Black Widow was a progressive rock/heavy metal band that formed in Leicester, England in 1970. The band was mostly known for its early use of satanic and occult imagery in its music and stage act. The band are often confused with the better-known heavy metal band Black Sabbath, but the bands were only superficially similar. Progressive rock (sometimes shortened to prog, prog rock, or progrock) is a subgenre of rock music which arose in the late 1960s, reached the peak of its popularity in the 1970s, and has continued as a form of popular music to this day. ... Heavy metals, in chemistry, are chemical elements of a particular range of atomic weights. ... Leicester city centre, looking towards the Clock Tower Leicester (pronounced ) is the largest city in the East Midlands of England. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Satanism is a religious or philosophical movement centered around Satan or another entity identified with Satan, or centered around the forces of nature, particularly human nature, represented by Satan as an archetype. ... The word occult comes from the Latin occultus (clandestine, hidden, secret), referring to the knowledge of the secret or knowledge of the hidden and often popularly meaning knowledge of the supernatural, as opposed to knowledge of the visible or knowledge of the measurable, usually referred to as science. ... Heavy metal is a genre of music that emerged as a defined musical style in the 1970s, having its roots in hard rock bands which, between 1969 and 1974,[1] mixed blues and rock music to create a hybrid with a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised by... Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham. ...

History

The band originally formed in 1966 as Pesky Gee! with Kay Garrett (born 5.4.1949, in Leicester, Leicestershire) (lead vocals), Kip Trevor (born 12.11.1946, in Littlemore, Oxfordshire) (lead vocals, guitar & harmonica), Jim Gannon (guitar & vocals), Bob Bond (bass guitar) (born Robert Bond, 2.10.1940, in Brighton, Sussex), Clive Box (drums), Jess "Zoot" Taylor (organ & piano) (born 10,11,1948, in Leicester), Clive Jones (sax & flute) (born 28.5.1949, in Leicester). The band released one album for Pye Records as Pesky Gee!, 1969's Exclamation Mark, before Garrett left the band. The remaining band members continued on as Black Widow and released their debut album Sacrifice in 1970. Perhaps better known than their music was the band's use of occult references in their music and their live performances, which were made more controversial with the mock sacrifice of a nude woman. The band attracted further controversy by consulting infamous witch Alex Sanders for advice. 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... This article is part of the Witchcraft series. ... Alex Sanders (June 6, 1926 - April 30, 1988), born Orrell Alexander Carter, was the founder of the Alexandrian tradition of Wicca. ...

Controversy aside, Sacrifice reached as high as #34 on the UK album charts. [1] The band also performed at the Whitsun Festival at Plumpton, UK in 1970. [2] By 1971, the band had moved away from its darker occult imagery in an effort to gain a wider audience, which was unsuccessful. Having replaced Bond and Box with Geoff Griffith and Romeo Challenger, Black Widow released the self-titled Black Widow album in 1971 and Black Widow III in 1972 (by which time Gannon had left, replaced by John Culley) to general disinterest before being dropped by CBS Records. The band recorded a full-length album, Black Widow IV, later in 1972 without a recording contract but was not released due to the band breaking up shortly after replacing lead vocalist Kip Trevor with a vocalist known as Rick "E" (born Frank Karuba; formerly of 'Plum Nelly'). The album was finally released in 1997 on the Mystic Records label. In 1999 the original recordings of their debut album, made before Garrett left the band, were released as 'Return to the Sabbat'.[3] Plumpton is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... Romeo Challenger (born 19 May 1950, in Antigua) is a Caribbean-born, British-based rock music star. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Columbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• The Black Widow Abode
• The Best of British Rock - Black Widow
• Interview on the Leicester Bands website