Widowmaker | de

Widowmaker were a British hard rock group,[ who were active from 1975 to 1977. They were considered by many to be a supergroup and released two albums. Although their influences appeared to offer vast creative possibilities, musical and personality differences lead to their break-up. The legacy of Widowmaker is captured on the compilation Straight Faced Fighters (2002) released by Castle, which contains tracks from both of their albums.

The band was formed by former Mott the Hoople and Spooky Tooth guitarist Luther Grosvenor, also known as Ariel Bender. The original line-up featured vocalist Steve Ellis from Love Affair, guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton from Hawkwind, Australian bassist Bob Daisley of Chicken Shack and drummer Paul Nicholls who had played with Lindisfarne.
A few months after they had begun rehearsing at Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Manticore Studios in London the quintet were signed to Jet Records owned by Don Arden. A single release "On the Road" followed, in February 1976 and their debut album Widowmaker was released in the same year. The line-up for the "Widowmaker" album was augmented in the studio by vocalist and guitarist Bobby Tench from Streetwalkers and hammond player Zoot Money. Widowmaker reached #196 in US and featured an eclectic mix of blues, country, folk and hard rock. .