Fox Fox Fox on the cover of their 1975 self-titled debut album Fox on the cover of their 1975 self-titled debut album Background information Origin United Kingdom Genre(s) Rock Years active 1974-1977, 1980 Label(s) GTE Associated acts Wooden Horse Yellow Dog Noosha Fox Former members Noosha Fox Kenny Young Herbie Armstrong Jim Gannon Pete Solely Gary Taylor Jim Frank Fox / Noosha Fox NEW CD RELEASE 16th October 2006 BLUE HOTEL Released by Cherry Red label (CATERED272), Blue Hotel contains the original tracks plus one bonus track. The tracks are S S S Single Bed, Liven' Out My Fantasies, Darkening, Blue Hotel, Almond Eyes, Magic Machine, My Old Man's Away, Moustaches On The Moon, Under Your Own Umbrella, Friendship Rose, Make It Like It Used To Be, Pain And Pleasure (bonus) The Original Fox album by the band Fox has been released in October 2002 on the Cherry Red label (COMRADE 222). It contains the original tracks plus four bonus tracks. Love Letters / Imagine Me, Imagine You / The Juggler / Patient Tigers / Only You Can / The More / Spirit / He's Got Magic / Pisces' Babies / Love Ship / Red Letter Day / Out Of My Body (bonus) / If I Point At The Moon (bonus) / Georgina Bailey (bonus) / Pretty Boy (bonus) At the time of first writing (10th October 1997) this, there was virtually no mention of the 1970s band, Fox, or of their uniquely voiced singer Noosha Fox, that I could find on the Internet. At that time they also seemed to have had no direct coverage by Record Collector magazine. They did however get a mention in Record Collector (No 188, April 1995, page 19) in an article titled 'Queen Collaborations'. It appears that Roger Taylor of 'Queen' added backing vocals to the track 'Survival' on Fox's 'Tails of Illusion' album. Queen were in the same studio recording 'Opera'. Although they had at least a couple of hit singles 'Single Bed', 'Only You Can' and 'Imagine me, Imagine you', I didn't start buying their records until I saw the album 'Fox' at a reduced price in Wealth's in Swindling, circa 1977. My favourite track on this LP is 'Patient Tigers'. It wasn't until the 1980s that I discovered they had also released two other albums 'Tails of Illusion' and 'Blue Hotel'. I obtained both these albums, second hand, through the small ads of Record Collector. Blue Hotel became my favourite. Tracks on "Tails of Illusion" are - Yule, Yule - Survival - Strange Ships - For Whatever it's worth - Minor Therapy - Lily Sing - UPI KP - Howdy - Me Without You - Little Brown Box. Tracks on "Blue Hotel" are - Blue Hotel - Junina - S-S-S-Single Bed - Moustaches on the Moon - Magic Machine - My Old Man's Away - Living out my Fantasies - Almond Eyes - Under Your Own Umbrella - Friendship Rose - Like it Like it Used to be. Apart from Nosher's stunningly unique voice, I liked the imaginatively styled tunes and Decoder type effects. Some of the backing vocals in 'Shingle Bed' and the introduction passages into 'Only You Can' & 'Strange Ships', being great examples of Fox strangeness. (thanks to a web surfing Fox fan for the Nashua scan) I never saw the band, except on television. I had heard that Noosha had gone on to release a single 'Georgina Bailey'. From about 1988 0n, I searched for their material on CD, but found nothing. Nothing that is until June 1997, when I discovered a budget price CD 'Only you can' in the HIV shop in Oxford Street, London, during my only visit to the UK in more than two years. It appears to have been issued in 1996 by 'Wise Buy' (QB 866702). Many of the tracks were new to me, but it was great to hear Noosha's voice again, without the pops and crackles with which my vinyl Lips are now afflicted. With 16 tracks the CD was great value for money at UK pounds 4.99. The tracks are:- * If you don't want my peaches don't shake my tree * Georgina Bailey * Model in a Leotard * I want to be alone * Electron people * Dancing with an alien * Strange ships * * Red letter day * * Yule Yul's * * He's got magic * * Imagine me, Imagine you * * Only you can * * Te yo * Temple of love * Torn between two worlds * Captain of your ship Those tracks marked * appeared on one of the original Lips. A Fox fan sent me the following additional