Streetwalkers Discography

12 titles · 4 singles. Studio albums, live records, and compilations from the Streetwalkers catalogue.

Charlie Whitney (in the Streetwalkers eagle-logo t-shirt) and Roger Chapman on the road, c. 1975 — Streetwalkers era.

On the timeline

Streetwalkers era — 1974–1977

1974 1975 1976 1977

Streetwalkers — a brief history

Family's six-year career was wrapped up with a farewell album and tour in 1973. Roger Chapman and John "Charlie" Whitney, the main songwriters, jumped right back in. The Family name and image had run its course — too associated with late-'60s hipness for the mid-'70s — but the writing partnership had more to say. In the Streetwalkers period Whitney's playing leaned heavily into slide and lap-steel; Chapman's voice entered a new stage, less self-destructive than before but remaining gruff in the style of raucous soul singing.

In the winter of 1973/74, only months after the dissolution of Family, Chapman/Whitney completed a duo album titled simply Chapman/Whitney's Streetwalkers with a loose collection of musical friends. The album was released in May 1974, followed by the single Roxianna / Crack in June. A touring outfit was assembled with Bobby Tench (ex-Jeff Beck Group) on guitar and vocals, Tim Hinkley on keys, Mel Collins on sax, Ian Wallace on drums and Phil Chen on bass. Keyboardist Blue Weaver sat in at concerts including the Reading Festival in summer 1974. (Whitney, Wallace and Hinkley also found time to back Tim Buckley on his 21 May 1974 Old Grey Whistle Test session — Dolphins and Honey Man.)

The settled five-piece of Chapman, Whitney, Tench, Jonathan Plotel (bass) and Nicko McBrain (drums — yes, the future Iron Maiden drummer) cut Downtown Flyers in 1975, the band's first album under just the Streetwalkers name. Red Card followed in 1976. Plotel and McBrain were sacked in May 1976 and the band expanded to a six-piece — Brian Johnston on keyboards, Mickey Feat on bass, Dave Dowle on drums — for Vicious But Fair (1977). The compilation Live was assembled from the 1977 tour, and Last Stand gathered later live material.

The band split after the 1977 tour. Tench joined Hummingbird and later returned to session work; McBrain went to Iron Maiden in 1982; Whitney formed Axis Point with Townsend and Eddie Hardin; Chapman launched his solo career with The Shortlist.

In 2003 Chapman, Whitney and Tench briefly reconvened as Streetwalkers for the Vicious But Fair CD reissue programme on Repertoire — no new recordings, but a reminder of the catalogue's quiet endurance through the '80s and '90s.