Sunburst Deluxe was founded in Wakefield West Yorkshire England by singer guitarist and principal songwriter Bill Nelson in 1972. The founding lineup consisted of Nelson guitarist Ian Parkin bassist and vocalist Robert Bryan drummer Nicholas Chatterton-Dew and keyboardist Richard Brown (who left in December of that year).
They started off playing the West Yorkshire pub scene with one regular venue being the Staging Post in Whinmoor Leeds.
They never played bebop music but instead came out of the blues-based British rock scene of the late 1960s.
At first they were compared to the more successful David Bowie but Nelson never tried to copy Bowie and appears to have disliked comparisons or being pigeon-holed.
This artistic restlessness eventually led him to disband Be-Bop Deluxe altogether and pursue less commercial paths of expression. the initial lineup of the band only lasted for one album 1974's Axe Victim and a short tour. Shortly after this Nelson dissolved the band and reformed the group with a new lineup - drummer Simon Fox and New Zealand-born bassist-vocalist Charlie Tumahai (formerly of Australian bands Mississippi and Healing Force).
This lineup recorded 1975's Futurama album (produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the then producer for Queen) and was then supplemented by keyboardist Andrew Clark for the subsequent tour after which Clark joined the band.
This final lineup remained constant until the band's dissolution in 1978.The band's sound emerged as a mixture of glam rock prog rock and straightforward rock and roll. Science fiction imagery was common in Bill Nelson's lyrics along with the more traditional themes of love and the human condition (albeit often hidden beneath Nelson's quirky lyrical and musical metaphors).
Sunburst Deluxe are a Be Bop Deluxe tribute band from West Yorkshire UK. They strive to create the authentic sound and feel of the original band and want to entertain the people who already like 'Be Bop' but also those that have yet to discover the complex mixture of rhythm's and genres that made this band so unique. As a unit they are committed to recreating this and are all really enjoying making "that sound”.