information (December 29th 1997):- [One record you may or may not know about is a rather nice disco-Ash solo single from 1979 called 'The Heat is On' b/w 'Some Enchanted Evening' on Chrysalis CHES 12 2337 (12"). Unlike 'Georgina Bailey', It was produced by David Macao, and OSHA wrote the B-side.] In April 1998 I was made aware of another CD 'The very best of Fox'. This CD contains material taken from the albums 'Fox' and 'Blue Hotel', plus the single 'Georgina Bailey'. Last time I checked (Nov 2003) it was available from amazon.co.uk Fox were: Noosha ( Vocals ) Kenny Young ( Guitars, Percussion and Vocals ) * Herbie Armstrong ( Guitars and Vocals ) Pete Silly ( Keyboards ) Jim Gannon ( Lead Guitar ) Gary Taylor ( Bass Guitar ) Jim Frank ( Drums and Percussion ) * Kenny Young also wrote and produced most of the songs FOX Singles "Only You Can"was b/w "Out of My Body" "Imagine Me..." b/w "If I Point at the Moon" "He's Got Magic" b/w "The Love Ship" "Strange Ships" b/w "Little Brown Box" "S-s-single Bed" b/w "Silk Milk" "My Old Man's Away" b/w "Magic Machine" "Georgina Bailey" b/w "Pretty Boy" ( the list above was kindly supplied by Shaun Butcher ) Fox Singles Chart Positions Reina van Dam kindly supplied the following chart position information:- Hereby the chart positions of Fox and NOSHAFox in the United Kingdom (UK), West-Germany (BBROD, Netherlands (NNFL, Belgium (B) and the United States of America (USA). 15/02/1975 means 15th of February 1975 (date/month/year). Only you can UK: 15/02/1975 11 weeks 3 highest position (golden record) BBROD 24/03/1975 26 weeks 2 highest position (18 weeks in top 10; #8 yyear end list) NL:NFL9/03/1975 tip USA: 23/08/1975 8 weeks 53 highest position (no chart success in Belgium) Imagine me, imagine you UK: 10/05/1975 8 weeks 15 highest position BRDBYRD3/06/1975 14 weeks 7 highest position (4 weeks in top 10) (no chart success in Netherlands, Belgium or USA) HeHearot magic BRD: BYRD10/1975 3 weeks 48 highest position (no chart success in United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium or USA) S-s-s-single bed: UK: 10/04/1976 10 weeks 4 highest position (golden record) NL: 1LN06/1976 7 weeks 10 highest position B: 10/07/1976 1 week 19 highest position (no chart success in Germany (BRD) BARD the United States) Fox Albums Chart Positions Fox UK: 17/05/1975 8 weeks 7 highest position (I can only say (because of no data for other countries): no chart success in Netherlands) NooshOSHASingles Chart Positions Georgina Bailey UK: 12/11/1977 6 weeks 31 highest position (no chart success in Belgium, Germany (BRD),BREDtherlands and the USA) I would like to provide another charts appearance, which is missing on your list: Germany : Fox (lp), liptry 15.05.75, peak position 47, 4 weeks on charts (Top 50 lp chlapts) cheers, DemskDamaskt> 'Only you can' in the Swiss single charts: First entry June 6, 1975 Highest position 1 Number of weeks in charts 13 regards, Juergt> A little more info you seem to be missing:- NooshNashua had a single "More Than Molecules" on Earlobe records (ELB-SELBA1) in 1981, b side "Odd Peculiar Strange" was written by NooshOSHAnt> Two bits of Chart info . In Ireland 6/3/75 Only You Can, number 3, 7 wks awoks/font> 13/5/76 SSSSiSingly number 4, 5wksfont> Best wishes Stewart Welsh I started this page October 1997, because at that time I could find no other pages devoted to Fox on the interinternedce then I was pleased to see other Fox pages appearing, but then they started disappearing again, so I have had to remove the links. Thanks to the many people who have written to me with information, I think I have now heard most of the material released by Fox & Noosha. Apart from what is available on the albums, three other tracks I really like are 'Skin Tight', 'Hot as Sun' and 'The Heat is On' (which was also released by Agnetha of Abba). I just love the way 'tropical', rolls off Noosha's tongue. Thanks to Stephen Frize who has drawn my attention to a track which features both Noosha and Agnetha performing 'The Heat is On' - some research suggest that this was a put together as a fan mix by a person calling himself Carlybabes. During the year 2002, I was in a pub (The Witches Tavern), in Bangkok, Thailand, and heard what I was sure was Noosha, singing on the pub's juke box. A question to the waitress revealed that it was actually Macy Gray singing 'I Try'. Thanks to Marsh for the following comment on 15 December 2006 "I saw your page on Fox. I'm puzzled, as your listing for the B Side of 'My Old Man's Away' is 'Magic Machine'. I have my original copy which I bought at the time on original GTO, and the B Side is a song called 'Are You Sure' and is probably Fox's best record ever (second to 'Imagine Me') If they'd have released this as the A Side they'd have been back in the Charts with another massive hit on their hands! " Noosha was originally Susan Traynor, who prior to Fox sung with the band Wooden Horse. The number one question that everyone who emails me asks is, "Where is Noosha now?". The Fox seems to have evaded the pack! FOX What happened to Fox? This band had hits in the 70's with "Only You Can", "Imagine Me, Imagine You" and also a hit in Germany ("He's got Magic"). The band was formed by Kenny Young (the man who got the credits for writing the song "Under the Boardwalk" for The Drifters in 1964). Lead singer of The Fox was Susan Traynor (from Australia) who earlier did backing vocals on Kenny Young's solo album "Last Stage for Silverworld" in 1973 and also was in a band called "Wooden Horse". The rest of the band included Herbie Armstrong (guitar and vocals), Pete Solley (keyboards), Jim Gannon (lead guitar), Gary Taylor (bass guitar) and Jim Frank (drums & percussion). Kenny Young played guitars, percussion and vocals. Susan became known as Noosha Fox and their first album "FOX" was a top ten hit in 1975. It appears that Roger Taylor of 'Queen' added backing vocals to the track 'Survival' on Fox's 'Tails of Illusion' album. Queen were in the same studio recording 'A Night at the Opera'. What happened then? Noosha Fox (Susan Traynor), had a solo career when she left the band (1977) during the late 70s and early 80's. She only had one minor hit with "Georgina Bailey". Herbie Armstrong and Kenny Young moved on to a band called Yellow Dog and later Armstrong worked with Van Morrison in the late 70's and early 80's. Kenny Young has been working as a Record producer. Now Herbie is running a Restaurant together with his Swedish-born wife Elizabeth, in Hampshire called The Fountain Inn & Thai Restaurant. the rumour says they combine their talents in running one of the best eating places in the area. Pete Solley joined Whitesnake on keyboards in 1977 for Snakebite. He's also played with Procol Harum, Mickey Jupp and many more. He has also produced records for Oingo Boingo, Motorhead and Romantics. Jim Frank worked as an sound engineer for Alice Cooper ("Welcome to my nightmare") and Peter Gabriel's first solo album to mention a few. Jim Gannon played with the band "Black Widow" and also did some vocals on Alice Cooper "Goes To Hell". The band was founded by songwriter and producer Kenny Young, who had composed the song "Under The Boardwalk" for the Drifters in 1964. Young had worked off and on with Australian singer Susan Traynor for a number of years in the United States. As an uncredited member of the Charmettes, produced by Young, Traynor had scored a minor hit single with "Please Don't Kiss Me Again" and she had later appeared on Young's album Last Stage For Silverworld, where she was listed as "Amanda". Both Traynor and Young then relocated to England in 1968, after Young had written a song for Reparata and the Delrons called "Captain of Your Ship", which had been a British hit. He then discovered Northern Irish singer Clodagh Rodgers on a television show, who had recently released a single called "Play The Drama Till The End". The partnership produced three years of hit singles, beginning with "Come Back And Shake Me". With this, Rodgers became something of a blueprint for Fox, as she recorded demos of some of the songs which would eventually surface on the first Fox album in 1975, as well as earlier Young tunes. Meanwhile, Susan Traynor was in a folk group called Wooden Horse, which released two albums before breaking up. After his success with Rogers, Young founded