In The 1970s Wizzard

The ex-member of the sixties group The Move was Roy Wood who went on to form one of the most popular glam groups of the 1970s. Wizzard was formed by some members of ELO and the Move, and was inspired by writing disagreements between Roy and the ELO’s Jeff Lynne.

Roy Wood was born in Birmingham in 1946 and in the 1970s even wrote a song for the UK entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, but the song came last in the national selection process. Roy went out on the road with Wizard playing at Wembley area no less; Roy had a solo hit called Dear Elaine in 1973 which reached No. 18 in the UK. A slower song called Forever was released afterwards and got to No. 8.

In The 1970s Wizzard

In the 1960s Roy was in The Move before creating this fun glam rock group in the 1970s. Before Wizzard he was a key member of ELO, but he and Jeff Lynne fell out too many times.Roy Wood was born in Birmingham in 1946 and in 1972 Wizzard made their first live debut at Wembley Area.

He had a very famous girlfriend at the time called Aneshya Brough who fronted a TV pop show called Lift Off which Roy would often appear on. But the groups appearances on Top Of The Pops were the most remembered.

The groups first big hit was in 1972 with Ball Park Incident getting as high as No. 6 in that year.

It was 1973 when the group became a massive pop band with the  No. 1 See My Baby Jive written and produced by Roy and even more important it inspired Abba the next year to write the song Waterloo.

If one No. 1 was fantastic and second was even better. The very next single also got to No.1 and that was Angel Fingers A Teen Ballad with backing vocals from the Bleach boys and the Sudettes.

But two No.1 were followed by a single that would be part of the British Christmas for decades to come. A single that did not make No.1 in 1973, but was such a powerful hit that it has been released dozens of times since and most British will sing this once a year over the Christmas dinner. 

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday is that song.

Moving on to 1974 the group managed another top ten hit with Rock N Roll Winter and then the next single only managed to get to No.34. The Wizzard was not showing the magic now. The last hit in the top twenty in the 1970s was Are You Ready To Rock.

The band went on tours in the U.S. and the UK but the costs mounted and the band members left one by one.

Roy Wood went on to manage and produce the group Darts in 1976.