Eric Stewart

During the first half of the 1970s, Eric Stewart was one of the stars of England's pop/rock scene, along with his bandmates from 10cc, Graham Gouldman, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme. Born Eric Michael Stewart in early 1945, in Droylsden, near Manchester, he started out in music as a guitarist in the early '60s, initially as a member of Jerry Lee & the Staggerlees, who later became the Emperors of Rhythm. Stewart was busy on the music scene in Manchester for the next couple of years, when lightning suddenly struck in a most unexpected way. He was at the Oasis club in Manchester in early 1963 on a night when local singer Wayne Fontana had an audition scheduled with a record company representative, and his drummer and guitarist failed to appear. Stewart and drummer Ric Rothwell were asked to substitute, and Fontana passed the audition and was offered a recording contract -- provided that he worked with the musicians who'd played with him at that audition. The group was to have been called the Jets, but that name was taken and all concerned -- taking their inspiration from the title of a British movie of the period -- chose the name the Mindbenders instead. Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders struggled for a time to make an impression, but by their fourth single, "Stop, Look and Listen," they had started selling records, and with their fifth, "Um Um Um Um Um Um," they were in the Top Five. Their sixth single, "The Game of Love," reached number two in England and number one in America in the spring of 1965. For Stewart, the band's success became a decidedly mixed blessing. He found the frenzied young fans who mobbed him and his bandmates on the U.S. tour to be harrowing, even terrifying; additionally, he and the other members had seen some success as songwriters on the B-sides of...