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Bassist/singer Colin
Hodgkinson was born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire,
England. He began playing professionally in 1966, initially
in a jazz-rock trio, then as a member of Eric Delaney's
Showband.
He was the leader of the jazz-rock trio Back Door, which he
formed in 1971 in Blakey, Yorkshire, England, with Ron
Aspery (keyboards, saxophone) and Tony Hicks (drums;
replaced by Adrian Tilbrook in 1975). The group was unusual
in that Hodgkinson's bass was the lead instrument. Their
first, self-titled album, consisting entirely of
instrumentals, was released on the local Blakey Records
label in 1972. (The tunes were mostly written by Hodgkinson
and Aspery.) Then, the band was signed to Warner Bros.
Records, which reissued the album in 1973 and released their
three subsequent LPs, 8th Street Nites (1973), Another Fine
Mess (1974), and Activate (1976). Back Door disbanded in
1977. (The Human Bed, an album containing the band's BBC
sessions of 1973-1974, was released in 2002.)
All along, Hodgkinson had appeared on sessions with Alexis
Korner (Bootleg Him!, Alexis Korner, Mr. Blues, Get Off My
Cloud), and after the demise of Back Door, he continued to
do so (Just Easy [1978], The Party LP [1980]), sometimes
performing with Korner in a duo. He also worked with Jan
Hammer (Black Sheep [1979]; Hammer [1980]; Untold Passion
[1981] and Here to Stay [1982], by Neal Schon & Jan Hammer),
Cozy Powell (Octopuss [1983]), Whitesnake (Slide It In
[1984]), Mick Jagger (She's the Boss [1985]), James Young
(City Slicker [1986], Out on a Day Pass [1994]), Konstantin
Wecker (Wieder Dahoam [1986]), the Spencer Davis Group (Live
Together [1988]), and Miller Anderson (Celtic Moon [1998]).
Often, he contributed songwriting to these projects as well
as playing bass.
Eventually, Hodgkinson moved to Germany, while continuing to
appear with different editions of the Spencer Davis Group.
In 1998, the German Inakustik label released his debut solo
album, The Bottom Line. He also worked with guitarist Frank
Diez in the Electric Blues Duo, resulting in the 1998
release Lucky at Cards. A third 1998 album was Steaming,
credited to Pete York, Brian Auger, and Hodgkinson. He
continued to record with other musicians, notably on Jon
Lord's Pictured Within (1999) and Chris Rea's Return of the
Fabulous Hofner Blue Notes (2008). Backdoor Too!, credited
to Colin Hodgkinson Group (including Rod Mason
[saxophone/piano] and Paul Robinson [drums] and thus
replicating the instrumental lineup of Back Door) was
released on the Inakustik imprint Rokoko Records in 2008.
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