Library
The official site of Splinter (Bob Purvis &
Bill Elliott)
www.splinterlibrary.com
created
02/22/2002
last
updated: 08/02/2023
Bob
Purvis (left photo); Bill Elliott (right photo)
SPLINTER
SONG
INDEX
[follow the lyrics while listening to the song on YouTube
now!]
Note: links to
song lyrics are included on album or single page
in the Discography section in addition to the Splinter Song Index.
Discography
| Chronology |
Videos
| Splinter
Facebook Page
newspaper interview with Bob Purvis - Evening Chronicle (Newcastle),
June 4, 2001:
page
1 (interview) | page
2 (photos)
special feature: "My
day with Splinter in Paris (1977)" by Jean Helfer
[includes exclusive previously unpublished photos! - more
photos added, April 14, 2006]
The History of Splinter
In 1970, Tyneside
musicians Bob Purvis (born: 1950 May 31) and Bill Elliott (1950 July 28
to 2021 June 06) played live for the first time as a duo singing two
songs 'Wondering Buck' and 'How It Really Feels Inside.' They then got
together with a couple of other guys and formed a band called Stone
Blind, played a few gigs and made some demo tapes. Rob Hill became
their manager and sent the tapes off to record companies. In the
meantime, Stone Blind changed their name to Half Breed, before
going on to produce more demos. Mal Evans, The Beatles' former road
manager and producer of a number of the Apple acts, was in Newcastle at
the time and produced more demos with the group in David Wood's Impulse
Studios, in Wallsend. These were taken back to Apple and made into a
demonstration album. Bob Purvis, who was in Half Breed as a songwriter,
found it hard to pretend he was enjoying himself; to be honest, there
were lots of bad feelings, so exit Bob.
The upshot of all this was that Apple wanted the singer (Bill Elliott)
and the songwriter (Bob Purvis), but they would not buy into the group.
Mal got Bill Elliott a job singing 'God Save Oz' (which was changed to
'God Save Us'), a John Lennon & Yoko Ono song, for the benefit of Oz
magazine. Bill handled the song really well, but it was a very
controversial issue and he didn't get a fair crack at it [chart
success]. There were rumours he was in line for another song, but
nothing came of this. Half Breed changed its name, for one week, to the
Elastic Oz Band and went on tour in Scotland promoting the song.
Bill was still loyal to the band, but on their return, it was obvious
that something was wrong. Mal Evans wanted to take Bill & Bob under
his wing & manage them, however, they already had a manager in Rob
Hill.
Eventually, in mid-1971, Rob, Bill & Bob decided to get a whole new
band together. The band was called Truth. Now everyone seemed
far happier because Truth was a far tighter band with professional
musicians. Bob carried on as a songwriter while Bill took over the lead
vocals. For the next six months, Truth played continuous gigs and to
Bill & Bob, the band was a breath of fresh air. The Truth was out
there! However, things changed again when Bob Purvis decided to leave
the band to their own devices and strike out on his own career as a
singer/songwriter.
Bob moved down to London in July, 1972, and Mal Evans became his
manager. He worked with Tony Visconti making demos and wrote songs with
Mike Gibbins of Badfinger. Bob married Marilyn, his girlfriend of two
years, on July 29, 1972; they had a basement flat near Hampstead Heath
for a few months and to make ends meet, he also did a bit of session
singing to make a few quid. It was also in these months that Rob Hill,
Bob's ex-manager and lifelong friend, came to stay, along with his
girlfriend Anne. Rob was still Bill's manager and suggested that the two
of them should get back together. (Rob eventually became Splinter's
manager and, it is fair to say, without him Splinter would never have
happened). Bill had been very disillusioned with music and life at this
time. He was also missing Yvonne, his girlfriend, who was living abroad.
His band Truth wasn't going the way he had planned, and for awhile he
thought about giving it up altogether. Bob Purvis knew that with Bill
on-board, prospects would be better. It had worked in the beginning, and
it could work now. Bill & Bob never had to try too hard to sing
together; they naturally complemented each other. One would take the
harmony, one would take the lead and vice-versa. It would be hard to
tell them apart on record, but Bob admits that Bill had the most amazing
country singing and ballad voice and Bob's songwriting would be tapered
with this in mind. Bob was also a natural singer, but Bill really kept
him on his toes, so it was agreed that there would be no-one but Bill --
no bands with massive egos or hangers-on who came along for the milk and
honey. Splinter was the name and together, they were the perfect
match.
Splinter were about songs and singing; they both sang and both wrote.
Bob played 12-string guitar and Bill played mouth organ. Things quickly
moved and in the next few months they were offered deals by Tony
Visconti, Threshold Records (label for The Moody Blues) and Apple. Apple
wanted the duo to appear in a John Hurt, David Warner film called
'Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs.' The song they
were going to record was a Cat Stevens song called 'How Can I Tell You',
but when they heard a song that Mal Evans and Bob Purvis wrote called
'Another Chance That I Let Go' (which eventually turned into 'Lonely
Man' and was featured on their second album, 'Harder to Live'), they
used the song as the theme music. 'Lonely Man' is the only song Bob and
Mal ever wrote together, but Bob is quick to point out that Mal wrote
some very good lyrics on this piece. George Harrison of The Beatles
liked the song and wanted to hear more. Splinter signed-up with George
and Dark Horse Records (distributed by A&M) in 1973 and made their
first album ('The Place I Love') in which Bob recalled: "We both sang
our hearts out. It took over a year to make the album and we are both
very, very proud to be associated with such a great man and a fine
album."
Splinter released 2 more albums for Dark Horse between 1975-1977. In
1977, Bob Purvis won "Tokyo Song Of The Year" for "Love Is Not Enough".
After their American and British popularity waned, the duo focused their
attention on Japan, where they were immensely popular, touring 4 times
and releasing 2 albums and various single releases for Columbia Records
(Japan) from 1978-1981. Most of these records were exclusive releases
for the Japanese market only and are extremely hard to find today.
Finally, with no record companies interested in them anymore, they split
up in December 1984 and haven't seen each other or talked to each other
since... until recently. Bob Purvis re-emerged as a performer and
composer, helping a British cancer research charity in 1996, and touring
for one year in 1999 as Splinter 2 with a new partner. Bill Elliott
passed away on June 6, 2021 but his family still resides in Portugal.
Please e-mail any questions or contributions
Dark
Horse Records by Catalog Number
Other Dark Horse Records artists:
Attitudes
Henry
McCullough
Jiva
Stairsteps
Keni
Burke
Ravi
Shankar
also visit: Tom
Brennan's Badfinger Library
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