Wishbone Ash are noted for their extensive use of harmony twin lead guitars, which had been attracting electric blues bands since Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page had played together in the Yardbirds in 1966.

[1][2][3] Their contributions helped Andy Powell and Ted Turner to be voted "Two of the Ten Most Important Guitarists in Rock History" (Traffic magazine 1989).

Melody Maker (1972) described Powell and Turner as "the most interesting two-guitar team since the days when Beck and Page graced The Yardbirds".

Several notable bands have cited Wishbone Ash as an influence, including the Eagles, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Thin Lizzy, Metallica, Dream Theater, Overkill and Opeth.

[4][5][6][7][8] Formed in Torquay, Devon in 1969 out of the ashes of the trio The Empty Vessels (originally known as The Torinoes, later briefly being renamed Tanglewood in 1969), which had been formed by Wishbone Ash's founding member and creative force Martin Turner (lead vocals and bass guitar) in 1963 and complemented by Steve Upton (drums and percussion) in 1966.

There followed line-ups featuring former bass players from King Crimson (John Wetton), Uriah Heep (Trevor Bolder) and Trapeze (Mervyn Spence).

In 1987, however, the original line-up reunited for several albums – Nouveau Calls, Here to Hear and Strange Affair – until 1990, when Upton quit the band.

[9] This left Andy Powell as the sole remaining original founding member of Wishbone Ash to continue the band on into the future.

After an extensive search for a guitarist, the band could not decide between the final two candidates, Andy Powell and Ted Turner (no relation to Martin).

One year later, the group released Pilgrimage and the band peaked commercially in 1972 with Argus, their highest placed entry in the UK Albums Chart (#3).

There had already been an album released called Wishbone Ash Live in Memphis, which was a promo to FM radio stations but never sold in stores.

1976's New England returned to the traditional Wishbone Ash style and Front Page News (1977) was the band's last album of this period that was recorded in the US.

By 1978, after years of experimental albums, the band decided to return to its roots with No Smoke Without Fire, the first to be produced by Derek Lawrence since Argus in 1972.

Turner was replaced by bassist and vocalist John Wetton, formerly of Family, King Crimson, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep and U.K.

[9] Also joining the band was female backing vocalist, Claire Hamill, who had sung on both the Just Testing and Number the Brave albums.

Not long after, Wisefield left after serving as guitarist in the band for eleven years, going on to a varied career that would include work with Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Roger Chapman, Jeff Wayne and the Queen musical We Will Rock You.

Records founder and original Wishbone manager Miles Copeland III began a series of albums entitled No Speak, which featured all instrumental music.

[10] In the meantime, previously booked concerts were covered by the Powell/Upton/Crompton/Pyle lineup, including a show in May 1987 in Sun City in South Africa, where the band had been advised that they would be playing to a 50/50 multi-racial audience.

But when this did not occur, the band returned to the UK and wrote to the United Nations expressing their regret at playing the show and their support of the anti-apartheid cause.

[13] In August 1989 the band released a reunion album with vocals entitled Here to Hear,[9] featuring mainly songs written by Ted and Martin Turner.

Wishbone Ash then went on to release two electronic dance albums on UK indie label Invisible Hands Music.

The band then released an acoustic album of classic and new songs entitled Bare Bones before hitting the road in 2000 to celebrate their 30th anniversary.

Wishbone Ash returned to the studio in 2002 for the Bona Fide album and 2003 saw the band touring across the world with Savoy Brown, playing their largest number of American dates since the 1980s.

[21] In 2013 Andy Powell took legal action to protect the Wishbone Ash registered trademark and prevent Martin Turner from using his chosen group name.