
Budgie is a Welsh rock band founded in Cardiff, Wales, by bassist Burke Shelley in 1967, with Ray Philips (drums) and Tony Bourge (guitar). They released their first album, Budgie, in 1971.
Philips left in 1973, to be replaced briefly by Pete Boot, and in 1975 by steve williams. Bourge left after the release of Impeckable in 1978, and was replaced by John Thomas.
The band’s last genuine studio album was Deliver Us from Evil (1982), keyboardist Duncan Mackay having made the trio a quartet. Although attempts at another album were made (eventually released as The Last Stage in 2004), the band split up in the late 1980s.
After reforming in 1999, and subsequent years of occasional English tours, mainly playing pubs, Budgie started releasing new albums again. Shelley and Williams were joined by Simon Lees (guitar), who left the band in 2007, to be replaced temporarily by Craig Goldy.