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Listen to Lucifer's Friend, watch music videos, read bio, see tour dates & more!

Lucifer's Friend

Rock

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Top Songs By Lucifer's Friend

Listen to Ride the Sky by Lucifer's Friend, see lyrics, music video & more!
Ride the SkyLucifer's Friend
Listen to Spanish Galleon (Remastered) by Lucifer's Friend, see lyrics, music video & more!
Spanish Galleon (Remastered)Lucifer's Friend
Listen to Dirty Old Town by Lucifer's Friend, see lyrics, music video & more!
Dirty Old TownLucifer's Friend
Listen to Moonshine Rider by Lucifer's Friend, see lyrics, music video & more!
Moonshine RiderLucifer's Friend
Listen to Toxic Shadows by Lucifer's Friend, see lyrics, music video & more!
Toxic ShadowsLucifer's Friend
Listen to Thus Spoken Oberon (Remastered) by Lucifer's Friend, see lyrics, music video & more!
Thus Spoken Oberon (Remastered)Lucifer's Friend
Listen to Our World Is a Rock 'N' Roll Band (Bonus Track) [Remastered] by Lucifer's Friend, see lyrics, music video & more!
Our World Is a Rock 'N' Roll Band (Bonus Track) [Remastered]Lucifer's Friend
Listen to Sorrow (Remastered) by Lucifer's Friend, see lyrics, music video & more!
Sorrow (Remastered)Lucifer's Friend
Listen to Keep Going by Lucifer's Friend, see lyrics, music video & more!
Keep GoingLucifer's Friend
Listen to Cosmic Crusader by Lucifer's Friend, see lyrics, music video & more!
Cosmic CrusaderLucifer's Friend

More albums from Lucifer's Friend

Listen to Black Moon by Lucifer's Friend
ALBUMBlack MoonLucifer's Friend
Listen to Too Late to Hate by Lucifer's Friend
ALBUMToo Late to HateLucifer's Friend
Listen to Awakening by Lucifer's Friend
ALBUMAwakeningLucifer's Friend
Listen to Sumogrip (feat. John Lawton) by Lucifer's Friend
ALBUMSumogrip (feat. John Lawton)Lucifer's Friend
Listen to Sneak Me In by Lucifer's Friend
ALBUMSneak Me InLucifer's Friend
Listen to Good Time Warrior by Lucifer's Friend
ALBUMGood Time WarriorLucifer's Friend
Listen to Mind Exploding by Lucifer's Friend
ALBUMMind ExplodingLucifer's Friend
Listen to Banquet by Lucifer's Friend
ALBUMBanquetLucifer's Friend

About Lucifer's Friend

Listen to Lucifer's Friend, watch music videos, read bio, see tour dates & more!
Hometown
Germany
Formed
1970
Genre
Rock
A German outfit fronted by a British singer, Lucifer's Friend first gained minor notoriety, and later major cult status, as both early practitioners of heavy metal and progressive rock. Formed in 1970 Hamburg, by former German Bonds members Peter Hesslein (guitar), Peter Hecht (keyboards), Dieter Horns (bass), and Joachim Rietenbach (drums), the group was initially dubbed Asterix and recorded an entire album's worth of material before connecting with singer John Lawton, whose then band, Stonewall, was playing a residency at the city's famed Top Ten Club. Lawton's vocals would grace Asterix's only, eponymous album later the same year, and all involved were excited enough by the results that they immediately began collaborating on more material with which to relaunch the band under the provocative new moniker of Lucifer's Friend. Released in early 1971, the Lucifer's Friend album contained organ-intensive hard rock along the same lines as contemporary proto-metal bands like Deep Purple, Atomic Rooster, and, especially, Uriah Heep, for whom, coincidentally, Lawton would wind up singing several years down the line. But, for now, Lucifer's Friend's biggest challenge was a problematic aversion to touring, as well as a compositional restlessness that saw their sophomore effort, 1972's curiously named Where the Groupies Killed the Blues, morphing drastically to acquire progressive rock tendencies reminiscent of King Crimson and, to a lesser degree, the quickly emerging Krautrock acts of the period. These compositional experiments would only intensify on 1973's I'm Just a Rock 'n' Roll Singer, which added entire brass sections in the vein of Chicago Transit Authority, and 1974's Banquet (featuring new drummer Herbert Bornhold), which soared upon even jazzier elements and symphonic arrangements delivered with help from the James Last Orchestra. Lucifer's Friend would finally reign in such extravagance on 1976's Mind Exploding LP (where Bornhold was demoted to percussionist behind new drummer Curt Cress), and they even considered increasing their touring engagements, but their only problem now was that Lawton had quit -- accepting the offer to join Uriah Heep that was mentioned earlier. Scotsman Mike Starrs (formerly singer for Colosseum II) was brought in to replace him and Lucifer's Friend proceeded to abruptly abandon their progressive past for good, embracing melodic mainstream rock on a pair of albums: 1978's Good Time Warrior and 1980's Sneak Me In (adding second keyboardist Adrian Askew). Then, John Lawton returned for a final, harder-rocking Lucifer's Friend album, 1981's Mean Machine, after which the group officially split up until 1994's one-off reunion LP, Sumo Grip. Interestingly, through all of these years and stylistic changes, it's ironically that original Lucifer's Friend album -- more so than their more abundant prog rock releases -- which has enjoyed the most frequent reissues, being considered a classic document of early heavy metal. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia

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Members of Lucifer's Friend include, or have included, John Lawton, Peter Hesslein, Adrian Askew, Mike Starrs, and Peter Hecht.