Blind Faith – Dave DiPaolo’s Deep Dive

Out of the ashes of Cream and Traffic, rose Blind Faith.

The English supergroup featured Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Ric Grech together for just one album and one tour before they called it quits, starting in 1969, and ending in 1969.

So, why Blind Faith? Well, Eric Clapton named the band, citing that Blind Faith is what the fans had as they came out to see them perform live without having even heard any of their songs on records or radio first.

The group originated with informal jamming by Clapton and Winwood in early ‘69 following the break-up of Cream and Traffic. Baker joined them in rehearsals and they decided to form a group. Grech joined as the fourth member from the band Family in May, and they began recording their debut album. It drew controversy for featuring a photograph of a naked prepubescent girl on the front cover, which got it banned in the United States.

The band played their debut concert in June that year in front of an estimated 100,000 fans in Hyde Park, London, but they felt that they had not rehearsed enough and were unprepared. They continued to tour Scandinavia and the US, but the lack of material in the live set led them to play old Cream and Traffic songs, which pleased the audience, but disillusioned the band. Clapton became increasingly isolated during the tour, preferring to spend time with support act Delaney & Bonnie. After the band’s final road performance, they split up and went their separate ways, leaving Clapton to move on to his next commercial band success, the formation of Derek and the Dominoes.

Portions of this profile were attributed to Wikipedia.org’s Blind Faith entry.

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