Les Gray

This artist fronted the British rock band whose name actually was Mud. "Tiger Feet" was one of the band's hits featuring Les Gray's vocal stylings; although active since the late '60s, Mud failed to splatter across the pop charts until developing a relationship with the songwriting team of Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn. These songwriters have worked in several different genres, although they are sometimes classified away as creators of bubblegum rock. By the time Mud's hits puddled up, that genre classification had been replaced by a reference to substances much less likely to be put in someone's mouth and chewed on, as in glitter and glam. Gray, who died in 2004 of throat cancer, was compared to Gary Glitter himself. On the other dirty hand, some rock writers attributed the appeal of Mud, Gray in particular, to their down-to-earth charisma. "He looked more like the guy that might be sitting beside you in the pub," states a memorial piece in Roktober magazine, possibly a case of mistaken identity since this piece identifies its subject as Les Sampson rather than Les Gray. The former is a drummer who worked with Noel Redding, among others. Prior to his health problems, Gray kept the Mud brand name moist through a series of revival shows at European festivals. ~ Eugene Chadbourne