And in the beginning there was an old 'joanna' in the house. Well, not just any old 'joanna', it was a well maintained and tuned John Brinsmead upright.
My aunt was a soprano in the chorus at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and, although she wasn't a pianist, she used the piano for voice scales, etc. At the time she was selected to sing the part of Annina, Violetta's maid in the ROH's production of La Traviata, with Violetta being sung by Maria Callas.
My dad had been a first tenor with the London Welsh Male Voice Choir, and a cousin had been principal organist at Handsworth Cathedral, Birmingham. So it's fair to say there was music in the blood.
That's the background.
Where I fit into all of this was when at about the age of seven I came home from school one day and, for whatever reason, still unknown to me to this day, I sat down at the piano and played the two hymns that we had sung in that morning's school assembly. Not just single-finger, but full two-handed playing. Right out of the blue. You're right, I don't understand that either. But there it was.
The odd thing is, it didn't surprise me. It surprised my mother, though. At that moment she was out in the back garden hanging out some washing, and our neighbour asked her who was playing the piano. To which she replied, "I don't know." She said she went into a moment of panic thinking that maybe someone of a musical bent had broken into the house, only to find her young son sat at the keyboard.
"Was that YOU playing?" she asked. "Well, yes," I answered, as though it was perfectly normal and no big deal for a seven-year-old. I guess the normal parental response kicked in and it was suggested that I should get into piano lessons asap. Thankfully, I was never pushed into it, I think that might have stunted my enthusiasm.
So time went by and I was getting some simple pop tunes under my belt, Answer Me, Softly Softly and the like. Then, in 1956, turning 13, the world changed. I heard a Fats Domino record. Becoming a teenager at the precise time rock'n'roll was born (in the UK anyway) was an alignment of the planets for me.
At the time, I belonged to a Youth Club and as a fundraiser was being held to raise money to build a swimming pool for my school, it was suggested that the club form a 'skiffle group' to take part in a skiffle competition, and if there was anyone who could play an instrument would they come forward and participate. So I stepped up and was conscripted as the tea-chest bass player (sorry, no piano available). So, three kids with guitars, one of whom was Ken Hensley, later of Uriah Heep fame, and we ventured out and promptly finished last in the competition. Harry Webb's (who later changed his name to Cliff Richard) group won.
Undaunted, we carried on and through all the usual personnel changes, it got to 1965. The music had changed, we were a bit older and better - not necessarily any wiser, and by this time we were offered small part in, and to do the title music for a movie, "Be My Guest" (no Fats Domino connection on this one). Appearing in the film as an actor, shortly before his music career took off, was Stephen (Steve) Marriott. In the make-up room he asked if I'd like to join a group he was thinking of putting together. "Nah," says I, "I think we're going to do okay as we are." Famous last words. So that's how I missed out on being with the Small Faces.
Anyway our record was in heavy rotation on radio, seven plays a day, so it was all good.
At about the same time, we received a demo of a song recorded in someone's front room with just a piano and an acoustic guitar. We liked it and worked on an arrangement to give it some punch that we felt it needed. Handing this to our A&R man at CBS he said we should record it just as it was. So a date was set and we went into the studio in London to put it down. As it happened, some head honcho from CBS New York was in town that day and he came along for the session.
Now, the studio was located above a shoe shop and complaints were made from below that the bass drum was 'thudding' through their ceiling and could we turn it down. So Mr. Big Shot, who didn't know his arse from his elbow, went off to our A&R guy, who had a short fuse himself, about it. It was explained to the suit that a bass drum was an acoustic instrument with no volume control per se, so turning it down was not an option. Anyway, due to the ensuing row between the two of them, our guy was fired on the spot, and our practically finished single was, let's say, shelved.
Barely two weeks later, some Spanish outfit called Los Bravos had Black Is Black (with our arrangement thanks very much) released and it shot up the charts to become the number three record in Europe that year. Another boat missed.
So 1965 came and went. On to 1970. Some different people in the band and we were now touring the UK and Europe heavily. Getting loads of live radio, 36 weeks out of 52 in '70/'71, on BBC Radio One. We had two more singles released at this time, one on Decca, and one on Philips. Both received very favourable reviews from the BBC's Anne Nightingale who did a review show once a week, but couldn't get the airplay because we were doing so many live spots. Murphy's Law and all that.
Three pretty heady years went by and I joined another touring band, all over Europe again. That was followed by almost ten years of playing in a trio, probably the most stable and subsequently enjoyable period.
Then, in 1980, family commitments took over and I left the scene entirely for almost twenty years.
By now, of course, arrangers had come into the picture and I bought a Roland E38. I credit that little keyboard with rekindling the old flame. My wife, who had been our lead singer in the 1968-70 period, and I just sort of naturally slipped into our comfortable old music niche and, via other arrangers to the present Korg Pa1XPRO, we are working as a duo again. Is there any other way?
If you're still reading this, first of all, thanks, and secondly I hope that all you younger guys find some inspiration out of it. It's a great game to be in. If I had it to do all over again, YOU BETCHA!!
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