Renaissance

Two Yardbirds

Renaissance began in London in 1969, founded by two former Yardbirds: Keith Relf on vocals and guitar, and Jim McCarty on drums. Before it they had made a single as an acoustic duo called Together. McCarty said they wanted something more poetic and folky, not so heavy. The first line-up added Louis Cennamo on bass, John Hawken on piano and Jane Relf on vocals. Their debut album, Renaissance, was produced by another ex-Yardbird, Paul Samwell-Smith, and the band toured North America in February 1970, paired with the Kinks on a trek that was only marginally successful. That line-up came apart late in 1970. Relf and McCarty stopped, Cennamo joined Colosseum, and Hawken moved to Spooky Tooth. The unfinished second album, Illusion, was completed by Hawken with former Nashville Teens including Michael Dunford, and came out in Germany in 1971 and in Britain only in 1976.

The classic line-up

The band was rebuilt by their manager, Miles Copeland III, around the singer Annie Haslam, who had auditioned in January 1971, and the pianist John Tout, who had replaced Hawken. Dunford, a guitarist from the Nashville Teens, became principal composer. Several bassists passed through, among them John Wetton, before Jon Camp settled in, and Terry Sullivan took over the drums in 1972. Betty Thatcher, who wrote most of the lyrics, was never a performing member. She lived in St Ives and posted her words back within days of receiving the music.

That five-piece, with Thatcher behind it, made the albums that define the band. Haslam sang with a five-octave range, and the music mixed acoustic guitar, piano, bass pedals and orchestral writing. Prologue arrived in 1972, followed by Ashes Are Burning in 1973, the first to reach the US chart, with its title track becoming the anthem piece of the live show. Turn of the Cards followed in 1974 as the first release on Copeland's BTM label in Britain.

Abbey Road and Carnegie Hall

Scheherazade and Other Stories was recorded at Abbey Road in May 1975 with the London Symphony Orchestra and released that July. Its centerpiece, the 24-minute Song of Scheherazade, began as Dunford's score for a planned theatrical musical. Beside it sits Ocean Gypsy, a Dunford and Thatcher song that Ultimate Classic Rock calls the signature Renaissance ballad. The album reached 48 on the US Billboard chart.

The band was strongest in the northeastern United States. In June 1975 they played three sold-out nights at Carnegie Hall in New York with the New York Philharmonic, reportedly the first British band to do so, and the recordings became Live at Carnegie Hall in 1976. Novella followed in 1977 and reached 46 in the United States, their best placing there. Keith Relf died on 12 May 1976.

A hit single and the long afterward

A Song for All Seasons came out on 3 March 1978, produced by David Hentschel and recorded in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Electric guitars returned to the sound. It reached 35 in the UK, the only top-40 album the band had there, and 58 in the United States. Northern Lights, released as a single in May 1978, reached number 10 in Britain, their only hit single. Azure d'Or followed in 1979.

Tout and then Sullivan left after the Azure d'Or tour in 1980. Camera Camera (1981) and Time-Line (1983) moved toward synthpop, and Camera Camera was the last of their albums to chart in the United States. Camp left in 1985, and the Haslam and Dunford version of the band ended in August 1987. In the 1990s Haslam and Dunford each ran a separate band under the Renaissance name. A partial reunion from 1998 to 2002 produced Tuscany and In the Land of the Rising Sun, and Renaissance 2009 marked the fortieth anniversary.

Grandine il Vento, released in 2013 and reissued as Symphony of Light, was dedicated to Dunford, who died on 20 November 2012. It had guest parts from Ian Anderson and John Wetton. Thatcher had died the year before. The band toured for its fiftieth anniversary in 2019 with Jim McCarty as a guest, and a farewell tour called In Gratitude was announced for 2024. Esoteric Recordings issued expanded editions of the 1970s albums, among them Live at Carnegie Hall and A Song for All Seasons in 2019. Jon Camp died on 13 December 2024 and Terry Sullivan in January 2026. Blackmore's Night covered Ocean Gypsy, and Judith Durham covered Northern Lights.