In 1976, Paul Samson replaced
Bernie Tormé in London-based band Scrapyard, joining bassist
John McCoy and drummer Roger Hunt. The band name was changed to McCoy, and they built up a busy gigging schedule, whilst also independently playing various sessions. Eventually, McCoy left to join
Gillan and later
Atomic Rooster. His replacement was the band's sound engineer and a close friend of Paul Samson's, Chris Aylmer. The following year Aylmer suggested a name change to Samson, and recommended a young drummer, Clive Burr, whom he had previously played with in the band Maya. Burr joined, and Samson was born, although for a time Paul Samson used bassist Bill Pickard and drummer Paul Gunn on odd gigs, when Aylmer and Burr were honouring previous commitments. Various other people were tried out to expand the line up: Paul Samson got in touch with an old bandmate, bass player Stewart Cochrane, and asked him to try out with the group as a four-piece, with the current bass player Chris Aylmer on second guitar alongside Paul. Only one gig was played in this incarnation, at The Nag's Head pub in
Rochester, Kent on 11 March 1978, where it was decided that Samson and Aylmer's playing styles were not compatible, so they went back to being a three-piece. Cochrane later joined the avant-garde jazz-rock band Spanish Fly; and later continued his career as a band-leader for
Holland America Line,
Windstar Cruises. Cochrane performed and recorded with members of bands the Animals, Nashville Teens and Steve Hackett Band. The band recorded and issued their first singles in 1978:
Telephone and
Mr Rock & Roll. In October 1978, lead vocalist Mark Newman joined, but after about six shows, Paul Samson resumed lead vocals and they reverted to a three-piece line-up. At the end of 1978, Burr left. The supporting tour was full of controversy and legal issues, due to problems with their management. They kept writing and rehearsing for a new record. Ten songs had already been composed, by October 1980, and were ready to be recorded. They were always being booked on ill-matched support tours. After leaving their management in 1981 they discovered that their record company was going bankrupt. Dickinson said they "made every mistake in the business". Following Dickinson's departure, former Hackensack and Tiger vocalist
Nicky Moore was recruited to front the band who had also signed a new recording contract with Polydor. Bass player Chris Aylmer (born Christopher Robin Aylmer, 7 February 1948) died on 9 January 2007 following a battle with
throat cancer. The band appeared in the short film
Biceps of Steel in 1980, directed by
Julien Temple, which was intended as the
B-movie to a major feature produced and promoted by the record company. The film featured two music-video type sequences which form the 15 minute film. Though it has been largely forgotten, clips from it were seen in the movie
The Incubus (1981). However, in 2006
Biceps of Steel re-surfaced on Bruce Dickinson's
Anthology DVD. Drummer Clive Burr died on 12 March 2013 after many years suffering from
multiple sclerosis. Nicky Moore died on 3 August 2022 after battling with
Parkinson's disease. ==Band members==