The Animals turned a scruffy Newcastle club act into a transatlantic No. 1 in under two years.
Their growling sound and one landmark single reshaped what a British band could get away with on the radio.
Table of Contents
- From an R&B Club Act to The Animals
- House of the Rising Sun Breaks the Rules
- More Hits, Then Alan Price Walks Away
- Chas Chandler Finds Jimi Hendrix
- FAQ
From an R&B Club Act to The Animals
Eric Burdon grew up in Walker, a shipbuilding district of Newcastle upon Tyne.
He was obsessed with American blues records.
In 1962 he joined a local group built around keyboardist Alan Price.
It was then called the Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo.
The lineup settled with Burdon on vocals, Price on organ, Hilton Valentine on guitar, Chas Chandler on bass, and John Steel on drums.
They built a following playing rough R&B sets at Newcastle's Downbeat Club.
A London booking agent pushed them south in 1963.
Where the Name Really Came From
The usual story says promoters gave the group its name for their wild stage act.
Burdon told a different version in 2013.
He said the name honored a friend nicknamed "Animal" Hogg from the band's early Newcastle crowd.
Drummer John Steel gave a third account in 2021.
He credited jazz musician Graham Bond with coining it.
Whichever story holds up, the name stuck to one of the roughest sounding bands of the British Invasion.
House of the Rising Sun Breaks the Rules
The band had been closing live sets with an old folk ballad called "House of the Rising Sun."
It was a traditional song about a New Orleans brothel.
They recorded it on May 18, 1964, with producer Mickie Most.
It took a single take, with no overdubs.
Price's droning organ line turned the folk tune into something closer to rock.
Critics later credited that fusion as one of the first folk-rock hits.
The single ran 4 minutes and 29 seconds, well past the three-minute limit radio favored then.
Stations played it anyway.
One Take, Two No. 1s
The single was released in the UK in June 1964.
It topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic within weeks.
It won the 1964 NME Award for British Disc of the Year.
That one record turned five club musicians from Newcastle into international stars almost overnight.
More Hits, Then Alan Price Walks Away
The band followed with a run of hits built on Burdon's rasp and their blues-club roots.
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and "It's My Life" both charted in 1965.
"We Gotta Get Out of This Place" came out that summer.
It reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
American soldiers later adopted it as an unofficial anthem in Vietnam.
A 2006 University of Wisconsin study found veterans identified it with the war more than any other song.
Alan Price's Exit
Alan Price quit in May 1965.
Tension with Burdon had been building for months.
Price also had a fear of flying that made touring the US unworkable.
He formed the Alan Price Set soon after.
The remaining members carried on and scored one more hit, "Don't Bring Me Down," from the 1966 album "Animalisms."
The classic lineup dissolved entirely that September.
Chas Chandler Finds Jimi Hendrix
Burdon regrouped under the name Eric Burdon and the Animals.
He steered the sound toward psychedelia.
The double album "Love Is" and singles like "San Franciscan Nights" and "Monterey" followed in 1967 and 1968.
"Monterey" recalled the same psychedelic festival where The Who staged its guitar-smashing American breakthrough that summer.
"Sky Pilot," released in 1968, became the band's last major hit.
The Bassist Who Built the Jimi Hendrix Experience
Original bassist Chas Chandler had already quit touring by then.
He was chasing a bigger discovery.
In July 1966, on a tip from Linda Keith, girlfriend of Keith Richards, Chandler caught an unknown guitarist at a small Greenwich Village club.
The guitarist's name was Jimi Hendrix.
Chandler signed on as his manager and producer.
He brought Hendrix to London and assembled the musicians who became the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The original five members reunited once, for a 1968 Newcastle benefit show.
They later toured behind reunion albums in the mid-1970s and again in 1983.
The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
Chandler died of an aneurysm in 1996.
FAQ
Who were the original members of the band?
Eric Burdon sang, Alan Price played organ, Hilton Valentine played guitar, Chas Chandler played bass, and John Steel played drums.
The five came together in Newcastle in 1962 out of a group called the Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo.
Why is House of the Rising Sun considered an early folk-rock song?
It took a centuries-old folk ballad about a New Orleans brothel and set it to electric guitar, bass, and Alan Price's droning organ.
That fusion of folk material with a rock arrangement is why historians often call it one of the first folk-rock hits.
Why did Alan Price leave the band?
Price quit in May 1965 over a mix of personal tension with Eric Burdon and a fear of flying that made touring unworkable.
He went on to form the Alan Price Set.
What other songs made the band famous besides House of the Rising Sun?
"We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," "It's My Life," and "Don't Bring Me Down" all became hit singles between 1965 and 1966.
Did a member of The Animals discover Jimi Hendrix?
Yes.
Bassist Chas Chandler saw Hendrix play a small New York club in July 1966.
He quit touring and became his manager and producer.
Is Eric Burdon still alive and performing?
Yes.
Burdon turns 85 in 2026 and continues to tour and record under the name Eric Burdon and the Animals.
Five club musicians from a Newcastle R&B scene left rock history with a transatlantic No. 1 and a folk-rock blueprint.
Their story sits alongside British Invasion peers like The Kinks, who built a very different sound out of the same mid-1960s London scene.
Back to the 1960smusic.net homepage to explore every genre of the decade, starting with The Animals' one-take breakthrough.