Sailor is a British pop group mostly famous in the 1970s. Much of the best material revolved around sailors' adventures on shore leave, especially in the "red-light quarter". Dressing in sailor gear that went with the image, they might easily be dismissed as something of a novelty act, but created some enduring and finely crafted pop music.

Another of the group's trademarks was the "nickelodeon", a scratch-built contraption of pianos, synthesisers, glockenspiels, etc. that allowed the four-man band to reproduce on stage the complex acoustic arrangements that they'd done in the studio.

Band Members

• Georg Kajanus: 1973-1979, 1990-1995
  • lead vocals, 12-string guitars, acoustic guitars, charango, Veracruzana harp, harmonium, synthesisers, "Klockwork machinery"
• Henry Marsh: 1973-1999
  • nickelodeon, accordion, piano, marimbas, synthesised brass and reed, synthesisers, acoustic/electric guitars, computer programming, vocals
• Phil Pickett: 1973-present (except Checkpoint)
  • bass nickelodeon, piano, guitarron, synthesised strings, calliope, xylophone, bass, cruz bass, Hammond organ, mandolin, autoharp, vocals (lead vocals on Dressed for Drowning)
• Grant Serpell: 1973-1979, 1990-present
  • drums, percussion, vocals

• Gavin David: 1980
  • vocals
• Virginia David: 1980
  • lead and backing vocals
• Peter Lincoln: 1996-present
  • 12-string and 6-string acoustic guitars, electric guitar, charango, lead vocals
• Anthony England: 1999-2001
• Rob Alderton: 2001-present

Discography

Albums

• Sailor (1974)
• Trouble (1975)
• The Third Step (1976)
• Checkpoint (1977)
• Hideaway (1978)
• Dressed for Drowning (1980)
• Sailor (1991)
• Street Lamp (1992)
• Legacy: Greatest and Latest (1996) – compilation with some new songs, including a version of Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon", which Pickett co-wrote
• The Very Best of Sailor (1998) – new studio versions of back-catalogue songs
• Live in Berlin (2002) – re-released as A Glass of Champagne (2003)

Notable singles

• "Traffic Jam" (1974)
• "A Glass of Champagne" (1975) – the most successful, held off the UK Number One spot by Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and ABBA's "Mama Mia"
• "Girls, Girls, Girls" (1976)
• "One Drink Too Many" (1977)
• "La Cumbia" (1991)
• "The Secretary" (1992)

External links

• SAILOR