"THE ANIMALS. THE BAND UNDER THE COVER"

September 4th, 1964: The Animals made their U.S. concert debut at New York's Paramount Theatre.

The original members of The Animals were all from Newcastle-on-Tyne, a port city and coal-mining hub in northern England. The group derived its inspiration from American blues and R&B sources, adapting them to their native British working-class sensibility.

Eric Burdon was among the best white R&B singers of the sixties. His soulful vocals brought out the anguish in such anthems as “It’s My Life” and “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.” "I realized I had a power in my voice when I was thrown out of music class for singing too loud. I would overpower the rest of the choir.  Later, I recorded with the local jazz band and heard myself for the first time on record. I knew I had something going." (Eric Burdon).

In 1963, they performed a monthlong residency (much like the Beatles did) in Hamburg, Germany. Their career took off with their move to London in January 1964. On September 5th, 1964, “House of the Rising Sun” became Nº1 in America.  Despite the song's unconventional lyrics (it was about a house of prostitution in New Orleans), “House of the Rising Sun” topped the American and British charts. In fact, it stayed at Nº1 in the U.S. for three weeks. The song was a cover of a traditional folk song.

The Animals followed “House of the Rising Sun” with seven more Top 40 hits (and six more Top 40 hits as Eric Burdon and the Animals). 

Their second album, the 1965 long-player The Animals On Tour, was filled with covers of songs by the likes of John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, Ray Charles and Big Maceo.

They split up in 1968 over various music and business issues. They felt they were getting ripped off. There were also problems among the members of the band, according to Hilton Valentine (guitarist): "The constant touring definitely took it's toll. There was a dividing line within the band between those that took drugs and those that drank themselves silly."

Burdon said: "I don't think that The Animals got a chance to evolve. We were the first to admit that we took Blues songs from American artists, but if The Animals had stuck together and worked together instead of worrying about who was getting all the money, we could have evolved more and come out with more music to be proud of."