Pete Ham

From Wikipedia:

Peter William Ham (27 April 1947 – 24 April 1975) was a Welsh singer, songwriter and guitarist best known as a lead vocalist of and composer for the 1970s rock band Badfinger, whose hit songs include “No Matter What”, “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue”. He also co-wrote the ballad “Without You”, a worldwide number-one hit for Harry Nilsson that has become a standard covered by hundreds of artists. Ham was granted two Ivor Novello Awards related to the song in 1973.

Ham died by suicide in 1975 at the age of 27, after Badfinger was financially ruined by their fraudulent manager Stan Polley. Tom Evans, co-lead singer and songwriter for Badfinger, also died by suicide, in 1983. […]

Career

He formed a local rock group called The Panthers circa 1961. This group would undergo several name and line-up changes before it became The Iveys in 1965. In 1968, The Iveys came to the attention of Mal Evans (The Beatles’ personal assistant) and were eventually signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records label after approval from all four Beatles, who were reportedly impressed by the band’s songwriting abilities.

The Iveys changed their name to Badfinger with the single release of “Come and Get It“, a composition written by Paul McCartney that became a worldwide top-ten hit.

Ham had initially protested against using a non-original to promote the band, as he had gained confidence in the group’s compositions, but he was quickly convinced of the springboard effect of having a likely hit single. His own creative perseverance paid off eventually, as his “No Matter What” became another top-ten worldwide hit in late 1970. He followed up with two more worldwide hits in “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue”.

Ham’s greatest songwriting success came with his co-written composition with bandmate Tom Evans called “Without You” – a worldwide number-one when it was later covered by Harry Nilsson and released in 1971. The song has since become a standard and has been covered by hundreds of singers, most notably Mariah Carey who made it a worldwide hit again in 1994. An Ivor Novello award for Song of the Year was issued in 1973 along with Grammy nominations.

George Harrison used Ham’s talents for a number of album sessions, including on the All Things Must Pass album and for other Apple Records artist’s recordings. This friendship culminated with Ham’s acoustic guitar duet on “Here Comes the Sun” with Harrison at The Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, documented in the theatrical film of the concert. In 1972, Badfinger was picked up by Warner Bros. Records, as the Apple Records label was crumbling and it seemed the band was primed for major recognition.

Warner Bros. Records sued Badfinger’s business manager, Stan Polley, after an advance vanished. With their current album suddenly withdrawn and their follow-up rejected, Badfinger spent the early months of 1975 trying to figure out how to proceed under the unclear legal situation. Their March 1975 salary cheques did not clear, and the April cheques never arrived. Panic set in, especially for Ham, who had recently bought a £30,000 house in Woking, Surrey, and whose girlfriend was expecting a child. According to 1974–1975 bandmate Bob Jackson, the band tried to continue without Polley’s involvement by contacting booking agents and prospective managers throughout London, but they were routinely declined because of their restrictive contracts with Polley and impending legal actions. Ham reportedly tried on many occasions to contact Polley by telephone during the early months of 1975, but he was never able to reach him. […]

[Come And Get It] was huge – I think a number one hit for Badfinger in some countries – and the album it was on was also a hit. I also remember they did one or two other things with Apple. Their lead singer was a guy called Pete Ham, who was a terrific guy and a very good writer. With his Badfinger partner, Tom Evans, he co-wrote ‘Without You’, which was a big hit for Harry Nilsson. God, it’s such an emotional song. And I was just thinking, ‘Incredible, Pete; that’s fantastic. My God, how d’you do that?’ Then, sadly, soon after, he committed suicide.

It was such a sad end. He’d written this massive hit, and he gave it to Nilsson. Or maybe it was an album track for Badfinger and Nilsson spotted it and said, ‘This would be a great single’; I don’t quite know the story. It’s a sad irony, though, that I wrote this song for Pete Ham and he said, ‘Well . . .’ And then he wrote this other song and gave it to someone else, who had the hit. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Paul McCartney – From “The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present“, 2021

Albums, EPs & singles which Pete Ham contributed to

Songs written or co-written by Pete Ham

Songs Pete Ham contributed to

Recording sessions Pete Ham participated in