Nazareth
Nazareth's Loud 'n' Proud album was #1 in Sweden and Switzerland, #2 in Germany and Top 5 in Austria.
Nazareth was the first British band to make a transcontinental tour of Canada.
On June 22, 1974, Billboard reported that A&M Canada was responsible for 97.8 percent of the sales of "This Flight Tonight" in North America. Nazareth was the best selling artist for A&M Canada in 1974.
"This Flight Tonight" was the record of the year at radio station CKOM in Saskatoon, Canada.
Hair Of the Dog was released in Canada before it was released in the U.S. and Europe.
Close Enough For Rock 'N' Roll shipped gold in Canada.
In 1976, Nazareth played a tour of 12 cities in Canada. All the shows were sold out with attendance of 100,000. RPM reported that Nazareth sold more records per capita in Canada than in the U.S. and they sold more records in Alberta than anywhere else in the world.
The single "Love Hurts" was A&M Canada's biggest seller since the company's founding seven years earlier.
Sales of the first four albums in Canada was 400,000 units with half of the sales were tapes.
From its release in 1976 until 1981, the single "Love Hurts" by Nazareth sold over four million copies. It was the best-selling single ever in Norway and outsold Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" throughout Europe.
Dan McCafferty told Music Week: "Jerry [Moss] said, 'I'm putting out 'Love Hurts', it's a hit,' and it was just as well he did. 'Razamanaz,,' 'Loud 'N' Proud' and 'Rampant' didn't really crack it for us in the States. We had been going out as first or second on the bill and sometimes, even in places where we'd been doing really well, as special guests. We'd had nothing solid we were just beginning to make a name. Then 'Love Hurts' started to happen and we had to follow it up with something different."
The Snaz album was specially priced at $13.98. A&M developed a city by city marketing plan for the album based on information about Nazareth's previous concert appearances in each of 69 cities. The radio promotion was targeted to those stations that had the strongest reception to earlier albums. There was also a 60-minute concert produced for MTV. Retail stores received a double-sided wall/window display, touring poster, album flats, and concert flyers.
Nazareth's "Love Hurts" was featured in a Swiffer television commercial.
Nazareth's single "This Flight Tonight" stayed on the German chart longer than any other single before it.
Hair Of the Dog New Music On A&M Records
Close Enough For Rock 'N' Roll New Music On A&M Records
Expect No Mercy New Music On A&M Records
Nazareth: Malice In Wonderland
- Nazareth 'Crusade' Clicks. Billboard, October 23, 1976.
- A&M Nazareth Push Takes Promoter Cue. Sam Sutherland. Billboard, October 17, 1981.
- Mahogany Rush Tours With A&M'a Nazareth. RPM, September 26, 1976.
- Nazareth 10th anniversary advertorial. Music Week, February 2, 1980.
| Name | Member Years | Instruments |
|---|---|---|
| Billy Rankin | 1982 | guitar, vocals |
| Dan McCafferty | 1975-1982 | vocals |
| Darrell Sweet | 1975-1982 | drums, percussion, vocals |
| John Locke | 1982 | keyboards |
| Manuel Charlton | 1975-1982 | guitars, sythesizer |
| Pete Agnew | 1975-1982 | bass, vocals |
| Zal Cleminson | 1980 | guitars, sythesizer |
| Name | Birth | Death |
|---|---|---|
| Billy Rankin | 1959-04-25 | |
| Dan McCafferty | 1946-10-14 | 2022-11-08 |
| Darrell Sweet | 1947-05-16 | 1999-04-30 |
| John Locke | 1943-09-25 | 2006-08-04 |
| Manuel Charlton | 1941-07-25 | 2022-07-05 |
| Pete Agnew | 1946-09-14 | |
| Zal Cleminson | 1949-05-04 |
| Name | See associated acts |
|---|---|
| Billy Rankin | Billy Rankin |
| Dan McCafferty | Dan McCafferty |
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