Sailor (band)


Sailor were a British pop/glam rock group, best known in the 1970s for their hit singles "A Glass of Champagne" and "Girls, Girls, Girls", written by the group's lead singer and 12-string guitar player, Georg Kajanus. According to the band's own website, Sailor stopped performing in May 2014.
WWW Official Site

In the 1970s

The group's leader, Georg Kajanus, had previously written "Flying Machine" for Cliff Richard in 1971, although it was Richard's first British single that failed to reach the top 30. Sailor developed from Kajanus Pickett, a singer-songwriter duo that had formed when Phil Pickett and Kajanus met in 1970 at E H Morris, a music publisher where Pickett briefly worked. They later recorded the album Hi Ho Silver for Signpost Records. Sailor first came together in 1973 with the addition of musicians Henry Marsh and Grant Serpell.
The group's work included Kajanus's invention of a special nickelodeon made of pianos, synthesizers and glockenspiels that allowed the four-piece band to reproduce on stage the acoustic arrangements that they had done in the recording studio.
The group's first UK single was "Traffic Jam" from their first album, Sailor. "A Glass of Champagne", issued late the following year from the Trouble album, reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart. The follow-up "Girls, Girls, Girls" also made the Top 10, but of their subsequent singles, only "One Drink Too Many" registered in the UK Top 40.
Sailor's original line-up split up in 1978, although Pickett and Marsh released more material as Sailor with Gavin and Virginia David in 1980, with an album of Pickett compositions called Dressed for Drowning, produced by James William Guercio at his Caribou studio in Colorado.

Revival

In 1989, Sailor reformed to release a new album after a ten-year silence with two new singles, "The Secretary" and "La Cumbia". The band started touring again in 1993, and performed on many television programmes in Europe. In 1995, Kajanus departed the band again to pursue other projects.
The arrival of Peter Lincoln saw Sailor issue their first live album, Live in Berlin. Original member Marsh left in 1999, and was replaced by Anthony England. England left the band in May 2001, to be replaced by Rob Alderton; the new line-up recorded their first DVD in November 2002. In 2004, Sailor in a German TV show were named the 45th-most successful pop band of the last 40 years in Germany. A biography of the group by James McCarraher, entitled A Glass of Champagne – The Official Sailor Story, was published in June 2004. Alderton left in July 2005, and Marsh returned to the line-up.
Buried Treasure, a double album of previously recorded material, was released in February 2006. By September, Lincoln had left Sailor to join Sweet. After this, Marsh's classically trained son Oliver joined the band as their new guitarist and lead singer. He was replaced in 2009 by Nick Parvin but rejoined in May 2011 along with his brother Thomas, who joined as drummer, replacing Serpell. According to the band's own website, Sailor stopped performing in May 2014.

Band members

;Georg Kajanus
;Henry Marsh
;Phil Pickett
;Grant Serpell
;Gavin David
;Virginia David
;Peter Lincoln
;Anthony England
;Rob Alderton
;Oliver Marsh
;Nick Parvin
;Thomas Marsh


ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
PlotArea = left:100 bottom:80 top:10 right:10
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1973 till:01/01/2014
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Colors =
id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals
id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar
id:bass value:blue legend:Bass
id:drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:nick value:purple legend:Nickelodeon,_keyboards
id:lines1 value:black legend:Albums
Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1973
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1974
BarData =
bar:Georg text:Georg Kajanus
bar:Gavin text:Gavin David
bar:Virginia text:Virginia David
bar:Peter text:Peter Lincoln
bar:Oliver text:Oliver Marsh
bar:Nick text:Nick Parvin
bar:Henry text:Henry Marsh
bar:Anthony text:Anthony England
bar:Rob text:Rob Alderton
bar:Phil text:Phil Pickett
bar:Grant text:Grant Serpell
bar:Thomas text:Thomas Marsh
PlotData=
width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:
bar:Georg from:start till:01/01/1980 color:vocals
bar:Georg from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/1996 color:vocals
bar:Georg from:start till:01/01/1980 color:guitar width:3
bar:Georg from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/1996 color:guitar width:3
bar:Henry from:start till:01/01/1981 color:nick
bar:Henry from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/1999 color:nick
bar:Henry from:start till:01/01/1981 color:vocals width:3
bar:Henry from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/1999 color:vocals width:3
bar:Henry from:01/01/1980 till:01/01/1981 color:guitar
bar:Henry from:01/01/1980 till:01/01/1981 color:nick width:7
bar:Henry from:01/01/2005 till:end color:Nick
bar:Henry from:01/01/2005 till:end color:vocals width:3
bar:Phil from:start till:01/01/1981 color:bass
bar:Phil from:01/01/1990 till:end color:bass
bar:Phil from:start till:01/01/1981 color:vocals width:3
bar:Phil from:01/01/1990 till:end color:vocals width:3
bar:Phil from:start till:01/01/1981 color:nick width:7
bar:Phil from:01/01/1990 till:end color:nick width:7
bar:Phil from:01/01/1980 till:01/01/1981 color:nick
bar:Phil from:01/01/1980 till:01/01/1981 color:guitar width:7
bar:Grant from:start till:01/01/1980 color:drums
bar:Grant from:start till:01/01/1980 color:vocals width:3
bar:Grant from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/2011 color:drums
bar:Grant from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/2011 color:vocals width:3
bar:Gavin from:01/01/1980 till:01/01/1981 color:vocals
bar:Virginia from:01/01/1980 till:01/01/1981 color:vocals
bar:Peter from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/2006 color:guitar width:3
bar:Peter from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/2006 color:vocals
bar:Oliver from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2009 color:guitar width:3
bar:Oliver from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2009 color:vocals
bar:Nick from:01/01/2009 till:01/01/2011 color:Guitar width:3
bar:Nick from:01/01/2009 till:01/01/2011 color:vocals
bar:Oliver from:01/01/2011 till:end color:Guitar width:3
bar:Oliver from:01/01/2011 till:end color:Vocals
bar:Anthony from:01/01/1999 till:01/01/2001 color:nick
bar:Anthony from:01/01/1999 till:01/01/2001 color:vocals width:3
bar:Rob from:01/01/2001 till:01/01/2005 color:nick
bar:Rob from:01/01/2001 till:01/01/2005 color:vocals width:3
bar:Thomas from:01/01/2011 till:end color:drums
bar:Thomas from:01/01/2011 till:end color:vocals width:3
LineData=
at:08/01/1974 color:lines1 layer:back
at:11/01/1975
at:09/01/1976
at:08/01/1978
at:06/01/1980
at:01/01/1991
at:09/01/1992


Discography

Compilations

  • 1978 Greatest Hits Vol.1
  • 1990 Girls, Girls, Girls: The Very Best of Sailor
  • 1994 Hits and Highlights
  • 1995 Greatest Hits – Best of the Best
  • 1996 Legacy: Greatest and Latest
  • 1999 Girls, Girls, Girls
  • 2002 Sailor
  • 2005 Best: Down by the Docks
  • 2006 Buried Treasure
  • 2007 Buried Treasure
  • 2007 The Best of Sailor
  • 2007 A Glass of Champagne: All the Hits
  • 2008 ''Traffic Jam: Sound and Vision''

Live albums and DVDs

  • 1998 Live in Berlin
  • 2003 Pirate Copy: Sailor Live in Concert
  • 2005 Sailor Live
  • 2005 ''Sailor Live: One Drink Too Many''

Singles

'''Notes'''

''Sailor, the Musical Journey''

The premiere of Sailor, the Musical Journey at the Carnegie Hall was in July 2006 in Dunfermline, Scotland. The new musical was written by Bill Blenman and made up entirely of Kajanus compositions.