(05-11-2013 13:47 )4evadionne Wrote: 1973 - London: Ronnie Lane's "Slim Chance" play their first-ever gig in a circus tent on Clapham Common.
Ronnie Lane made his name in the 1960's alongside Steve Marriott as one of the founders of the Small Faces. They had a string of hits including "Itchycoo Park", "All or Nothing" and "Lazy Sunday". After Marriott left in 1969 they became the Faces, being joined by Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart.
More hits followed, like "Cindy Incidentally" and "Stay With Me", but the members were going in different musical directions and split up in 1973.
In 1973 Ronnie Lane moved to Fishpool Farm in the village of Hyssington, Wales, just over the border from England, just off the Shrewsbury to Bishop's Castle road. Lane and his wife thoroughly immersed themselves in country life.
"Slim Chance" was so named as that was Lane's tongue-in-cheek estimation of the likelyhood of them having any commercial success, although they had a no. 11 single with "How Come" and a Top 50 album.
After initial success he commenced a tour called "The Passing Show", touring the UK as a carnival complete with tents and barkers. Viv Stanshall, from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, was a short-lived ringmaster (of sorts). Lane moved to Island Records and issued Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance and One for the Road. In late 1976 he joined a short-lived reformation of Small Faces but quit after two rehearsals, to be replaced by Rick Wills (who later played alongside former Small Faces drummer Kenney Jones in The Jones Gang). However, Lane had signed a contract with Atlantic Records as part of the Small Faces, and was informed that he owed the company an album. His ensuing album with Pete Townshend, Rough Mix, produced by Glyn Johns, which was released in 1977, was lauded as contender for best album of the year by many critics, but the label did not promote it and sales were lacklustre, reaching only no. 44 in the UK and no. 45 in the US.
During the recording of Rough Mix, Lane was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis. Nonetheless he toured, wrote and recorded (with Eric Clapton among others) and in 1979 released another album, See Me, which featured several songs written by Lane and Clapton. Around this time Lane travelled the highways and byways of England and lived a 'passing show' modern nomadic life in full Gypsy traveller costume and accommodation.
Lane moved to Texas in 1984, where he continued playing, writing, and recording. For close to a decade Lane enjoyed "rock royalty" status in the Austin area. He toured Japan but his health continued to decline. His last performance was in 1992 at a Ronnie Wood gig alongside Ian McLagan. In 1994 Ronnie and his wife Susan moved to the small town of Trinidad, Colorado. Jimmy Page, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood continued to fund his medical care because no royalties from The Small Faces' work was forthcoming until Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan were eventually able to secure payments, by which time Steve Marriott had died in a house fire and Lane had also died. Lane succumbed to pneumonia, in the final stages of his progressive multiple sclerosis, on 4 June 1997 at the age of just 51. An album of live BBC recordings was about to be released to raise money for his care when Lane died.
Here's Ronnie Lane singing "Annie", a single taken from the 1977 Rough Mix album. How this wasn't a hit or used as a TV/Film theme I'll never know: