The Animals was a British rock band that started out as The Alan Price Combo and aimed for a hard blues/R&B sound. They changed their name when 'Eric Burdon' joined the band in 1962. Their second single, "House of the Rising Sun", hit #1 on both the British and American charts in 1964. They had a string of solid hits over the next few years, but started to drift away from their original blues roots, and the band broke up in 1966. Burdon reformed it some time later, re-naming it Eric Burdon & The Animals. The band went further away from its blues roots and got into the "flower power" and acid-rock scene, and scored a hit in that genre in 1967 with "San Francisco Nights" and followed that in 1968 with two more hits, "Monterey" and "Sky Pilot", but broke up for the last time late in 1968. Burdon went on to form the group War.
Elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
Members have included Eric Burdon , Vic Briggs , John Weider , Barry Jenkins , Danny McCulloch , Alan Price , Hilton Valentine , John Steele , Chas Chandler , Dave Rowberry.
