Unsung Heroes
 

Every great band has an unsung hero.
Witness George Harrison in the Beatles (Not recognised until very late in their collective career)
Charlie Watts in the Stones (Ditto)
John Paul Jones In Led Zep (Possibly to this day)
Ronnie Lane in The Faces/Small Faces.
In fact , in the case of the late great Ronnie, I`d go so far as to point out that he wrote "Itchycoo Park" single handedly, was involved in the writing of "All or Nothing" and "Tin Soldier" for the Smalls and was involved with the writing of the Faces best tracks (Witness "Ohh La La ".Reportedly, Rod Stewart refused to sing it, so it was left to The Ronnies, Wood and Lane to get it on vinyl.)
Was a very decent bass player and pour moi (like George and Bonham) is sadly missed.

I love Charlie Watts. I think he express a sense of humour in his drumming - definitely during the experimental part of the Brian Jones years.

Tony Banks of Genesis. Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel had a good run in the 80s becoming house hold names. I always thought Tony Banks was the musical generator of Genesis. He always came up with a decent melody on keyboard.

Today is the 4th anniversary of the death of one of the greatest unsung heroes, RICHARD WRIGHT! A little known fact is that Wright was the most musically-competent member of Pink Floyd, and whatever Waters or Gilmour had written, they consulted Wright for his opinion and eventual improvements.

Jesus! Four years! RIP Rick, you are missed, and yes, agree he was a pivotal member of Floyd: who can forget the haunting piano intro to "Nobody home" or his amazing organ on "Us and them"? Or more recently, his simple piano opening to "What do you want from me?"

Sean Moore from the Manics never really gets any of the limelight, but he is an absolutely excellent drummer.

Derek St. Holmes, vocal/guitar on Nugent S/T. This partnership only lasted one record, but he was the superior vocalist, and because of his input, Nuge never came close to topping this album. Derek's voice was powerful, raspy and had some range.

He was actually on the first 3 studio albums and I think came back for one more in the 1980s, he was certainly better than Nugent as a vocalist.

You know your stuff, St Holmes left during the recording of Free For All, but you're right, he was credited for some vocals on that album. That's about as far as I go w/Nuge.

He left after Free For All but came back for Cat Scratch Fever then left again after the live album.

I'll have to give Cat Scratch and Live Gonzo a listen to then, because I think St. Holmes as got a great voice.