The original Geordie line-up included: Vic Malcolm, Tom Hill, Brian Gibson and Brian Johnson. Their first single, "Don't Do That" broke into the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart in December 1972. In March 1973, Geordie released their debut album, Hope You Like It on EMI label. Trying to compete with such British glam rock outfits as Slade and Sweet, they achieved UK Top 10 status with "All Because of You" and had a UK Top 20 hit with "Can You Do It". They also had several appearances on BBC Television including 15 appearances on Top of the Pops, one of which was in November 1972. In the early 1970s, Geordie toured Australia regularly and gained a solid following in Newcastle, New South Wales, due to the "Newcastle" connection and the song "Geordie's Lost his Liggie" gained popularity and airplay in Newcastle. They were one of the regular touring bands to play at the "art deco" Savoy Theatre in Lambton. Their second album, Don't Be Fooled By The Name, including a cover of traditional "House of the Rising Sun", failed to yield a hit. After their 1976 album Save the World, frontman Johnson left for a solo project. The band's album, No Good Woman, in 1978 consisted of three unreleased tracks with Johnson and new material recorded by Malcolm with future Dire Straits keyboardist Alan Clark, vocalist Dave Ditchburn, bassist Frank Gibbon, and drummer George Defty. Johnson had meanwhile begun to perform as Geordie in a new line-up, sometimes also called Geordie II, in which he was the only original member. The band signed a recording contract in 1980, but finally folded that spring when Johnson replaced the late Bon Scott in AC/DC.
Post break-up
After AC/DC's lead singer Bon Scott died in February 1980, AC/DC chose Brian Johnson to take over lead vocal duties. Johnson first appeared with AC/DC on their 1980 album, Back in Black. In 1982, the original Geordie, but without Johnson, re-grouped as a quintet and went on to record an album titled No Sweat in 1983 with new singer Rob Turnbull and additional guitarist David Stephenson. The album was released on heavy metalindependent record label, Neat Records. Critically acclaimed but with no major success, they disbanded for the second time. They re-grouped in the middle of 1980s, but Malcolm left, and they later changed their name to Powerhouse, to release an eponymous album in 1986, before disbanding indefinitely. At the end of 2001, during an AC/DC hiatus, Johnson had a one off reunion, for a short UK tour, with Geordie's 1977–80 line-up, performing largely hard rock cover versions. They were known as Geordie 2. Rob Turnbull is a member of the band Gadji as of 2013. In 2014, Vic Malcolm formed a new band, Dynamite, with Rick Mort and recorded an album, Rock 'Til You Drop, in 2014 on indie label Tabitha Records.
