REFUGEE
             Paul Samson - Guitar/Lead Vocals - 0ct 71-Aug 73
             Gerry Sherwin - Bass/Lead Vocals
             Chris Jenkins - Drums - up to Oct 72
             Slim Haines/Haynes - Drums - from Oct 72
             Tony Groeger - Drums - ?
             Rick Weeks - Lead Vocals - On and Off

Refugee gigged very hard in the London area, and in addition to their own gigs, played numerous supports to bands such as Magnum, Manfred Manns Earth Band, Supertramp, Good Habit, Amon Duul 2, Brinsley Schwartz,Greenslade.     A typical setlist included covers of Mountain (Mississippi Queen, Waiting to take You away), West, Bruce and Laing (Why Dontcha), Humble Pie (Red light Mama), other standards such as Jumping Jack Flash, Route 66, and Mean Girl, and some of their  own compositions, Benny and On My Way.  Rick Weeks left and rejoined numerous times, vocals were shared between Paul and Gerry when he was absent.
Paul left in August 73, which was when The Nice reformed and used the name Refugee. The band replaced Paul with Bernie Brooks, and changed their name to SUPERVOLE. They split in March 74.

SESSIONS    Paul played various deps and sessions for a couple of months, until forming

KELLY (Click HERE for Terry Jenkins' account of his time in Kelly)
         Paul Samson - Guitar/Lead Vocals - (Nov 73 - Aug 74)
         Tom Kelly - Drums (ex GRIT)
         Paul Zavva - Bass (ex GRIT)
         Rick Weeks - Lead Vocals (ex REFUGEE)
         Terry Jenkins - 2nd Guitar/vocals

The band split in August 74 because everybody was busy doing other sessions, and it was difficult to get to gigs on time, etc. Terry Jenkins eventually joined PILOT

SESSIONS     Paul carried on doing  sessions with various people, including Noel Redding.
 

FRONT ROOM
                    Paul Samson - Guitar/Lead Vocals
                    Dennis Wilcox - Vocals
                    Chris Aylmer - 2nd Guitar
 Reputedly named after the only place that they played. Paul left after a couple of weeks. Dennis Wilcox went on to join IRON MAIDEN, Chris Aylmer formed MAYA, worked as sound engineer for McCOY, before becoming SAMSON bassist.

KELLY
         Paul Samson - Guitar/Lead Vocals (Oct 74 - June 75)
         Gerry Sherwin - Bass/Vocals (ex SUPERVOLE/REFUGEE) (up to June 75)
         Chris Jenkins - Drums (Ex REFUGEE) (up to June 75)
         Richard Amey - 2nd Guitar/Piano (up to June 75)
Paul reformed KELLY with various ex members of REFUGEE, plus Richard Amey.  Gerry Sherwin and Chris Jenkins left in June 75. Gerry formed MAYA with Chris Aylmer and Clive Burr.  Chris and Clive joined Paul later on in the first SAMSON line-up. Gerry went on to Hotline, Sledgehammer, Troubleshooter, English Rogues, and Played with Paul in the 90's in Paul Samsons Rogues and SAMSON. 

KELLY
         Paul Samson- Guitar/ Lead Vocals (June 75 - Feb 76)
         Paul Zavva - Bass
         Roger Hunt - Drums
         Richard Amey - 2nd Guitar/Piano (left Nov 75)
Gerry Sherwin and Chris Jenkins were replaced by Paul Zavva and Roger Hunt. Richard Amey left in November 75 to get married and set up his own studio in Brighton. The band split in Feb 76. Roger Hunt formed SCRAPYARD with BERNIE TORME' and  JOHN McCOY.
 

SESSIONS Paul again did various sessions, this time with members of Sam Apple Pie, Slowbone and Atomic Rooster. Although general opinion is that Samson were not formed until September 1977, Paul played some gigs in 1976 as Samson, with Bill Pickard on Bass, and Paul Gunn (ex Squeeze) on Drums. Gigs included the Leas Cliffe Hall, Folkestone supporting Woody Woodmanseys "U" Boat (I was at that gig!) and the Bridge House at Canning Town.

McCOY
          Paul Samson - Guitar/Lead Vocals/Harmonica (March 77 - September 77)
          John McCoy - Bass/Vocals
          Roger Hunt - Drums
Bernie Torme' left McCoy to form his own band, and Roger asked if he could borrow Pauls amp whilst auditioning guitarists. When Paul went to collect his amp, they had found nobody suitable, so Paul jammed with them, and was offered the gig. During this time, Paul and John wrote a lot of the material that eventually found its way onto the SAMSON "Survivors" album. The band toured heavily, and one of the gigs was later to be released as a live cd by Angel Air in 2001. John left in September, to work with VHF, Neo, John DuCann, and eventually GILLAN.
Roger Hunt disappeared for a few years, but since about 2000 has been in ROADHOUSE.
Paul took over the existing bookings, and recruited Chris Aylmer and Clive Burr from MAYA. At Chris's suggestion, the bands name was changed to SAMSON, and their first gig was at the Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone, supporting the Steve Gibbons Band.