About - RONNIE LANE
ABOUT RONNIE LANE
​This page is a work in progress
​Ronald Frederick "Ronnie" Lane
Ronnie Lane: April 1, 1946 - June 4, 1997
Much loved mod, rock 'n' roll and blues folk roots singer, songwriter, bassist and guitar player.
​Well known for his membership in the prominent English rock bands
Small Faces (1965-69), Faces (1970-73) and Slim Chance (1974-mid 80's) and his 
​prolific body of work ​and multiple collaborations with other world-class artists and musicians.
The Birth Of A Legend
Ronnie Lane was born in Plaistow Maternity Hospital, in Forest Gate in Plaistow, England, a working class area in the East End of London, to Elsie Lane and Stanley Lane, who was a lorry truck driver.

Ronnie would later describe his father as a “saint”, who would work a long work day and then return home to nurse and care for his wife and two sons, all of whom were diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at differing points in their lives. Doctors assured Lane as a child that the destructive disease was not necessarily inherited, although he found out later in his life that he had indeed inherited it.
Ronnie Lane and the Early Days
Ronnie left school in 1962 at the age of 16, learning guitar just as The British Blues Boom was getting started. 

Lane met with a local drummer, Kenney Jones, at a pub and they formed the group they named "The Outcasts". Jimmy Winston, who would switch from guitar to organ. 

While visiting the J60 Music Bar in Manor Park, London with Ronnie's father in order to buy a bass guitar, Lane met Steve Marriott who was working there. Lane bought the bass and went back to Marriott's house after work to listen to records, where Marriott introduced Lane to his Motown and Stax collection.

Another East End kid with a great soul voice, Stevie Marriott was chosen to be the frontman and singer.  Ronnie switched to bass and they soon got a record deal as Small Faces.
See more about and listen to Ronnie Lane and The Outcasts
​https://www.ronnielane.com/ronnie-lane-and-the-outcasts.html
Ronnie Lane and (The) Small Faces
The name “Small Faces” was chosen as all the band members were under 5’5″ in height!

Ronnie Lane formed Small Faces with Steve Marriott, Jimmy Winston and Kenney Jones in 1965. Ian McLagan was to replace Winston soon after.

Small Faces consisted of Ronnie Lane on bass guitar, Steve Marriott as guitarist and lead vocalist, Kenney Jones as drummer, with Jimmy Winston on keyboards. 

They made their debut in 1965, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston in November 1965. Lane and Marriott began writing hit songs consistently, including “Itchycoo Park” and “All or Nothing”.

The band, with Ian McLagan on keyboards, had great success in British and European singles charts.

Small Faces 1968 concept album "Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake" topped the UK Albums Chart for six weeks, with Ronnie and Stevie writing almost all the songs.

In 1969, Stevie left to set up Humble Pie, so the guys brought in Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart, who had just made a couple of classic British Blues albums with Jeff Beck, and adapted their name to Faces. 

​The group reformed during the late 70's but Lane did not join them as he was suffering from multiple sclerosis.
See more about and listen to Ronnie Lane and Small Faces https://www.ronnielane.com/small-faces.html
Ronnie Lane and (The) Faces
In 1969 Ronnie Lane, with Ian Mclagan and Kenney Jones, united with Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart (both from The Jeff Beck Group) to form Faces..

Good-time Blues Rock was one of the offshoots of British music at the end of the 60's, and Faces were at the forefront of the movement.

Bass player and songwriter Ronnie Lane was the heart and soul of the band.

For four years they toured the world, playing enormous venues as ‘stadium rock’ took off and selling truck-loads of records and hit songs written by Ronnie and Rod, like ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Pool Hall Richard’.

Ronnie shared primary songwriting duties with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, composing, or co-composing many of their best-loved pieces and took a central role during the recording of their fourth and final album, Ooh La La, right as the band’s front man Rod Stewart was focused on his own solo career.

In 1973, unhappy due to poor reviews of the album and Stewart’s lack of commitment, Lane quit, making his last appearance June 4 at the Sundown Theatre in Edmonton, London.

When Ronnie left Faces soon split. Ron Wood joined the Rolling Stones with Rod Stewart going on to become a pop star and Ron Wood joined The Rolling Stones.

​Ian McLagan went on to a successful solo career with The Bump Band and released the album "Spiritual Boy", dedicated to Ronnie Lane.

(Tetsu Yamauchi joined the band to replace Ronnie, but the group made no further studio albums following Lane’s departure and the group split in 1975.)
See more about and listen to Ronnie Lane and Faces https://www.ronnielane.com/faces.html
​Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio
Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio (LMS) was founded in 1972. It was one of the first ever mobile recording studios, consisting of a 16 track studio housed in an imported 26 foot 1968 Airstream Trailer from the USA with a Helios mixing console, Studer and Revox tape machines and Tannoy monitoring. 

