Barclay James Harvest is a British progressive and symphonic rock band formed in 1966 in Oldham (Lancashire, Greater Manchester) by John Lees (vocals, guitar), Les Holroyd (bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals), Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme (keyboards, mellotron, vocals) and Mel Pritchard (drums). Wolstenholme (keyboards, mellotron, vocals) and Mel Pritchard (drums). The band began their career on the Harvest label (EMI), releasing their self-titled debut in 1970, followed by Once Again (1971), which confirmed their style of blending orchestral arrangements and melodic rock. Subsequent albums, Barclay James Harvest and Other Short Stories (1971) and Baby James Harvest (1972), deepened this orientation. In 1974, the band signed to Polydor and experienced a major turning point with Everyone Is Everybody Else, considered a classic of the genre. This was followed by Time Honoured Ghosts (1975) and Octoberon (1976), which consolidated their success, particularly in the UK and Germany. Their album Gone to Earth (1977) became a huge commercial success in Germany, where it remained in the charts for several years, boosted by the tracks "Hymn" and "Poor Man's Moody Blues". 1978 saw the release of XII, the last album with Woolly Wolstenholme, who left the band in 1979. The band continued as a trio and made the transition to a more accessible sound with Eyes of the Universe (1979) and Turn of the Tide (1981). In 1980, "BJH", as they were known to their fans, performed in front of over 250,000 people in Berlin at a free concert near the now legendary Berlin Wall. The decade saw a change in the band's musical style, with shorter-format songs in the pop-rock vein on the albums Ring of Changes (1983), Victims of Circumstance (1984), Face to Face (1987), Welcome to the Show (1990), Caught in the Light (1993) and River of Dreams (1997). In 1998, after more than 30 years in the business, the band split into two separate entities: John Lees founded John Lees' Barclay James Harvest with the return of Woolly Wolstenholme, while Les Holroyd continued under the name Barclay James Harvest Featuring Les Holroyd. Mel Pritchard died on January 28, 2004 and Woolly Wolstenholme on December 13, 2010.
