Formed in England in late 1973, Streetwalkers was founded by two former members of acclaimed band Family: Roger Chapman (vocals) and John ‘Charlie’ Whitney (guitar). The project began as an album called Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers, which was released by the duo in 1974. The group’s lineup at the time included Family members John Wetton, Ric Grech, and Jim Cregan plus Mel Collins, Ian Wallace, and Michael Giles). Changing the band’s official name to Streetwalkers and going out on tour to promote the album, they were joined by keyboardist Blue Weaver and guitarist Bobby Tench. By the time they went into record the first official Streetwalkers album, the Chapman and Whitney had brought in Bobby Tench as their full-time guitarist and recorded with several bassists (Jon Plotel and Mickey Feat) and drummers (David Dowle and future Iron Maiden member Nicko McBrain). The 1975 album Downtown Flyers was their debut under the new shortened band name and was a success in Europe but overlooked in the US. Their next album, Red Card (1976), rose to number 16 on the UK Albums chart and became their best-known album. The group undertook an international tour to support the album, even playing live in the US as support to 10cc, Wings, Joe Cocker, and others. While Streetwalkers was a commercially and critically successful band, the music business began to change when punk and new wave started to dominate the charts and Streetwalkers were no longer a priority for their label, Vertigo Records. By the time the group released their third album, Vicious but Fair (1977), the support of their label and radio was practically non-existent. Later that year, they released Streetwalkers Live, which was a shoddy live package that seemed to fulfill their label contract. By the time of the live album’s release, Streetwalkers had officially broken up. Guitarist and official band member Bobby Tench died on February 19, 2024, at the age of 79.
