Gordon Haskell

"Sail In My Boat" 1969





















Gordon Haskell is usually thought of as a footnote in the history of King Crimson--the only lead singer in the group's long list of personnel who never played a single live date with the band, though he was with them long enough to cut most of an album (Lizard) and get one performance ("Cadence And Cascade") onto its predecessor. Otherwise, he's been an enigma even to many Crimson fans. Haskell's history with Robert Fripp goes back to the days they spent together in the mid-1960's as members of the League of Gentlemen, a band that backed various American r&b stars on tour and cut a couple of singles.

Haskell was also a member of a Liverpool band called the Quotations, formed by ex-Big Three bassist Johnny Gustafson (before he joined the Merseybeats), who recorded for English Decca ("Alright Baby" b/w "Love You All Over Again") in 1964. His main group affiliation for most of the mid-1960's was the Fleur de Lys, a somewhat lightweight psychedelic band who recorded at least once under the pseudonym of Shyster. Haskell passed through the line-ups of Rupert's People and Cupid's Inspiration, and, as a member of the Fleur de Lys, also played on records by Bill Kimber, John Bromley, Sharon Tandy, and Terry Durham. By the end of the 1960's, he was a solo act, trying to establish himself as a singer-songwriter, and released a pair of singles in 1969 and 1970, "Boat Trip" and "Oh-La-Di-Doo-Da-Day," and one LP, Sail In My Boat, all for British CBS.