Blood sweat & tears tour dates

It's great when a band has a vision from the very beginning, and Blood, Sweat And Tears set out a stall for themselves right from the start and became fusion legends as a result.

The band was formed in 1967 by organist and singer Al Kooper, who was inspired by bands like The Buckinghams and The Maynard Ferguson Orchestra to create music that combined the instrumental chops of jazz with the soul and hooks of modern day pop music.

Taking the name of a 1963 Johnny Cash album, Kooper formed the band out of several respected session musicians along with members of Buffalo Springfield and Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention, and signed to Columbia Records a few months later.

However, just as the album started steadily selling, internal tensions saw Kooper forced out of the group only a year after it was formed after other members of the band were critical of his singing skills.

Steve Katz and Bobby Colomby, two members of the original line-up, took over as band leaders and started