10cc's Eric Stewart plays Oslo in 1976. Photo by Helge Øverås.
Sprung from the creative talents of songwriter Graham Gouldman and vocalist Eric Stewart, 10cc formed near the tail end of the British invasion as a quirky band that was unafraid to play straight pop music.
Based in Manchester, the band had a string of hits in England, but rarely broke through in America. Two notable exceptions were the ballad I’m Not In Love and the kitschy The Things We Do For Love.
10cc, purportedly named for the amount of semen a man ejaculates during a typical orgasm, won many fans with their idiosyncratic tunes that seem more a forebearer of The Barenaked Ladies with nods to the tunes the band members heard while growing up. After years of success in England, including a number one song, the band split in 1983, only to reunite ten years later for the obligatory reunion tour.
Gouldman, an outstanding songwriter, had spent his time working with Sir Paul McCartney, and the former Beatle returned the favor by appearing on 10cc’s Mirror Mirror, released in 1995. 10cc has released several live albums since then, but Mirror was their last studio release.
With only one album making Billboard’s Top 20 and only two songs in the Top 10, 10cc missed the stardom in America that Herman’s Hermits, Manchester’s other band, had already enjoyed and were too late to enjoy the light rock success from bands such as Ambrosia and Supertramp.
10cc’s Hits – Downloads and CDs
10cc Major Personnel
Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart
Three Reasons Why You Know 10cc
- The Pretenders and Tori Amos are among many artists covering Gouldman & Stewart’s I’m Not In Love
- The song even appears in Grand Theft Auto 4.
- Kevin Godley and Lol Creme also wrote Cry, which appeared on TV’s Miami Vice and in GTA 4.