HISTORY OF THE UK LEGENDS
THE SHOW
The UK Legends show was created and registered in 2007 by keyboard player Steve Hutchinson. The band that he has used to perform the UK Legends 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
Prior to the UK Legends, back in the summer of 2006 before the 'UK Legends' show was created, some of the first members of the band 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 using their keyboard player's own band name of 'The Legends'. The line up of the Lieutenant Pigeon band performing as 'The Legends' were Gary Moberley, Simon Van Downham, Geoff Hammond and Martin Bland.
Lieutenant Pigeon performing as The Legends in Poland on 1/12/2006 featuring:
Band leader Gary Moberley with Simon Van Downham, Geoff Hammond and Martin Bland.
Video footage of Polish TV presenter Andrzej Frajndt introducing Gary Moberley's band on stage as 'The Legends' on 1/12/2006 prior to the UK Legends band being formed in 2007
Unfortunately Gary Moberley's 'Legends' band only lasted for this one show in Poland due to an altercation between Martin Bland and Gary Moberley. This resulted in Steve Hutchinson (Stevie Hutch) who was the longest serving keyboard player for The Animals joining the Lieutenant Pigeon band in December 2006 for a Xmas show at Skipton in England.
In January 2007 Gary Moberley made the claim that he held the historic rights to the band name 'The Legends' and he informed
his former band members that he would legally stop them from using this name if they intended to do any further shows as The Legends.
Because of the ongoing conflict between Gary Moberley and Martin Bland over the use of 'The Legends' name it was decided during a meeting on 7th January 2007 between Steve Hutchinson and the Polish promoter Marian Knapczyk to create a brand new band and to give it a brand new name for them to proceed with further proposed shows in Poland. It was decided that the theme of the new band would be to perform the hits songs of Legendary British bands from the UK for the Polish audiences.
The names LEGENDY ROCKA (ROCK LEGENDS in Polish) and BRYTYJSKIE LEGENDY (BRITISH LEGENDS in Polish) were both considered at this time but Steve and Marian both finally decided upon the much simpler name of UK LEGENDS and they established this as the new name to use for the new band on all their future shows. The decision to use this particular name was due to the fact that 'UK LEGENDS' could be easily translated into any language and this new name was introduced to the band members.
On 13th January 2007 Steve Hutchinson officially registered his new band name 'UK LEGENDS'. This was to avoid any future inter-band conflicts over the ownership of the name and also so he could commence the investment of his own time and money into promoting his new UK LEGENDS show in other territories of the world outside of Poland. Steve designed and printed all of the promotional material for the new band including posters and brochures as well as creating the website for the band all at his own cost.
In Poland Marian Knapczyk commenced the promotion and advertising of the new UK Legends band, establishing new contracts for the shows, investing in backline equipment for the band, and providing a specially converted splitter bus for the transportation of the band and the equipment.
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
The UK Legends logo (c) 2007
The first line-up of the new 'UK LEGENDS' band
featured Stevie Hutch on keyboards along with guitarist / vocalist Simon Van Downham, drummer Geoff Hammond, and bass player Martin Bland from the Lieutenant Pigeon band. Very quickly the bookings started rolling in putting the UK Legends
show well and truly on the road.
The shows they performed were mainly in front of 17,000 strong audiences in some of the biggest arenas in Poland.
Stevie Hutch and Simon Van Downham on stage in Poland performing the UK Legends show in 2007
In the following
years Marian Knapczyk continued to promote the UK LEGENDS show
throughout Poland using his vast experience and knowledge of the Polish
market while Steve Hutchinson also promoted the UK LEGENDS as a separate
show throughout the rest of the world undertaking all of the band's
administration, website creation and management, poster designs, domain
purchasing, media advertising and bookings for his UK Legends shows.
Poster from 2008 advertising the very first line up for the UK Legends show
Unfortunately
in 2009 there was a serious altercation between Martin Bland and Simon Van Downham which resulted in Martin Bland being sacked fom the band due to Simon Van Downham and Geoff Hammond refusing to ever work with him again. As the UK LEGENDS
name was registered to Steve Hutchinson the Polish promoter gave Steve the task of quickly creating a replacement UK LEGENDS band to undertake future shows in Poland.
As the dispute between Martin Bland and Simon Van Downham was irreversable, registered name owner Steve Hutchinson had the choice
of either using Simon Van Downham & Geoff Hammond along with a new bass player for his replacement band, or to bring Martin Bland back into the UK Legends band and recruit a new guitarist and drummer.
After a difficult decision Steve decided to re-enlist previous bass player Martin Bland back into the replacement UK Legends band and also bring in new band members Graham Hunter on guitar, Ade
Evans on drums and Alan Silson from the UK chart topping band Smokie on guitar and vocals, who was later
replaced by Bernie Lowery.
The re-formed UK Legends band in 2009. Left to right:
Band leader Stevie Hutch - Bernie Lowery - Alan Silson - Ade Evans - Martin Bland - Graham Hunter
Stevie's 2nd version of his 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 due to further altercations caused by the bass player Martin Bland, but the band continued to always make its mark in many
foriegn countries and gained many followers all around the World.
