The group emerged from a soul/blues band called The Five Proud Walkers. After supporting
Pink Floyd on tour, they were inspired to change their approach and become a more psychedelic outfit. The band consolidated as
Richard Hudson on drums,
John Ford on bass, Colin Forster on lead guitar, Jimmy Horrocks (Horovitz) on organ and flute (who left early in the band's history), and Dave Terry on vocals and harmonica. Initially just calling themselves Velvet Opera, they developed their full name when Terry took to wearing a cape and preacher's hat in the style of the title character in the 1960
film adaptation of
Sinclair Lewis' novel
Elmer Gantry. They started to make club appearances in London, using electronic backing sounds, and secured a record deal with the short-lived
Direction Records subsidiary of
CBS Records in the UK. Their first recording was the single "Flames" (November 1967), which also appeared on the CBS sampler record
The Rock Machine Turns You On, Further singles and a self-titled album followed, including the track "Mary Jane", which was taken off the BBC playlist after they realised its drug connotations, Meanwhile, Gantry formed The Elmer Gantry Band with ex-members of the
Downliners Sect (whose bass player was Paul Martinez, later to also be a member of what became known as The Fake Fleetwood Mac and
Stretch). The Gantry band gigged for about 18 months before Gantry joined the cast of
Hair in order to sit out his contracts. In 1974, at the invitation of
Mick Fleetwood and Clifford Davis he agreed, along with musical partner
Kirby Gregory of
Curved Air, to join
Fleetwood Mac for a tour of the US. In the event, Mick Fleetwood never arrived for the start of the tour, which collapsed in litigation with some of the members of Fleetwood Mac. Members of the band later re-formed as Stretch and recorded what has since become a classic track, "Why Did You Do It?", written by Kirby about Mick Fleetwood's actions around the "Fake Mac" saga. Stretch recorded three studio albums,
Elastique, ''You Can't Beat Your Brain For Entertainment
and Life Blood
. Later, Gantry recorded with The Alan Parsons Project and sang lead vocals on the tracks "May Be a Price to Pay" on The Turn of a Friendly Card and "Psychobabble" on Eye in the Sky''. He also provided lead vocals for
Cozy Powell's solo album
Tilt and sang and wrote for
Jon Lord's solo album
Before I Forget. More recently, Stretch released the John Peel BBC Sessions and a newly recorded album,
Unfinished Business. ==Members==