Joey Molland was born in Liverpool in June 1947. In the early 1960s he was already playing music with bands such as The Assassins and The Profiles. In 1965 he joined The Masterminds. While playing at The Blue Angel club in Liverpool with The Masterminds, The Rolling Stones manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham was watching. He liked what he saw and heard and would eventually produce a single for The Masterminds, the Dylan cover “She Belongs to Me”, which was released on the Immediate label.
In 1966, 3 members of The Masterminds, which included Joey, would be recruited to form a backing band for The Merseys (Billy Kinsley & Tony Crane from the now disbanded Merseybeats.). This backing band became The Fruit Eating Bears and, together with The Merseys, they had a major hit with “Sorrow.”
In the next couple of years, after The Merseys broke up, Joey played briefly with local band The Cryin’ Shames until he heard about Gary Walker of The Walker Brothers putting together a new band. Joey auditioned and was hired. They became Gary Walker and The Rain and had several singles and an album released on the Philips label.
After the breakup of The Rain in 1969, Joey auditioned for The Iveys and was hired. The band soon changed its name to Badfinger and was signed by Apple Records. Their first hit was “Come and Get It” written and produced by Paul McCartney. They not only played at the Concert for Bangladesh, but also on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album. Joey and Tommy Evans also played on John Lennon’s Imagine album.
Leaving Badfinger in 1974, Joey played with Natural Gas and after their breakup he would reunite with Tommy Evans to record two more Badfinger albums. Following some solo work, in 1984 Joey reunited with Badfinger drummer, Mike Gibbins for the British Invasion Anniversary Tour. This led to Mike and Joey putting together a Badfinger band that played regularly for many years. After that ended, Joey continued to work solo releasing a number of albums over the coming years.
In December 2013, Joey released his 4th solo album “Return To Memphis” which features 10 new Molland compositions recorded at Royal Studios in Memphis and produced by Carl “Blue” Wise.
Joey continues to live in Minnesota, USA and is still actively performing and recording, keeping the Badfinger name alive.
From everyone at Beatle Week and Cavern City Tours, we would like to extend a warm welcome home to Joey.