The Arrows were,
Jake Hooker - Guitar/Sax and vocals.
Alan Merrill - Bass and lead vocals.
Paul Varley - Drums. The
The Arrows were formed in 1973 when americans Jake Hooker and Alan Merill came together to form a group.
They recruited englishman Paul Varley on Drums and the three piece band
set about finding the correct material with the hope of gaining a recording contract.
T The Arrows met up with Mickie Most and signed a record deal with his RAK record company.
He put them in touch with the best songwriters of the day aka, Chinn and Chapman and Martin and Coultier.
The song "Touch Too Much" written by Chinn and Chapman was the Arrows first single release
peaking at number 8 in the UK in 1974.
The next year would see the release of "My Last Night With You".
It reached number 25 and sadly would become the last hit for the group.
Such became the interest in the band that between 1976 and 1977 they were given their own TV series
with guests such as Marc Bolan.
In the following year they released their only album called "First Hit".(as above).
It contained excellent material some of which was written by Hooker and Merrill
and others by Martin and Coultier.
In order to make more sophisticated music they added a new member in 1976 Guitarist Terry Taylor.
They now became a fully fledged rock'n roll band with a different sound.
This was an attempt to move away from their teenybop image and lacked ChinniChap's magic.
No studio recordings were made during the time of their tv show which was un heard of at the time.
This was due to management disputes.
Due to this They failed to re-establish themselves.
In late 1977 the Arrows split up to persue solo ventures.
It was a shame as their own material was outstanding.
In particular the song "I Love Rock'n'Roll" would in later years prove to be a massive success
for other artists such as Joan Jett who scored a US and UK number 1 with the song in 1982.
Click Here to watch a clip of I Love Rock'n'Roll
Also it was a top ten hit for Britney Spears in 2003.
The song is now regarded as a classic which must please Hooker and Merrill tremendously.
Shame it wasn't the Arrows version!!
All the members of the band are still in the music business today
and who knows maybe one day we will see a reunion!
Click on the link below to see The Arrows perform