his singing partner Richard Cartwright, he formed the Diamond Boys, the two of them handling guitars and vocals, Hammond's younger brother Leslie on saxophone, Luis Balloqui on bass, and Luis Vinet playing drums. The group actually managed to get a single, "New Orleans" b/w "Fool in Love", out on Parlophone in England. By 1962, following a tour of Morocco and a win at a music festival in Madrid, the group was signed to RCA Victor's Spanish division and released an EP that included their cover of "What's I Say." The group disbanded soon after and Hammond and Cartwright eventually headed for England, where they briefly became a part of a band called Los Cincos Ricardos, through which they cut one single. One of the songwriters contributing to that band's repertory was Mike Hazelwood -- Hammond had been writing songs since childhood, but his contact with Hazelwood caused him to push that side of his music career harder than his performing for the first time. Hammond, in collaboration with Hazelwood and others, including Scott English ("Frisco Annie") and future star producer/songwriter Tony Macaulay, among others, made a particular specialty out of writing American-style songs, trading in images and references from the United States. One Macaulay-Hammond song, "Oklahoma Sunday Morning", was even recorded by Glen Campbell in his pre-stardom days. Hammond and Hazelwood found their first success on a television series in England, entitled Oliver in the Overworld, for which they wrote all of the songs, among them a novelty tune called "Gimme Dat Ding." Hammond also picked up work as a session singer in London, appearing on the work of such acts as Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. In 1967, with Hazelwood and their friend Steve Rowland, they formed Family Dogg, which managed to make some noise in the press and chart one single, "A Way of Life," in 1969, but never quite lived up to their publicity. Hammond and Rowland also wrote and recorded several singles together, issued under various aliases. His principal collaborator, however, was Hazelwood, and one of the songs they'd come up with was "It Never Rains in Southern California," based on a melody by Hammond and inspired by a photo-book owned by Hazelwood.

ALBERT HAMMOND PICTURES

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ALBERT HAMMOND BIOGRAPHY