The Strawbs are a rock band founded in 1964 in England. Originally known as the Strawberry Hill Boys, they started out as a bluegrass band and eventually moved onto to other styles ( folk rock, glam rock, progressive rock, AOR).
Leader and most active songwriter is guitarist and singer Dave Cousins (guitar, dulcimer, banjo, vocals).
Besides Cousins, long standing players were Tony Hooper (guitar, vocals), Ron Chesterman (bass), Rick Wakeman (keyboards) (known from Yes), Blue Weaver (keyboards), who also played with Amen Corner, Mott the Hoople and the Bee Gees, Richard Hudson (Hud) (drums, vocals) and John Ford (bass, vocals), who also had some hits as the duo Hudson-Ford, Dave Lambert (guitar, vocals), Brian Willoughby (guitar), Chas Cronk (bass, vocals, guitar), John Hawken (keyboards) (also The Nashville Teens, Renaissance, Spooky Tooth, Vinegar Joe), and Rod Coombes, formerly of Stealers Wheel. In the early days the Strawbs played with Sandy Denny (lead singer of Fairport Convention and Fotheringay).
The group had its biggest commercial success in the UK in 1973 lining up Cousins, Lambert, Hudson, Ford and Weaver, before Hudson and Ford quit to form Hudson-Ford. In America, however, the two following albums, Hero and Heroine and Ghosts, with Hawken, Cronk and Coombes, were more successful and the band did several successful tours of the USA and Canada.
As punk wiped out many of the progressive acts of the early and mid 70s, Hudson, Ford and Terry Cassidy combined together with Clive Pearce on drums (Hud was then playing guitar, having switched from drums) to produce 1979 album Bad Habits as The Monks. The album spawned a surprise no 19 hit with single "Nice Legs, Shame About The Face" (right). They dabbled with 1930s style music in 1980 as High Society before returning to the pseudo-punk format of the Monks for a follow up album released in Canada only, "Suspended Animation" with the addition of Brian Willoughby on guitar and Chris Parren on keyboards. Whilst the album failed to produce further UK chart success, the band were huge in Canada particularly, playing stadium gigs as big as the Strawbs ever achieved, and Suspended Animation went platinum in Canada too. The CD re-release of Suspended Animation includes 6 bonus tracks, recorded for a third album, but never before released, by Hudson, Ford and Cassidy - Huw Gower guests on one track on lead guitar.