Marseille were formed in Liverpool, England in early 1976. Original members were Paul Dale (vocals),
Neil Buchanan (lead guitar), Andy Charters (second guitar), Keith Knowles (drums) and Steve Dinwoodie (bass). The band were originally called
AC/DC: during the time that the Australian rock band
of the same name was gaining success in the UK, forcing the band to change their name in mid-1976 to "Marseille". Marseille won the first ever "UK Battle of the Bands" with the finals judged by
Brian May and
Roger Taylor of
Queen at
Wembley Arena on October 31, 1977. This led the band to secure a five-year recording contract with Mountain Records in late 1977, and the band released their debut album,
Red, White and Slightly Blue in 1978, Marseille gathered a small fan base while promoting their first album as support for other groups such as
Judas Priest,
Nazareth,
Whitesnake and
UFO. Keith Knowles stated: "I was the drummer on all albums and an original member of Marseille. We took the name because 'Marseille' was a French rough seaport like Liverpool and to be honest we were struggling to rename ourselves as we were originally called AC/DC but had to change for obvious reasons. All tracks on this album were recorded 'live' so what you hear is not manufactured in any way. We all have great memories of touring with UFO who were absolutely brilliant with us and made sure we had sound-checks every night. Phil Mogg and Pete Way were like a double act and such great blokes... to stand in the wings listening to Schenker's lead break on Love to Love will live with me forever... and what a nice person he was." Their debut album contained very raunchy lyrics but suffered somewhat from lack of promotion and limitation of release. The single "Kiss Like Rock 'n' Roll" was produced by Nazareth guitarist Manny Charlton. Their second album release, the
eponymous Marseille, Marseille were the first NWOBHM band to tour and have an album released in the United States through
RCA Records. The band promoted their
Marseille album on tour in the US with Nazareth and American south coast boogie band
Blackfoot during the summer of 1980. The band arrived back in the UK to witness the demise of Mountain, their record and management company. With all their equipment still stranded in the US, the band were forced off the road and into a two-year legal battle with liquidators, which precluded them pursuing another recording contract. During this time, Paul Dale, Andy Charters and
Neil Buchanan left the band. Charters moved to the US, and Buchanan started a career in television, hosting the popular CITV programme
Art Attack from 1990 to 2007. The two remaining members, Keith Knowles and Steve Dinwoodie later recruited vocalist Sav Pearse and guitarist Marc Railton from local Liverpool band Savage Lucy to complete a third album entitled
Touch the Night, A song from the album, "Walking on a Highware" became Marseille's first and only single to enter the
UK Singles chart, peaking at number 98 and spending one week in the listing. However, lack of industry interest in the band caused this iteration of Marseille to split up soon after. Later, Marseille announced a UK tour planned for November 2013, which was later postponed to 2014 due to Andy Charters'
travel visa problems. It was also announced that an EP will be released in the Summer of 2014, to coincide with the tour, however, those plans were cancelled as well. During that time, both drummer Ace Finchum and bassist Rob Brooks left the band. In 2017, vocalist Nigel Roberts announced that both Neil Buchanan and Andy Charters, the remaining two original members of Marseille, will no longer play on the band, due to Buchanan's consultancy work for children's television and Charters still living in the US, with Buchanan being replaced by guitarist Darren Daz Green, as well as the return of drummer Gareth Webb and bassist Lee Andrews, who previously worked on the album
Unfinished Business. On August 22, 2019, Marseille made his first gig in seven years at
Stoke-On-Trent, UK, with Roberts on vocals, Webb on drums, Andrews on bass guitar/backing vocals, and Green on guitar. Former drummer Ace Finchum died in October 2025, at the age of 62. ==Band members==