Nazareth was born in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1968 out of the ashes of a local group called The Shadettes. The band consisted of Dan McCafferty on vocals, Manny Charlton on guitar, Pete Agnew on bass, and Darell Sweet on drums. They took their name from the town of Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The band moved to London in 1970, and not long after released their eponymous debut. They grabbed attention with their second album, Exercises, which was released in 1972.
They released several albums in the next few years. They hit really big in 1975, when the title track from their album Hair of the Dog became a staple of rock radio. This was also the album that contained the song that they are most known for, a cover of a song originally recorded by The Everly Brothers, "Love Hurts." The song went on to become the band's only top ten hit in the US, also spending 60 weeks on the Norwegian charts.
The band was a big influence to many rock acts that followed, especially to Axl Rose of Guns-n-Roses. Guns-n-Roses covered "Hair of the Dog" on their 1993 covers album The Spaghetti Incident. This was after the band had actually turned down Axl's request to play at his wedding.
They've had several lineup changes over the years, with McCafferty and Agnew the only members that have been involved throughout the band's history. In 2008 they released a new album on the Hamburg, Germany based label Edel Entertainment called The Newz, which also coincided with the bands fortieth anniversary. They are currently working on a new album titled Big Dogz that is scheduled fr a spring 2011 release.
Official Site: http://www.nazarethdirect.co.uk/nazareth/