​After he left Faces in 1973, Ronnie based the studio on his farm Fishpool, in the hamlet of Hyssington, near Churchstoke, in Powys, Wales. There he used the studio to record his first solo album Anymore for Anymore (1974). He also used the studio to record One for the Road (1976).

The LMS was a massive success, and the sound of the 'room' was legendary. With slightly concave shoulders across the whole length and width of the vehicle, the bass response, devoid of obligatory standing waves, was (& still is) stupendous, and many eminent producers considered it the flattest & the most accurate control room in the world.

In addition to using the studio himself, Ronnie leased it to numerous other artists for their own recordings, including: Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert (1973), The Who's Quadrophenia (1973) and The Who By Numbers (1975), Bad Company's Bad Company (1974) and Straight Shooter (1975), Peter Frampton's Frampton (1974), Mott the Hoople's Drive On (1975) and Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti (1975).
See more about Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio
https://www.ronnielane.com/ronnie-lanes-mobile-studio-lms.html
Ronnie Lane and Slim Chance
​Ronnie Lane left the band Faces June 4, 1973 after a concert at the Edmonton Sundown and formed his own band, Slim Chance, in late 1973 to record the hit single "How Come" (UK No. 11) and "The Poacher" (UK No. 36), then the album Anymore For Anymore, showcasing his own blend of British rock music, folk, and country music.
‘Retiring’ to the Welsh countryside, Ronnie kept playing with his band Slim Chance, producing a couple of Folk/Rock albums of songs written with his wife Kate Lambert, for the Island label.

Ronnie found that he was still contracted to Atlantic Records through The Faces and ‘owed’ them an album, so he and Pete Townsend of The Who came up with ‘Rough Mix’, featuring their own songs and a guest spot from Eric Clapton, which made the Top 50 album charts in both the UK and USA.

Around this time, 1977, Ronnie was diagnosed with MS, so of course his response was to hit the road in full Gypsy regalia, including a horse-drawn caravan, and take a travelling carnivalesque show around the highways and by-ways of Britain. 
See more about and listen to Ronnie Lane and Slim Chance
​https://www.ronnielane.com/ronnie-lane-and-slim-chance-history.html
Ronnie Lane and The Passing Show
After initial success with Faces singles, Ronnie commenced a tour called "The Passing Show", touring the UK as a carnival, complete with tents, barkers, etc. Viv Stanshall, from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band was a short-lived ringmaster (of sorts).

He traveled the highways and byways of England and lived a 'passing show' modern nomadic life in full Gypsy Traveler costume and accommodation. Playing a lot of acoustic music in the open air for his adopted extended family, the sheep, the early morning and the rolling hillsides.
​
Lane moved to Island Records and issued Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance and One for the Road.
Slim Chance was Ronnie’s opportunity to express his feelings, folksy melodies and sweet voice without the pressure for hits. 
See more about Ronnie Lane's The Passing Show
​https://www.ronnielane.com/the-passing-show-the-life-and-music-of-ronnie-lane-2006-film-video-dvd.html
(P.S. Ronnie Lane Slim Chance The Passing Show tour bus - FOR SALE)
https://www.ronnielane.com/ronnie-lane-and-slim-chance-the-passing-show-tour-bus-for-sale.html
Ronnie Lane and Pete Townshend
In late 1976, Ronnie Lane joined a short-lived reformation of the Small Faces, but quit after two rehearsals, to be replaced by Rick Wills (who currently plays alongside the former Small Faces drummer, Kenney Jones, in the Jones Gang).

However, since Lane had already signed a contract with Atlantic Records as part of the reformed Small Faces, Atlantic informed him that he owed them an album. 

Pete Townshend recorded an album with Lane, titled Rough Mix, which was released in 1977. 

