Editing Jim Capaldi (section)

===Early years===
Capaldi was born Nicola James Capaldi in [[Evesham, Worcestershire]],<ref name="Dead">{{cite web|url=http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/2005.html|website=Thedeadrockstarsclub.com|title=2005 January to June|access-date=1 May 2011}}</ref> to English parents Marie (née Couchier) and Nicholas Capaldi. His father was born Nicola Capaldi in 1913 in Evesham to Italian parents. As a child, Capaldi studied piano and voice with his father, a music teacher, and by his teens he was playing drums with his friends. At age 14, he founded the band the Sapphires and served as their lead vocalist.<ref name="Fierce kit 1">(1983).  "Pre-Traffic", ''[[Fierce Heart]]'' press kit.</ref> At 16 he took an apprenticeship at a factory in [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], where he met Keith Miller and  [[Dave Mason]].<ref name="Fierce kit 1"/> In 1963 he formed [[The Hellions (band)|the Hellions]],<ref name="Dead"/> with Mason on guitar and Gordon Jackson on rhythm guitar, while Capaldi himself switched to drums. In August 1964, Tanya Day took the Hellions to the [[Star-Club]] in Hamburg, Germany, as her backing group. [[The Spencer Davis Group]] were staying at the same hotel as the Hellions and it was there that Steve Winwood befriended Capaldi and Mason.

Back in Worcester, the Hellions provided backing to visiting performers including [[Adam Faith]] and [[Dave Berry (musician)|Dave Berry]]. By the end of 1964, they had a London residency at the Whisky a Go Go Club. In 1964–65 the band released three singles, but none charted.<ref>Joynson, Vernon (1995). [http://alextsu.narod.ru/borderlinebooks/us6070s/index.html ''The Tapestry of Delights''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825082620/http://alextsu.narod.ru/borderlinebooks/us6070s/index.html |date=25 August 2011 }}. London: Borderline Books. See entry on "The Hellions".</ref> Later that year [[John "Poli" Palmer]] joined the band on drums and Capaldi became the lead vocalist.<ref name="Story notes">(2011). In ''Dear Mr Fantasy: The Jim Capaldi Story'' (pp.32–43) [CD booklet]. London: Freedom Songs Ltd.</ref>

The Hellions moved back to Worcester in 1966 where they changed their name to the Revolution, releasing a fourth single that also failed to chart. Disillusioned, Dave Mason left the band. Capaldi replaced Mason with [[Luther Grosvenor]] and renamed the band Deep Feeling.<ref name="Dead"/> Capaldi, Jackson, and Palmer wrote original songs for the band that were heavier than the Hellions repertoire. They played [[concert|gig]]s in [[Birmingham]] and the surrounding [[Black Country]] area; former [[The Yardbirds|Yardbirds]] manager [[Giorgio Gomelsky]] offered them a recording contract.<ref name="Story notes"/> They recorded several studio tracks from 1966 to 1968 which remained unreleased until 2009, when the album ''Pretty Colours'' was released by Sunbeam Records.