哥伦布时代前的跨大洋接触年表

Supertramp were a British rock band formed in London in 1970. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), the group were distinguished for blending progressive rock and pop styles. The classic lineup, which lasted ten years from 1973 to 1983, consisted of Davies, Hodgson, Dougie Thomson (bass), Bob Siebenberg (drums) and John Helliwell (saxophone), after which the group's lineup changed numerous times, with Davies being the only constant member throughout its history.

Supertramp found no success with their first two albums, but after a lineup change into what became their classic lineup, their third album, Crime of the Century (1974), was their breakthrough. Initially a more experimental prog-rock group, they began moving towards a more pop-oriented sound with the album. The band reached their commercial peak with 1979's Breakfast in America, which yielded the international top 10 singles "The Logical Song", "Breakfast in America", "Goodbye Stranger" and "Take the Long Way Home". Their other top 40 hits included "Dreamer" (1974), "Give a Little Bit" (1977) and "It's Raining Again" (1982).

In 1982 Supertramp released ...Famous Last Words..., the last album to feature Hodgson, who left in 1983 to pursue a solo career. The band continued with Davies as the sole leader and released two more albums until 1988. After this, they disbanded for a time and periodically reformed in various configurations (always with Davies, and without Hodgson), recording and touring two further albums, Some Things Never Change (1997) and Slow Motion (2002). Davies died in 2025.

Supertramp attained significant popularity in North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia. Their highest sales levels were in Canada, where they had two diamond-certified (ten-times platinum) albums (Crime of the Century and Breakfast in America), and their only number one singles anywhere ("The Logical Song" and "Dreamer") aside from "It's Raining Again" which reached number one in France. As of 2007, Supertramp album sales exceeded 60 million.

History

1969–1972: Formation, Supertramp and Indelibly Stamped

In 1969 Stanley "Sam" August Miesegaes, a Dutch millionaire, ceased providing financial support to a band called The Joint, as he was disappointed with them. He offered Swindon-born keyboardist Rick Davies, a former bandmate of Irish singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan, whose talent he felt had been "bogged down" by the group, an opportunity to form his own band with Miesegaes's financial backing. The band included Roger Hodgson (bass and vocals), Richard Palmer (guitars and vocals) and Keith Baker (percussion).

Davies and Hodgson had radically different backgrounds and musical inspirations. Davies was working class and fiercely devoted to blues and jazz, while Hodgson had gone straight from English private school to the music business and was fond of pop. Despite this, they hit it off during the auditions and began writing virtually all of their songs together, with Palmer as a third writer in the mix. Hodgson and Davies collaborated on the songwriting while Palmer composed the lyrics.

The group, having dubbed themselves "Daddy", after several months of rehearsal at a country house in West Hythe, Kent, flew to Munich for a series of concerts at the P. N. Club. One 10-minute performance there of "All Along the Watchtower" was filmed by Haro Senft (Daddy Portrait 1970). The rehearsals had been less than productive and their initial repertoire consisted of only four songs, two of which were covers.

In January 1970 Keith Baker left, replaced by former stage actor Robert Millar (b. 2 February 1950 – d. 22 July 2024), and to avoid confusion with "Daddy Longlegs", at Palmer's suggestion, the band changed its name to "Supertramp", a moniker inspired by The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp by William Henry Davies.

In April 1970 Supertramp, while back in Munich, returned the favour to their friend Haro Senft by contributing music to his next film, Purgatory (a.k.a. Fegefeuer), and would also agree to have tracks from their first album used in a documentary, Extremes (1971), by Tony Klinger and Michael Lytton.

Supertramp were one of the first groups to be signed to the UK branch of A&M Records and their first album, Supertramp, was released on 14 August 1970 in the UK and Canada; however, this disc was not issued in the US until late 1977. Stylistically, the album was fairly typical of progressive rock of the era. Despite receiving a good deal of critical praise, the album did not attract a large audience.

Dave Winthrop (flute and saxophone, vocals) had first auditioned for the group in March 1970 but did not join until July, just before the release of the first record. He performed with Supertramp at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival on 27 August 1970.