Biography

The biog' or My Life In A Nutshell!

I was born near Shrewsbury in 1952, I was adopted in 1954 and lived in Craven Arms, Shropshire for a while. My Dad became a publican and we kept the Kings Head in Bishops Castle and then the Court House in Churchstoke. From here we moved to Herefordshire where I was to spend my formative years.

For some crazy reason I had always had an affinity with music and can remember sitting in front of an old black and white set in the fifties, watching the Six Five Special, Thank Your Lucky Stars - and whatever else had pop music! Tommy Steele was one of my favourites so it was a shame that many years later he was to comment on a record I was playing on saying that we should all be put against a wall and shot!

I plagued my parents into buying me a guitar when I was 12 and that was it – my future was sorted! Radio Luxembourg was to play a big part in my musical education and it was on that station that I discovered The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and all the rest of the ‘60’s revolution – fantastic! There was also a kids show on TV called The 5 O’clock Club with a strange, enigmatic resident musician that was to later play a massive part in my life – Alexis Korner. Alexis was one of the kindest, most understanding men I've met and his family rate as some of the loveliest people I've ever known.

I played in several local bands over the years with some great musicians including Stan Speke (drums) and Stuart McDonald (bass). Both these guys later went on to play with groups that were formed out of the remains of the break-up of Free.

I moved to Ipswich in 1984 and quickly set about forming a band. After a few false starts I got The Mean Red Spiders together and had a great time for over 10 years. We did Radio 1 and a couple of spots on the telly, made a couple of albums and did the odd mini tour in Germany. I’ve continued to travel over there ever since and can’t really imagine life without playing gigs in my beloved second home.

I now play in three Ipswich bands: The Shaboogamoo Shufflers, Papa Rocksy and The Midnight Specials. The Shufflers is a straight-down-the-line R 'n' B band and it's these guys that you hear backing me on Mona when you arrive on the home page of this website! Papa Rocksy is a more broad-based outfit playing anything from blues, soul and country to out-and-out rock! The Midnight Specials is a semi-acoustic 4-piece with Darren Elden on double bass and vocals, Nolan Wiltz on guitar, dobro, washboard, harmonica and vocals, Adam Whyat on keyboard plus myself on vocals and guitar. We play down-home blues with some country and soul thrown in for good measure!

Along this wild and rocky path I managed to raise a family. My wife Tina, two daughters, Alona and Carly, two step daughters, Heather and Hayley and now a total of eight grandchildren! Sadly my dear son Leon died a while ago, we all miss him – rest in peace son, your struggle is done.

And that’s about it really. Goodness knows what the future holds but if it’s half as exciting as the past 59 years BRING IT ON – I can’t wait!