Overview
Love is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965. Led by frontman and primary songwriter Arthur Lee, they were one of the first racially diverse American rock bands. Their sound incorporated an eclectic range of styles including garage, folk-rock, and psychedelia. While finding only modest success on the music charts, peaking in 1966 with their US Top 40 hit "7 and 7 Is", Love would come to be praised by critics as their third album, Forever Changes (1967), became generally regarded as one of the best albums of the 1960s.
The band's classic lineup is considered to consist of frontman Lee, guitarist/singer Bryan MacLean, bassist Ken Forssi, guitarist Johnny Echols, and drummer Alban "Snoopy" Pfisterer. By 1968, only Lee remained and he continued recording as Love with varied members through the 1970s. MacLean and Forssi died in 1998. Lee died in 2006. Forever Changes was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2011. In recent years, original member Johnny Echols has toured under the title of the Love Band or Love Revisited.
History
Formation and early years
Singer/multi-instrumentalist Arthur Lee, who was originally from Memphis, Tennessee but had lived in Los Angeles since the age of five, had been recording since 1963 with his bands the LAG's and Lee's American Four. He wrote and produced the single "My Diary" for Rosa Lee Brooks in 1964, which featured Jimi Hendrix on guitar. The Sons Of Adam, which included future Love drummer Michael Stuart, recorded the Lee composition "Feathered Fish". After attending a performance by the Byrds, Lee decided to form a band that joined the newly minted folk-rock sound of the Byrds to his primarily rhythm and blues style.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).