Following the break-up of rock's legendary band The Yardbirds, (www.theyardbirds.com) both Keith Relf and Jim McCarty were looking for something very different. They joined with another ex-'bird, Paul Samwell-Smith (by then a noted record producer), to create a more folky sound as the group, Together. But their sole single release failed to make much of an impression in the charts and so they began looking elsewhere. As Jim McCarty (www.jimmccarty.co.uk) said regarding the formation of Renaissance: "We were writing much gentler music than we had done with The Yardbirds. The songs were much more spiritual, something which both Keith and I wanted to explore with a new band. When we began recruiting for the new band, we knew bassist Louis Cennamo and asked him to the rehearsals. One of our other friends from The Yardbirds, Chris Dreja, was trying to put together a country and western band and he came with both ex-Nashville Teens pianist John Hawken and Brian (BJ) Cole, a pedal steel player. Keith's sister, Jane, wanted to sing and she fit with with the band and while she'd never sung professionally before, she brought a certain grace and look to the band, as well. As we played that first day, Brian's steel guitar didn't fit well with what we were doing but John Hawken's piano playing fit quite well. He gelled with Keith, Louis and I and it was clear that Brian was out while John was in. At one point, as we were jamming around on some of the songs, John began playing some Beethoven and suddenly we had found the missing element that was that 'something different' that Keith and I had been looking for. Renaissance was born."

From his own perspective about joining Renaissance, John Hawken remembers: "In early 1969 I got a telephone call from Jim McCarty asking if I was interested in a new project he and Keith Relf were putting together. I turned up at his house in Thames Ditton as did Louis Cennamo and a steel player named Brian Cole. The five of us jammed for several hours. Brian, though a brilliant player, didn't make the cut but I later heard that he went on to become a top session player and his work is found on projects with Elton John, Alan Parsons Project, Robert Plant and many others."

Recalling the event that led to Jane Relf's inclusion as part of Renaissance, she offers: "Keith used to play a lot of folky stuff while trying to learn the guitar and I'd add my own little bits to it. Keith and Jim said that they were going to create a new and more folkier band after The Yardbirds. I said, 'Don't forget me!' and they didn't. I just got in there and started singing even though I'd never sung professionally before. My brother must have had faith!”

The band developed a unique sound, known for Hawken's elaborate piano arrangements, Louis Cennamo's powerful and melodic bass lines, Keith's fluid guitar scales, Jim's powerful drumming and Jane's haunting voice. The sound fused elements of classical, folk, rock and blues -- along with elements which years later would be tagged "World Music" . For their first recording, the band worked with producer Paul Samwell-Smith for the group's album for Island Records. The self-titled 1969 album drew interest on both sides of the Atlantic -- with two different covers for the British (Island Records) and American (Elektra Records) audiences -- and across the English Channel where it was released as the "Kings & Queens" album by Island Records for much of the rest of Europe.

The songs were created, at least in part, based on Keith and Jim's songs which were then interpreted by John Hawken and Louis Cennamo. Regarding the process, bassist Louis Cennamo recalls: "We were just pushing the music in any way that we could. It was a lovely time and one in which there were no real limits. It was very creative and we were free to take the music in nearly any direction we wanted. John's classical training was the basis but the rest of us explored any ideas that added to the sound. It was a wonderful time and John and I worked very hard to add many new interpretations to the melodies and ideas that Keith and Jim brought to the rest of the band. Some of their ideas were quite developed when they brought them to us but some were not. So, John and I were free to create the kind of elaborate melodies that were so integral to the sound of Renaissance. Other times, everyone would just experiment and we'd test any and all ideas that came to us. The band was getting on quite well and we were developing a strong bond and admiration for one another. It was a beautiful time really -- one which I look back fondly on."

But the magic didn't last, largely in part to the exhaustion that Keith and Jim had never really been able to put behind them due to the relentless touring that The Yardbirds had done over the years. This taxed both ex-'birds health and Jim McCarty had to cancel part of a European leg of Renaissance's tour due to an on-going illness. The band's tour of the United States had gone well but the huge amount of travel required by the band to successfully tour America, left little energy for the later European tour -- especially considering that Jim was very ill and Keith's own health was failing and he had little reserves for relentless touring schedules. This left little chance for a band just beginning to develop an entirely new kind of rock. The original line-up of Renaissance left its live legacy in the newly released Renaissance "Live + Direct" (seen at left) recently released by Kissing Spell Records. The band began to fall apart during June of 1970 and soon, Louis Cennamo left to join Jon Hiseman's band Colosseum, with whom he recorded the "Daughter of Time" album.

Due to record company pressures to release another album, the band that released 1971's Renaissance "Illusion" album -- initially only released by Island in Germany -- was a pared-down line-up that found John Hawken heading a band that included Jane Relf, the only other member from the original band to actually perform and tour in support of the "Illusion" album. The album also included ex-Nashville Teens Mick Dunford on guitar and Terry Crowe on vocals, along with Neil Korner on bass and Terry Slade on drums. Keyboardist Don Shin also played on the cut "Past Orbits of Dust." Keith and Jim wrote for the group and were still involved in the material but their involvement as musicians had come to an end. Jim McCarty, following an introduction from Jane to her friend and poetess Betty Thatcher, created his first songs with Betty Thatcher (Newsinger) as lyricist, an association that Mick Dunford would take into the later incarnation of Renaissance -- an association that lasted for years. Betty joined Jim on "All Is Love" and the album includes Betty's lyrics on Keith and Jim's "Past Orbits of Dust." As an historical aside, 1971's Renaissance includes Mick Dunford's "Mr. Pine," a song that includes musical embellishments from John Hawken that would later be used by the Annie Haslam line-up of Renaissance on the "Turn of the Cards" album two years later. Jane's suggested that the band name the album "Illusion." That move would yield the name for the reformed band five years later. But that's another story...

During the touring in support of the "Illusion" album, Jane Relf decided that she would also depart Renaissance -- this in part, due to the departure of her brother from the band and also because she too was growing weary of the incessant touring schedule. She was replaced by an American singer named Binky Collom. The band completed the tour and John left to join Spooky Tooth's (www.spookytooth.com) European tour in support of "The Last Puff" album which included their hit version of The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus." John also worked to turn over the name Renaissance to the group who would fulfill all obligations and contracts still outstanding for the band. John had brought in his friend Mick Dunford from the Nashville Teens and worked with Mick and Jim McCarty to find and build a new band, a move which included finding John Tout on keyboards and later, Annie Haslam (www.anniehaslam.com) on vocals. This new line-up which also included Jon Camp on bass and Terrence (Terry) Sullivan (www.tsullivan.net) on drums, would release a long line of albums and tour the world as Renaissance. But that's also another story, one that you can read about at the Renaissance "Northern Lights" website.

Click here for John Hawken's personal recollections of Renaissance

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