The 1972 Golden Rose (April 27th – May 4th) is affected by the loss of the Casino which burnt down the year before.
Despite a slight decrease in the audience, the quality is present. Following musicians and bands performed in Montreux :

Bridget St.-John : singer and songwriter, best known for the three albums she recorded between 1969 and 1972 for John Peel's Dandelion record label. Peel produces her debut album Ask Me No Questions. She also records a large number of BBC and Peel sessions and tours regularly on the early UK College and festival circuit.

Amazing Blondel : “When we started, we wanted to do English music rather than American ....something directly from our heritage rather than traditional folk or Dylan stuff” says John Gladwin, the string bass player. “It was not until the Elizabethan and Tudor periods that music became tuneful, and we base our music on the time between the Elizabethan period and just before the classical period, say from 1500 to 1700”.

Les Humphries Singers : Just like the Beatles, Les Humphries come to Hamburg, the German Shrine of Beat in the year 1970, Humphries plays organ with a virtually unknown band. The group consists of a large number of singers of diverse ethnic origin and their colourful show and spirited performance receive an enthusiastic response all over Europe.

Caravan : The years 1966 and 1967 are very active and creative ones on the Canterbury semi-pro group scene. Several of the bands and musicians who start their musical careers in those years are now nationally known. It is at the end of this period that Caravan is formed by Pye Hastings, Richard Sinclair, David Sinclair and Richard Coughlan, all of whom had played together previously in various bands but primarily in the “Wild Flowers”.

Lindisfarne : It has that rare quality which causes a wave of enthusiasm to sweep through the ranks of « we’ve-seen-it-all-before” journalists. Its music is palpable and the people have touched, and rejoiced.

Captain Beyond : The news is announced like this: “At the very last minute, we have been able to book Captain Beyond, a new group who will make in Montreux it’s world premiere”. Captain Beyond is composed of Lee Dormann and Larry Reinhard, both former members of the Iron Butterfly, of Bobby Caldwell, previously with Johnny Winter’s group and of Ray Evans, ex-Deep Purple !”

Khan : Steve Hillage, the guitarist in the band, has been playing his instrument for ten years. His musical influences broadened at University to encompass the complexities of Zappa and Soft Machine’s rock with the simple, melodic emotionalism of the acoustic song-writers, combined with his own melodic guitar style. Other members of the band are: Dick Heningham, organ, Nick Greenwood, bass, and Eric Peachey, drums.

Claire Hamill : At the tender age of ten, Claire wins her first talent contest. She hasn’t looked back since then. After the release of her first album, entitled One House Left Standing, Claire has been likened to a cross between Melanie and Joni Mitchell, but in fact, she is uniquely herself! Her songs are simply excellent; the treatment given to them is simply extraordinary.

Les Sutherland Brothers : The original Sutherland Brothers Band involved Gavin and Ian, who made two folk-rock albums for Island Records. Their first album gains a following for the band, because of wonderful tracks such as The Pie, which perhaps struck an affinity with many of its listeners because of its subject matter. Sutherland Brothers write songs, play them, sing them and are helped by drummer Neil Hopwood and bassist Kim Ludman, who joins them late summer 1972.

Gary Wright et Wonderwheel : everybody has still got in mind the unforgettable Spooky Tooth, whose motivating spirit certainly was the fantastic composer, arranger, pianist and singer Gary Wright. When the glorious days of “Spooky Tooth” are over, Gary works for a while as a session-man, a talent-scout and a producer. He even finds time to record his own albums, among which Footprint deserves particular mention: he is backed up by such famous musicians as King Curtis, Klaus Voormann, Jim Gordon, Jerry Donahue, Madeleine Bell and others.

The Doors: one of the most famous groups in the story of rock music has always managed to stay in the limelight; if proof is needed, just listen to the album Other voices. They are not only top class musicians: they are also poets, and they write beautiful lyrics for their songs. The Doors is one of those groups who spend their career opening doors for others. Robby Krieger, guitar, vocals, Ray Manzarek, keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals and John Densmore, drums, percussion.

Edwin Starr: Edwin Starr was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1942. The song which starts his career was Agent Double'O'Soul (1965), a take-off on the James Bond films which are popular at the time. He records more soul music for the next three years before having an international chart-topper in 25 Miles (1968). The biggest hit of his career, which cemented his reputation as a great soul artist, is the anti-Vietnam War protest song War (1970). A rousing tour-de-force, the vocals to War are - according to Starr - recorded in one take: an accomplishment which might make modern artists quail with apprehension. In explanation, Starr remaines characteristically modest, explaining that he'd been allocated little studio time, so had to give each song his best shot. Starr's intense vocals transforms a Temptations album track into a first chart success, which spends three weeks in that top position on the US Billboard charts, an anthem for the antiwar movement and a cultural milestone that continues to resound a generation later in movie soundtracks and hip hop music samples.

Wilson Pickett starts his career as a spiritual singer in Detroit in 1955. He is one of the most popular black singers of the ‘60s; helps introduce the aggressively of rhythmic style of soul music. Aided immeasurably by the excellent studio bands backing him at the Stax Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and The Fame Studio in Muscle Shoals Alabama, Pickett scores a series of R&B and pop hits on Atlantic Records between 1963 and 1972 that include In the Midnight Hour, Mustang Sally, and Funky Broadway. Pickett records three sessions at Stax in May and October of 1965, and is joined by keyboardist Isaac Hayes for the October sessions. Towards the end of 1967, Pickett begins recording at American Studios in Memphis with producers Tom Dowd and Tommy Cogbill, and also begins recording numerous songs by Bobby Womack.

Count Basie : Basie's band becomes internationally famous in 1938 after a number of Decca recordings. Except for a period in 1950 and ’51, when economic conditions force him to tour with a septet, Basie maintains a highly swinging Big Band that, at one time or another, includes Clark Terry, Wardell Gray, Al Grey, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Thad Jones, Sonny Payne, Joe Wilder, Benny Powell, and Henry Coker. In 1954, Joe Williams becomes the band's full time male vocalist. By 1955 he has infused the Basie band with new life and further commercial success beginning with Every Day I Have The Blues.