Coven (band)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Coven | |
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 Cover to Coven's 1969 album Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls.
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Genre(s) | Album-oriented rock Psychedelic rock |
| Years active | 1969–2006 |
| Label(s) | Mercury, Warner Bros. Records, MGM, Buddah |
| Members | |
| Jinx Dawson Oz Osborne Steve Ross |
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Coven is a rock band, composed of vocalist Jinx Dawson, bassist Oz Osborne (not to be confused with Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath), Chris Nielsen on guitar, and drummer Steve Ross. They had a top 10 hit on Warner Bros. Records with a cover of Original Caste's "One Tin Soldier" (Coven's version ultimately became the biggest selling war protest song of all time), which was also used as the theme song to the 1971 movie Billy Jack.
Jinx Dawson was a native of Indianapolis, Indiana who began studying opera and the occult in the late 1960s. She, Ross, and Osborne formed Coven in Chicago in the late 1960s. [1]. They were signed to Mercury Records, where they put out their first album, Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls in 1969. The music on the album was for the most part standard rock psychedelia; what made it distinctive was the heavy emphasis on diabolical subject matter, including songs such as "The White Witch of Rose Hall" (based on the story of Annie Palmer), "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge", and "Dignitaries of Hell". The album concluded with a 13 minute track of chanting and Satanic prayers called "Satanic Mass" (written by their producer, Bill Traut, of Dunwich Productions).[2] Also included inside the album, was Coven's infamous Black Mass poster, showing members of the group displaying the sign of the horns as they prepared for a satanic ritual over a naked girl lying on an altar.
According to Jinx, "The satanic thing actually was something we were interested in and were studying at the time. When you're younger, you're looking for answers, and a lot of members of the band were looking into the same books at the same time. We studied it, we practiced it, but we only went so far. We didn't do anything bad." [1]
This content was considered highly unusual for the time.Then called Heavy Underground Rock, Coven is now considered pioneers of Dark Heavy Metal and Gothic Rock.[[ref.books Witches USA 1971, The Occult Explosion 1972,Lords of Chaos 1999,Lucifer Rising 1999]] Unwanted publicity came to the band in the form of a sensationalistic Esquire magazine issue entitled "Evil in California" (Esquire, March 1970), which linked counterculture interest in the occult to Charles Manson and the Tate-La Bianca murders. As a result of this unwanted publicity, Mercury withdrew the album from circulation.[3]
Good luck returned to Jinx Dawson when Tom Laughlin asked her to record the "One Tin Soldier" song, originally written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter and recorded by the Canadian pop group Original Caste, for his Billy Jack movie. This recording charted three times, first in 1971 (#17), in 1973 (#21), and a re-entry of the original version in 1974 (#73) on the Billboard Magazine's Hot 100, and was a top 10 hit in Cashbox. The song was named #1 Most Requested Song in 1971 and 1973 by American Radio Broadcasters. Coven released a self-titled album in 1972 which featured "One Tin Soldier" along with "Nightengale" penned by Jinx Dawson which charted as a hot pic on Billboard & Cashbox; a third album, Blood on the Snow, was put out on Buddah Records in 1974. One of the 1st music videos ever made directly for an album title song was produced by Jinx and the Coven with Disney Studios.[4]. In 1990 Coven appeared in the film "Heaven Can Help" with Jinx in a starring role. She wrote all the music and along with original drummer Steve Ross, new members were added to the Coven which appeared in the film.
Jinx Dawson continued to pursue a career in acting with a minor, uncredited role in the movie Cool World.[5] She returned to music after several years as caregiver for her terminally ill father. She is set to film a PBS Special called The All time Biggest Movie Title Songs and has released a new CD "Goth Queen" with music spanning decades.Some of the guest musicians on this CD include Micheal Monarch, formally of Steppenwolf, Glenn Cornick, formally of Jethro Tull and Tommy Bolin, formally of Deep Purple, in some of his last recordings. [6]
On November 5th 2007, Jinx Dawson announced via her MySpace page that three of the original Coven members were planning to reform the group and record a new studio album to "finish what they started". She added that the band were "dying to tour". There is no release date scheduled for any new material at this stage.[7]
[edit] Discography
Witchcraft Destroys Minds And Reaps Souls (1969)
Coven (1972)
Blood On The Snow (1974)
