The Foundations - Biography
The Foundations were an English pop-soul group with multinational roots. Their best known hits include "Baby, Now That I've Found You" and "Build Me Up, Buttercup."
Singer Clem Curtis was an ex-boxer and interior decorator from Trinidad who immigrated to the UK. Guitarist Alan Warner hailed from Paddington, West London and had previously made his wages in the print trade. Bassist Peter Macbeth was a former teacher from Marylebone, London. The musicians (and several others) first formed the soul and ska band The Ramong Sound with Ramong Morrison. Line-ups changed and as did the group’s incarnations, which also included The Ramongs and Ramong. At one point, even Arthur Brown was a member.
In January 1967, the band were joined by several new members. Flautist/saxophonist Pat Burke, who came from Kingston, Jamaica and had performed as a professional musician was from the London Music Conservatorium. Jamaica-born tenor saxophonist Mike Elliot had played with in Colin Hicks & the Cabin Boys in the late 1950s as well as several jazz bands with Dominican trombonist Eric Allendale Dubuisson. Keyboardist Tony Gomez was a clerk from Colombo, Ceylon, and drummer Tim Harris from St. John's Wood, London. Based out of The Butterfly Club (which they also managed), the bang changed names to The Foundation Squad and Foundation Sound before settling on The Foundations.
After relocating to a disused mini-cab office they were discovered by Barry Class and Ron Fairway, who began co-managing them. The two introduced The Foundations to Pye's Tony Macauley. Fairway was soon pushed out (or left of his own accord, depending on the source) and later attempted to sue the band. In their first year, Burke dropped out and re-joined. Their first single, Macaulay and John MacLeod's composition, "Baby Now That I've Found You," was picked up by Radio 1. It sold over three million copies and topped the charts in both the UK and Canada. Their full-length debut, From the Foundations (1967 Pye Records), followed. Before its release, in the October 1967 issue of Beat Instrumental Monthly, its title was listed as Sound Basis. The American version, released on the UNI label, was titled Baby, Now That I've found you. Although their live act was mostly hard-edged soul, the album relied mostly on covers and poppy Macaulay/Macleod material.
The Foundations’ follow-up single, "Back on My Feet Again," didn't do as well and a split developed between the group and Macaulay, who didn't allow them the opportunity to record any of their own material, insisting instead that they rely on his light, pop tunes. The group did release a live album, Rocking the Foundations (1968 Pye) which feature recordings of songs that never appeared on studio albums but unfortunately suffered from poor sound quality. After its release, Curtis was persuaded by his friend, Sammy Davis Jr, to quit the group and head to the US for a solo career. Elliot quit as well. Curtis was succeeded by Barbadian singer Colin Young. The new line-up cut "Build Me up Buttercup," written by Macaulay and Manfred Mann's Mike D'Abo. It reached number two in the UK and number one in the US and Canada. It was subsequently included on on their second studio album, Build Me Up Buttercup (1968 UNI Records).
The group's final full-length was Digging the Foundations (1969 UNI Records). After its recording, Macbeth left the band to join Bubastis. He was replaced by Steve Bingham. In 1970, Macaulay quit Pye, depriving the group of their sole hit-maker. The group attempted to update their sound and cut some funkier recordings which failed to see the light of day. After breaking with Class they were briefly managed by Mike Dolan and Jim Dawson and they played at the Copacabana supporting The Temptations before returning to the UK. Allendale and Gomez's "Born to Live, Born to Die" was followed by "My Little Chickadee," which scraped the lower rungs. Paul Lockey, formerly of Band of Joy, briefly joined on bass. "Take a Girl like You" and "I'm Gonna Be a Rich Man" met with almost no reaction. Their final single was "Stoney Ground," in 1971. By then they'd split up and Warner had joined prog rock band, Pluto.
After a couple of years, Clem Curtis formed a new version of the group with Bill and John Springate (the latter a member of The Glitter Band), Derek "Del" Watson and Roy Carter (later of Heatwave). At the same time, Young also formed a new band calling themselves The Foundations. Eventual court action led to the former touring as Clem Curtis & the Foundations (and sometimes merely The Foundations) and the latter as Colin Young & the New Foundations (or merely, The New Foundations). The Curtis incarnation released "Where Were You When I Needed Your Love" b/w "Love Me Nice and Easy" and "Closer To Loving You" b/w "Change My Life" on the Summit and Psycho labels. Allendale and Harris went on to collaborate later in the decade. In the late '80s, Curtis and Warner began re-recording old hits under The Foundations name, releasing The Bad Old Days (1994 CNC). After There's Something about Mary reignited "Build Me up Buttercup," in 1999 Young, Warner and Steve Bingham (bass), Gary Moberly (keyboards), Tony Laidlaw (sax) and Sam Kelly and Steve Dixon (drums) once again revived The Foundations. On August 23, 2001, Allendale died at 65-years-old. I Remember… the Foundations (2005 The Foundations) presented more new re-recordings of old songs.