Fox with Irish singer Herbie Armstrong, recruiting Traynor as lead singer. She adopted the stage name Noosha, a scrambled version of her own name, and a glamorous image inspired by Marlene Dietrich, wearing elegant dresses to contrast with the scruffy looks of the rest of the group. The band's self-titled debut album was released on GTO Records in 1975 to critical acclaim. The lead single, "Only You Can", was a Top 10 UK single, the follow-up "Imagine Me Imagine You" also reached the top 30 and "He's Got Magic" was a hit in some European countries. Shortly after the release of their first album, the band made a cameo appearance in the film Side By Side. However, Noosha was relegated to backing vocals for half the songs on the late 1975 follow-up album, Tails Of Illusion, with the other songs sung by Young. The album enjoyed neither the critical nor the sales success of its predecessor; without Noosha's distinctive voice, casual listeners did not associate the songs with the band that had recorded "Only You Can". Roger Taylor of Queen added backing vocals to the song "Survival". The band returned to the charts in August 1976 when "S-S-S-Single Bed" was a surprise Top 5 UK hit and topped the Australian charts. Again, though, the band failed to capitalize upon its momentum, and the weaker accompanying album Blue Hotel, which was only released the following year, failed to yield any further singles, even though Noosha was reinstated as lead singer on all its tracks. Noosha Fox left the band after Blue Hotel. Armstrong and Young continued to work together in the band Yellow Dog, while Armstrong went on to work with Van Morrison and Solley later joined Whitesnake. Noosha launched a solo career, and her first single, "Georgina Bailey", written and produced by Young, briefly entered the Top 30 in the UK in 1977. However, its title and subject matter (about a girl whose uncle turns out to be gay) were reminiscent of Rod Stewart's recent single "The Killing of Georgie", and the single's relatively weak chart placement meant that her planned solo album, already partly recorded, was shelved. In 1979, Noosha Fox tried again to start her solo career with a single, "The Heat Is On", on Chrysalis Records. It flopped, but a cover version by ABBA's Agnetha Fltskog was a big European hit four years later. Noosha recorded several singles in the early 1980s for the Earlobe label but none were successful, and she evidently retired from the music business, but not returning to Australia as many believe. Fox reformed briefly in 1980, releasing the New Wave-influenced "Electro People", written as the theme music for the Kenny Everett Show. The band considered a reunion in the early 1990s, but the tracks recorded at this time were unreleased until 2004, when they appeared as bonus tracks on the Tails of Illusion CD. It was reported in 2007 on BBC Radio 4's "The Music Group" that Noosha Fox is recording a solo album of electropop, and has her own website. * Noosha Fox (born Susan Traynor, December 8, 1944) - vocals * Kenny Young - guitar, vocals * Herbie Armstrong - guitar, vocals * Jim Gannon - lead guitar, vocals * Pete Solley - keyboards, vocals * Mike Lavender - accordion, electric piano * Gary Taylor - bass, vocals * Jim Frank - drums, percussion, vocals Albums * Fox (1975) #7 UK * Tails of Illusion (1975) * Blue Hotel (1977) * Only You Can (CD compilation including unreleased material, 1996) * The Very Best of Fox (CD compilation, 1998) Singles * "Only You Can" (1975) #3 UK, #2 Germany, #7 Australia, #53 U.S. * "Imagine Me, Imagine You" (1975) #15 UK, #7 Germany * "Hes Got Magic" (1975) * "Strange Ships" (1975) * "S-S-S-Single Bed" (1976) #4 UK, #1 Australia * "My Old Man's Away" (1977) Noosha Fox solo singles * "Georgina Bailey" / "Pretty Boy" (1977) #31 UK * "The Heat Is On" / "Some Enchanted Evening" (1979) * "Skin Tight" / "Miss You" (1979) * "Hot as Sun" / "The Cheapest Nights" (1981) * "More Than Molecules" / "Odd Peculiar Strange" (1981) b52jpg.jpg * * nooshafox.com * Site about Fox and Noosha Fox * Lost Idols page on Fox * Another fan site about the band * Page reviewing Fox's albums * Side By Side at the Internet Movie Database
