Hailing from a working class family from Newcastle, UK, Eric Burdon took an interest in American blues and R&B as a teenager. In 1962, he joined local jazz outfit Alan Price Combo, quickly steering the group in a more blues and R&B direction, taking the lead as singer and changing the name to The Animals. The band gained a solid reputation as one of the finest R&B groups in the UK, and recorded a first self-titled LP that shook the planet with its massive hit The House of the Rising Sun. After a string of mainly cover hits, Burdon released a first solo LP in 1967, Eric is Here, before bringing in the New Animals, featuring Zoot Money on keyboards. In 1970, Burdon formed an association with funk/soul band War, and has since never stopped releasing solo albums, with Soul of a Man issued in 2006.