Cupid's Inspiration are a British pop group, active with various line up changes since 1968 when they had two hit singles. The band are currently on the road with original drummer Roger Gray re-joining the veteran line up of Paul Shanahan and Bob Poole with Paul Thomas on vocals.
Career
Originally from Stamford, Lincolnshire, the band were at first called The Ends. The group scored two Top 40hits on the UK Singles Chart in 1968. "Yesterday Has Gone", originally a hit for Little Anthony and The Imperials, reached No. 4 in July of that year, and "My World" went to No. 33 in October. In 1970, lead singer Terry Rice-Milton the vocalist on the hit singles left, replaced by John Lynch and then Martin Cure, who added several musicians from Leamington to the line-up so none of the hit making band remained after these changes. Rice-Milton had his third hit with "You're my World" in 1970, while bass player Gordon Haskell later joined King Crimson. By 1978, the band began writing and recording heavier rock songs. These were performed under a different name, initially '4 Wheel Drive', which they soon changed to 'Chevy', to avoid alienating Cupid's Inspiration fans. They recruited Steve Walwyn, later of Dr. Feelgood to give a "twin guitar" sound. As 'Chevy' they toured supporting bands such as Alvin Lee, Hawkwind and Gillan.< Chevy recorded two BBC In Concert Programmes, issued three singles: "Too Much Loving" / "See the Light", "The Taker" / "Life on the Run" and "Just Another Day" / "Rock On" and one album The Taker, released in September 1980. In the 1990s and early 2000s, some of the original group played reunion shows with other bands from the era. In 2010, Bob Poole returned from 18 years in Germany and together with Paul Shanahan, ex Peppermint Circus vocalist Paul Thomas, and ex Ben E King and Barbara Dickinson drummer Rick Medlock reformed Cupid's Inspiration later replacing Rick Medlock with Roger Gray, the original band drummer who played on all the records who had left in 1972. In September 2012, founder members Terry Rice-Milton and Laughton James, together with Bernie Lee, who was a member during 1968/69, and drummer Tony Peck from The Ends played a reunion concert in their home town of Stamford, which they are hoping to repeat in 2014. The band's hit single, featuring Terry-Rice Milton, "Yesterday Has Gone" has featured on many compilation albums, including Sixties Power Ballads - The Greatest Driving Anthems in the World... Ever! as well as their original album Yesterday Has Gone.
