ABOUT THE BAND
To
put it simply, the UK LEGENDS perform the hit songs of the bands and musicians
that they have worked with during their musical careers, which includes The Animals,
Smokie, Joe Cocker, Dire Straits, Status Quo, Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy, and many more.
The concept of the shows is that rather than only performing the
songs of one band, having the wider repertoire of hit songs from the legendary UK
bands of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s guarantees that this is a very entertaining
show which satisfies a very wide selection of musical tastes, age ranges and
gender.
With each of the band members holding the credibility of having worked with so
many famous bands and musicians, The UK Legends can rightfully perform a wide
variety of hit songs in their show.
The UK Legends are a professional band that regularly headline at concerts with
audiences of up to 50,000 people per show and have performed live on TV shows
that have been simultaneously broadcast to over 100 countries worldwide.
The band can comfortably adapt to perform at festivals big and small,
indoor venues, music clubs, private parties and corporate events.
HISTORY OF THE UK LEGENDS
THE SHOW
The show was first created under the registered name of UK Legends in January 2007 and the band that perform the show has had many different members and line-ups throughout its long history. Most of the performers who have taken part in the show since it started in 2007 have been listed below in chronological order.
Although the UK Legends show has always been based around core musicians, it was always intended for the show to be an open platform for many different musicians and special guests to also perform on. The show has unfortunately had quite a turbulent core band members history and the following information is the true history of the numerous different UK Legends band line-ups taken from documented evidence and factual information that has been recorded by UKL Management, as well as personal information provided by the previous band members.
THE LINE-UPS
Back in the summer of 2006, before the 'UK Legends' show was created, early members of the first line up were performing under the name of Lieutenant Pigeon which was a very popular band in the UK. At this same time Polish promoter Marian Knapczyk of Santana Promotions was looking for a British band that could perform the hits of Smokie on his corporate shows in Poland and he approached the band to see if they would be interested.
The Lieutenant Pigeon band members agreed and they performed a show at the Spodek Arena in Katowice under their keyboard player's own band name of 'The Legends'. The line up of The Legends band was Gary Moberley, Simon Van Downham, Geoff Hammond and Martin Bland.
As
each of the members of the band had a long history of working in other
bands, some of which were internationally famous, they were able to put together a show that would consist of the hit songs of the bands, and musicians, that the band members had all previously performed with. At
that time this would include songs from The
Animals, Smokie, John Miles, Joe Cocker, Bee Gees, Thin Lizzy, and Dire
Straits just to
name a few!
On 5th March 2007 the band played its very first concert in Poland under Steve Hutchinson and Marian Knapczyk's brand new show name of
Stevie's 2nd version of the UK Legends band quickly again gained immense
popularity not only in Poland but also throughout Europe due to
the professionalism of
their performances and the popularity of the songs they performed.
Over the following years the UK Legends band suffered many more line up changes but it always made its mark in many
countries and has gained many followers all around the World.
In 2010 drummer Ade Evans left the band after a disagreement with Martin Bland and was replaced by the top session drummer Paul Elliott
In 2012 the bulk of the band's shows in Poland suddenly stopped due to a dispute between Martin Bland and the top Polish promoter Marian Knapczyk. To create replacement work for the band Steve introduced the band into the UK market and re-branded the shows under his previously recorded band name of the 'UK ROCK LEGENDS' which also became extremely
popular in the UK, as well as taking the headline spots at many rock
festivals in Europe.
These shows were performed without Bernie Lowery because the rock songs that Graham Hunter performed in the show were more popular in the UK than the Smokie songs.
In 2012 top session drummer Paul Elliott left the UK LEGENDS / UK ROCK LEGENDS band after a disagreement with Martin Bland and was replaced by the drummer Mickey Mad Dog.
In 2013 the highly rated guitarist Graham Hunter also left the band after a disagreement with Martin Bland and the top rated local guitarist Brian Vasey joined the line up. Also at this time top drummer Paul Thompson of Roxy Music fame joined the band line up.
In 2013 after a short time in the band Paul Thompson left the line up and Mickey Mad Dog rejoined on drums. Shortly afterwards Brian Vasey also left the band following a disagreement with Martin Bland and Graham Hunter rejoined the band again on guitar.
In 2014 Steve Hutchinson, who was the longest serving keyboard player for The Animals, also formed a tribute band to The Animals under his previously registered name of 'ANIMALS III'. The band initially consisted of former Animals vocalist Tony Liddle and former Animals guitarist George Fearon, along with Martin Bland and Mickey Mad Dog from the UK LEGENDS band. Steve's Animals III band went on to perform shows in Scandinavia, Belgium and the UK.
'CLASSIC ROCK LEGENDS'
performing at Theatres and Festivals throughout the UK and Europe
Please note:
Previous members of Steve Hutchinson's UK Legends band who have had their permission revoked to perform under the UK Legends name are currently misleading the public by illegaly performing their own copy of the UK Legends show. They have also published their own fake copy of this website using the name 'THE UK LEGENDS' with an associated misleading domain name. A legal injunction is currently being sought to stop them performing their shows using the UK Legends officially registered name.
The following legally binding historic certificates of registration are held by Steve Hutchinson for the band names:
UK Legends, UK Rock Legends, Animals III, Animals 3, Songs of Smokie, Voice of Smokie, The Animals Greatest Hits Show, Animals Tracks, The Greatest Hits of The Animals, Rock Legends and Classic Rock Legends.
All of the above names (and others) have been historically registered with the UK based company Log Networks Ltd t/a BandName.com
Each certificate shown below gives clear official historic documentation of the date that each show name was registered by Steve Hutchinson for exclusive use only by his own bands.
Footnote
Clarification of Band v Bandname
Use of the term 'band' is of no importance in Intellectual Property law. A band is simply a collection of musicians who have come together to perform under a designated 'name'. The musicians who perform in that 'band' (or orchestra, or production) are also irrelevent in IP law and performing in the 'band' does not give any rights to ownership of the performance 'name' where that performance name has been previously registered by another person for the purposes of providing a show, unless the performance 'name' has been jointly registered or previously agreed otherwise in writing by all of the performers in the band.
The band's 'name', whether used for live performances, recordings, or in media, will always belong to the person who holds the earliest historic record of name registration or earliest proof of use of that name (provided that person can also prove continuity of use in that name since its registration and its use within the past five years). That person retains the perpetual legal right to use and re-use that name as they so wish even for an entirely different 'band' (or orchestra) of musicians, and that person also holds the legal rights to stop any other party from using that same registered name for similar purposes.
There is no law or ruling that allows any other person the rights to use another person's registered name without the consent of the registered holder of the name.
If a person becomes disassociated with the owner of the name they automatically lose any rights to continue performing under that name unless the registered name holder allows it.
In brief: A band is just a collection of musicians who come together to perform. This does not give the musicians in the 'band' any ownership rights to the 'name' that they perform under, regardless of how long those musicians may have been associated with that name, and in particular where the 'name' of the performance is historically registered to another person.