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On this day, 27 September 1977, British rock band The Motors played Cardiff’s Top Rank.
Formed in London in 1977 by former Ducks Deluxe members Nick Garvey and Andy McMaster together with guitarist Rob Hendry (who was replaced in May 1977 by Bram Tchaikovsky) and drummer Ricky Slaughter.
Their biggest success was with the McMaster penned song "Airport", a number 4 UK hit single in 1978.
The Motors' debut live performance was at the Marquee Club in March 1977, and they recorded three songs for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show the same month (22 March 1977).
By May they had been signed to Virgin Records, and recorded material for another John Peel session on 12 September of that year.
The Motors' original recording line-up released two albums, both of which met with modest success; 1 released in October 1977 and Approved by the Motors the following year.
Their first single "Dancing the Night Away", which was released in September 1977 reached number 42 in the UK Singles Chart. Two other sizeable hits followed. In 1978, the band released "Airport" – which proved to be the band's biggest seller – and which peaked at number 4. The song was also a minor hit in the United States. The follow-up, "Forget About You", was released two months later.
The Garvey/McMaster/Tchaikovsky/Slaughter line-up split when Tchaikovsky left after they played at the Reading Rock Festival on 28 August 1978. It would become The Motors’ final UK concert.
They played as first support to Status Quo. Slaughter also left the group soon afterwards. Tchaikovsky would subsequently release three solo albums, the first of which took him into the American Top 40 with the power pop song "Girl of My Dreams".
Following the departure of Tchaikovsky and Slaughter, Welsh rhythm section bassist Martin Ace and drummer Terry Williams were recruited to fill in the Motors' studio line-up.
Martin and Terry had together made up the rhythm section for 1970s progressive rockers Man; Martin later relaunched Man whilst Terry joined Rockpile and later had a stint with Dire Straits.
