Accomplishing the unlikely feat of bridging the great divide between prog rock and pure pop, Supertramp became one of the most successful British bands of the 1970s and 80s. The group’s creative driving force was the partnership between Rick Davies, who has died aged 81 after suffering from multiple myeloma, and Roger Hodgson. They wrote all of Supertramp’s big chart hits and best-known songs, but though the compositions were credited to both of them, the songs were invariably written solely by one or the other.
The New York Times suggested that Hodgson “was known for his celestial tenor and his Paul McCartney-esque ear for melody”, demonstrated on the likes of Dreamer and The Logical Song. Meanwhile Davies’s grittier tones could be discerned on Bloody Well Right, Crime of the Century and Goodbye Stranger.