​Rough Mix was lauded as contender for best album of the year by many critics, but the label did not promote it, and sales were thereby lackluster. Rough Mix not only left Lane out of debt to the label, but it cemented his credentials as a solid performer.
See more about and listen to Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane's Rough Mix album
https://www.ronnielane.com/pete-townshend-and-ronnie-lane-rough-mix-album-1977.html
Ronnie Lane ~ Changes in Health
In 1977, during the recording of Rough Mix, Lane
​was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
​
Nonetheless, he toured, wrote and recorded with 
Eric Clapton and many others, releasing yet another album, See Me, which features several songs written by Lane and Clapton.
See more about Ronnie Lane and Eric Clapton and listen to Ronnie Lane's See Me album 
https://www.ronnielane.com/ronnie-lane-see-me-album-1980.html
Ronnie Lane and the Early 1980's
In 1981, Ronnie was part of The Majic Mijits with Steve Marriott and Zoot Money, but they were unable to tour their album as Ronnie’s condition worsened, although it was re-issued many years later in 2000.
See more about and listen to
​Lane & Marriott - 
​The Legendary Majik Mijits Album (1981)
​released 2000
​https://www.ronnielane.com/ronnie-lane-and-steve-marriott-the-legendary-majik-mijits-album-1981-released-2000.html
Ronnie Lane and ARMS
In 1983, his girlfriend, Boo Oldfield, contacted record producer Glyn Johns in the hopes of getting a concert going to help fund Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis (ARMS), a London-based organization.
Johns was already arranging Clapton's Command Performance for Prince Charles, so they decided to book the Royal Albert Hall for another couple of nights and hold a benefit concert.
​The resulting A.R.M.S. Concerts featured Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Kenney Jones, Andy Fairweather-Low, and more. With Joe Cocker and Paul Rodgers on board.
The ARMS charity concert proved so popular with both the audience and the musicians that the decision was taken to perform a further nine concerts in the USA. The US dates included Joe Cocker, who notably sang lead vocals on "With a Little Help from My Friends", and Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page each shared lead guitar duties on the "Stairway to Heaven" instrumental. While Ronnie Lane appeared in New York, he did not appear at all of the US dates.
The following year Ronnie relocated to Texas. 
See more about and listen to Ronnie Lane's
​Appeal for ARMS benefit concerts
https://www.ronnielane.com/the-ronnie-lane-appeal-for-arms-benefit-concerts-1983.html
Ronnie Lane Moves To Texas
Ronnie Lane moved to Texas in 1984, first to Houston, then Austin, where the climate was more beneficial to his health and he could continue playing, writing and recording.
Ronnie formed an American version of Slim Chance, which was, as always, a loose-knit conglomeration of available musicians. For much of the time, membership included Alejandro Escovedo.
Slim Chance continued to play for eight years, especially around the Austin area, until Ronnie’s health declined to the point where he could no longer publicly perform.
​For close to a decade Lane enjoyed his rock royalty status in the Austin area and even toured Japan with his wife Susan, whom he had discovered also in Austin. In the later 80's they were married.
In 1990, MS was to claim the life of his mother.
Ronnie's last performance was in 1992 at a Ronnie Wood gig. Also in the band that night was Ian McLagan.
Jimmy Page, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood generously continued to donate money for Ronnie's medical care because there were yet no royalties from Small Faces' work.
Through the efforts of Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan, the Small Faces were eventually able to secure ongoing royalty payments. By then, however, both Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott had both passed away
See more about and listen to Ronnie Lane's Live In Austin album (released 2000)
https://www.ronnielane.com/ronnie-lane-live-in-austin-album-2000.html
In 1994 Ronnie and Susan moved to the small town of Trinidad, Colorado to benefit from the dry weather.
​On June 4, 1997 master musician and song writer Ronnie Lane succumbed to pneumonia.
​"Short and sweet was our Ron. He loved a joke. He used to cry with laughter.
He had that real cockney knees-up attitude.
​He didn’t know the meaning of 'pretentious.'"
​~Ian McLagan, keyboardist of Small Faces, Faces and The Bump Band
Ronnie Lane Tributes
The Ocean Colour Scene song "Travellers Tune" on their 1997 studio album Marchin' Already was inspired by and written in the memory of Ronnie Lane, who had been a strong influence on the group and its members with Ocean Colour Scene appearing at the tribute concert for Ronnie Lane. In 2000, 
Paul Weller recorded "He's the Keeper", a song dedicated to Lane's memory.

An album of live BBC recordings was about to be released to raise money for his care when Lane died.

An album of live and in-studio recordings from Lane's Austin days was later curated and released as Live in Austin.

In 2001, the place where he was born, Plaistow (in East London) named a street after him, fittingly called "Ronnie Lane".

In January, 2006, BBC Four debuted an extensive documentary about Lane, "The Passing Show", which had been in the works since 2000. They also aired vintage concerts by the Faces and Slim Chance. In October 2006 the documentary was also shown on BBC Two.
​See more about Ronnie Lane's The Passing Show
​https://www.ronnielane.com/the-passing-show-the-life-and-music-of-ronnie-lane-2006-film-video-dvd.html
See Ronnie Lane on Music Mapper ​https://www.o2.co.uk/music-mapper
Ronnie Lane "Complete" Album Discography
https://www.ronnielane.com/ronnie-lane-complete-album-discography.html
Ronnie Lane Working Website Index
https://www.ronnielane.com/working-website-index.html
Sources for the Ronnie Lane "About" page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Lane
https://www.allaboutbluesmusic.com/ronnie-lane/
http://ronnielanestory.co.uk/​
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Lane%27s_Mobile_Studio
http://www.wappingwharf.com/majic.htm
​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARMS_Charity_Concerts
http://rockinhouston.com/performers/ronnie-lane/622/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6531278
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/ronnie-lane-dies/