Jethro Tull Biography

Jethro Tull began when Clive Bunker, Ian Anderson, Glenn Cornick, and Mick Abrahams came together in 1967 in Luton, Bedfordshire. Within a year, they’d established themselves as key figures in the British underground music scene. They released the album This Was in 1968, and then Stand Up in 1969, before the lineup changed slightly with the departure of Abrahams and the arrival of Martin Barre as his replacement.

Stand Up was a success, and paved the way for success in the United States. Over the next three years, Jethro Tull rocketed to stardom, releasing high-charting albums such as Benefit (1970), Aqualung (1971), Thick as a Brick (1972) and A Passion Play (1973.) During this time, Jethro Tull graced the covers of Rolling Stone Magazine and Time Magazine, and performed at such notable venues as Madison Square Garden. Despite some changes to the lineup, additional albums followed over the years and into the next decade: War Child (1974), Too Old to Rock’n’Roll: Too Young to Die! (1976), Heavy Horses (1978), Stormwatch (1979), Under Wraps (1984), Crest of a Knave (1987), Rock Island (1989), Catfish Rising (1991), Roots to Branches (1995) and J-Tull Dot Corn (1999.)

In the mid-1990’s, Ian Anderson also began releasing solo albums, to notable success, and the new millennium saw the first Christmas Album from Jethro Tull released in 2003. It was the last of the Jethro Tull albums for awhile, but then in 2011, Ian Anderson announced plans for a future album, much to the delight of Jethro Tull’s fans. Thick As a Brick 2: Whatever Happened to Gerald Bostock? was released in 2012, with its world premiere taking place at Perth Concert Hall in Scotland.

Jethro Tull continues to perform and record with the current lineup of Ian Anderson, John O’Hara, David Goodier, Florian Opahle, and Scott Hammond. The group toured in 2015 as part of the project Jethro Tull – The Rock Opera, and in 2016 and 2017, Jethro Tull launched an extensive world tour. In 2017, the band celebrated their fiftieth anniversary with a return to the studio in preparation for their next studio album, scheduled to release in 2018. So far in total, Jethro Tull has amassed album sales exceeding sixty million and has appeared live in thousands of performances in more than forty countries.