Camel (band)
English progressive rock band
Camel are an English progressive rock band formed in Guildford, Surrey, in 1971. Led by guitarist Andrew Latimer, they have released fourteen studio albums and fourteen singles, plus numerous live albums and DVDs. Without achieving mass popularity, the band gained a cult following in the 1970s with albums such as Mirage (1974), The Snow Goose (1975) and Moonmadness (1976). They moved into a jazzier, more commercial direction in the early 1980s, but then went on an extended hiatus. Since 1991 the band has been independent, releasing albums on their own label.
Despite no new studio releases since 2002, the band are still (as of 2025) occasionally performing live. Their music has influenced artists including Marillion, Opeth and Steven Wilson. Music journalist Mark Blake described Camel as "the great unsung heroes of 70s prog rock".
History
1970s
The band was formed in Guildford, Surrey, in 1971 by guitarist Andrew Latimer, drummer Andy Ward, bassist Doug Ferguson and keyboardist Peter Bardens. Latimer, Ward, and Ferguson had performed in the Guildford area as a trio named Brew, and in 1971 they auditioned to be the backing band for singer-songwriter Phillip Goodhand-Tait.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q612471. VIAF identifies the subject as 154461646. The Library of Congress control number is n94066904. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1971, 1974, 1975 and 1976.
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This entry incorporates text from “Camel (band)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.