In 2010 drummer Ade Evans left the band following a dispute with Martin Bland and was replaced by the top session drummer Paul Elliott
In 2012 due to a dispute between bass player Martin Bland and the top Polish promoter Marian Knapczyk the bulk of the band's shows in Poland suddenly stopped. To create replacement work for the band Steve introduced the band into the UK market by re-branding the shows under his other previously registered band name 'UK ROCK LEGENDS' which also became extremely
popular in the UK, as well as taking the headline spots at many rock
festivals in Europe.
The UK Rock Legends logo (c) 2012
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 dispute 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 dispute 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.
The UK LEGENDS in Denmark April 2013
Left to right: Stevie Hutch - Bernie Lowery - Martin Bland - Paul Thompson - Brian Vasey
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 dispute with Martin Bland and Graham Hunter rejoined the band again on guitar.
In 2014 Steve Hutchinson, who was also the longest serving keyboard player for The Animals, formed his own 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 ran his Animals III band alongside the UK Legends band and went on to perform Animals III shows in Scandinavia, Belgium and the UK.
Animals III logo (c) 2014
Steve's Animals III band still continues today but with different band members and under the different name of 'ANIMAL TRACKS' performing 'THE ANIMALS GREATEST HITS SHOW' at theatres around the UK.
In 2015 Graham Hunter left the UK LEGENDS/UK ROCK LEGENDS band to work with members of the late Gary Moore's band and was replaced by previous Animals and Saxon rock vocalist Tony Liddle, and previous Tygers of Pan Tang guitarist Steve Lamb.
In 2015 the highly respected drummer Mickey Mag Dog again left the band after a dispute with Martin Bland and Paul Elliott rejoined the band.
In 2016 Graham Hunter rejoined the band replacing Steve Lamb and Tony Liddle following a dispute between Martin Bland and Tony Liddle.
In 2016 Steve Hutchinson reverted the name of the show from 'UK ROCK LEGENDS' back to 'UK LEGENDS' because he felt the UK Legends name was more suited to the audiences in the UK 's social clubs.
In 2016 Steve also set up and registered his very own Smokie tribute band under the name of 'SONGS OF SMOKIE' using the members of the UK Legends band. Steve Hutchinson had previously toured throughout Europe during 2001 with original Smokie guitarist Alan Silson in his band so he created the Songs of Smokie tribute band to perform shows in Europe and at the Butlins 70's Weekends and other popular holiday camps in the UK. Steve's Songs of Smokie band continues today but with a different line up of musicians.
Songs of Smokie logo (c) 2016
Details of the show can be found at www.songsofsmokie.com
In 2017 guitarist Graham Hunter left the band after a further dispute with Martin Bland and was replaced by the guitarist Steve Lamb.
In 2017 drummer Paul Elliott also left the band after a further dispute with Martin Bland and Mickey Mad Dog rejoined the band again.
In 2019 Steve Hutchinson refused to take part in any of the UK LEGENDS shows that Martin Bland had deliberately started to under-sell into bars and small venues around the UK.
Not wanting his band members to miss out on potential work Steve granted them temporary permission to continue performing without him using his registered UK LEGENDS name. This was on one of the the provisos that the band always remained a quality band and had a minimum of four band members, so Bernie Lowery was brought back into the band to make up the numbers. It had always been intended that Steve Hutchinson would perform on all of the correctly marketed UK Legends shows.
Unfortunately the under-selling of Steve's UK Legends shows into the pubs by Martin Bland was damaging the good reputation of the band that Steve Hutchinson had spent years building up and this was making it impossible for Steve and his promoters to continue selling the UK Legends band in the UK and Europe as a credible high level professional show.
In 2019 the well respected drummer Mickey Mad Dog left the band following a further dispute with Martin Bland over long distance travelling and was replaced by the drummer George Defty.
In 2021, following a dispute between Steve Hutchinson and Martin Bland over many issues within the band including Martin Bland's miss-selling of Steve's UK LEGENDS band and ANIMALS III band, Steve replaced all of his UK LEGENDS, ANIMALS III and SONGS OF SMOKIE band members with new band members revoking the old band member's permission to use his registered band names.
The replacement band members in 2021 for Steve's UK LEGENDS, ANIMALS III and SONGS OF SMOKIE bands included the International award winning vocalist Howard Baker and White Heat drummer George Waters. Steve also teamed back up with previous UK Legends and founder UK Rock Legends original guitarist Graham Hunter, and previous Animals bass player Graham Hill for the UK LEGENDS shows and also The Sensational Rock Legends Show.
The members of Steve's UK Legends and UK Rock Legends band who performed The Sensational Rock Legends shows in 2021
Left to right: Graham Hill - Stevie Hutch - Graham Hunter - George Waters - Howard Baker
In 2022 the band also started performing again as the
'UK ROCK LEGENDS'
and
'CLASSIC ROCK LEGENDS'
performing at Theatres and Festivals throughout the UK and Europe
The Classic Rock Legends logo (c) 2022
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' in particular 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.
Website copyright (c) 2007
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