Original period (1969–1975) In the summer of 1969,
the Crazy World of Arthur Brown split in the middle of a second US tour. Keyboardist Vincent Crane and drummer
Carl Palmer left, returning to England to discuss a collaboration with
Brian Jones, who had just been let go from the
Rolling Stones. After Jones's death on 3 July 1969, they adopted the name Atomic Rooster (with influence from the US band
Rhinoceros) and soon recruited
Nick Graham on bass and vocals. They eventually struck a deal with
B & C Records and began recording their debut album in December 1969. Their first LP,
Atomic Roooster, was released in February 1970, However, just as Cann joined, bassist-vocalist Graham left. Cann (who played guitar and sang for Andromeda) took over vocal duties, while the bass lines were overdubbed on Crane's
Hammond organ with a combination of left hand and pedals, and the vocals were replaced with Cann's vocals and some guitar on four tracks. but French then moved on to sign with Atlantic Records and joined the American rock band
Cactus and appeared on their 1972 album, ''
'Ot 'n' Sweaty''. In February 1972 Crane recruited vocalist
Chris Farlowe, at that time with
Colosseum, to take the place of French.
Reformation period (1980–1983) During 1980, Crane contacted Du Cann and after some discussion, got an Atomic Rooster reformation under way. They recruited session drummer Preston Heyman and recorded an album, along with one 7/12" single, on
EMI Records. The album,
Atomic Rooster (1980), was followed by a tour, but Heyman left in October and Paul Hammond returned to play drums after
Ginger Baker filled in for two weeks. They continued touring and released two singles in 1981 and 1982. However, Du Cann was unable to make their last-minute booking at the
Reading Festival, so Crane and Hammond used Mick Hawksworth (ex-
Andromeda) as a stand-in.
John McCoy later stepped in on bass at the insistence of Polydor Records, for whom they would release two further singles, "Play It Again" and "End of the Day", which saw some attention on the
Heavy metal music chart, but did little elsewhere, and Polydor shortly afterwards dropped the band. With Du Cann gone, Crane set about a new form of Atomic Rooster. Paul Hammond stayed on and played drums for the following album
Headline News (1983), recorded in late 1982. Several guitarists played on the album, including
David Gilmour of
Pink Floyd,
Bernie Torme of
Gillan and John Mizarolli. Crane added vocals to the album along with his wife on backing vocals. A tour of Germany and Italy included Bernie Torme on guitar. Mizarolli played guitar for several UK dates.
Headline News was released in June 1983 and featured a completely different sound from anything they had ever done, including electronics and synthesizers. The album was completely written by Vincent Crane, leading some to perceive it as a Crane solo album. Crane disbanded Atomic Rooster once again at the end of 1983. In 1984 he went on to the project Katmandu with
Peter Green,
Ray Dorset and Jeff Whittaker and they recorded the album
A Case for the Blues. In 1985, Crane joined
Dexy's Midnight Runners, playing piano for their album ''
Don't Stand Me Down and two singles, one becoming the theme song for the television series Brush Strokes''. Dexy's Midnight Runners disbanded in 1987 and Crane intended to reform Atomic Rooster with Du Cann once again. A German tour was planned for 1989, but Crane died from an overdose of painkillers on 14 February. In 2017, Madden was replaced by Adrian Gautrey and in September 2019 French's departure due to musical differences was announced, but he then decided to continue with the band. In 2020, Bo Walsh left Atomic Rooster, and he was replaced by Paul Everett, a drummer originally from Liverpool. Pete French, after successfully reforming Atomic Rooster with Steve Bolton in 2016 and performing with them for seven years, once again stopped performing with the band in November of 2023 as he could no longer keep up with the touring schedule and left the band in the middle of a 2023 EU tour. Gautrey replaced French on vocals. Later that year, the band released the single "No More" b/w "Rebel Devil", which was the first new music under the Atomic Rooster name since 1983. This was sold only at the band's concerts. On 28 July 2025, Atomic Rooster announced the release of
Circle the Sun, the band's first full-length studio album in 42 years, on 10 October. available on Cherry Red Records. This included the tracks "No More" and "Rebel Devil" from the 2024 single. ==Members==