The Churchills was one of the first Israeli rock bands, formed by Yitzhak Klepter. They later became the backing band of Arik Einstein on his late 60s and early 70s rock efforts which helped the genre breakthrough in Israel.
History
The Churchills was founded in 1965. The band played rock music in English, from psychedelic rock to hard rock and progressive rock. Outside of Israel, it was active under the aliases of Jericho Jones and Jericho.
The band was a leading force in the early Israeli beat scene, but it was its cooperation with Arik Einstein that helped it cross over to the mainstream of Israeli pop and gain recognition. It began when the Churchills were invited to work with Einstein on his third solo album Poozy, recorded in 1969. This is considered by many to be the first rock album in Hebrew. The Churchills played on half of the tracks in that album, one of which was a Hebrew version of one of their own songs ("When You're Gone"). Following Poozy, the Churchills also played with Einstein in his gigs, and continued to play and produce three more albums with Einstein: Shablul (1970), Plastelina (1970) and On Avigdor's Grass (1971).
Contributing to the Churchills' sound at the time was the joining of two foreign members: Canadian vocalist Stan Solomon and British guitarist Robb Huxley (formerly with The Tornados).
The A-side of their last single, Time is Now, was written by Ray Dorset, who included his own version on his solo album Cold Blue Excursion.
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