Resumé

Born 1955, Hammersmith, London. Educated at Chiswick & Bedford Park Preparatory and Latymer Upper Schools, West London.  Musical training includes 2 years of piano whilst still at school.  Mainly self-taught in drums (apart from a handful of lessons from legendary percussionist, James Blades).

1973: toured the US bases in  Germany with a rock band. The following 2 years saw a variety of different bands (mostly unsuccessful), until 1975, which saw the first excursions into sessions.

Kate Bush’s ‘Lionheart’ album in 1978 and a World tour with the Tom Robinson band in 1979 were the first major breaks.

Several years as research/test drummer for Simmons Electronics in the mid 1980′s provided invaluable experience in the MIDI and sequencing fields. Recently acted as consultant for Premier Percussion during the development of the Signia and Genista lines in their range.

1984: recorded tracks for Nik Kershaw, Tracy Ullman, Matt Bianco and Gary Moore, as well as Kate Bush’s  “Hounds of Love”  album.

1985/6: recorded tracks on Elton John’s album “Ice on Fire” followed by a World tour and the recording of “Leather Jackets” and “Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra” albums the latter being recorded as part of the 6 week tour with the 92-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra). Worked on Chris Eaton’s ground breaking Christian contemporary album, “Vision”.

1987: Recorded Elton John’s “Reg Strikes Back”.  toured Japan with Koji Tamaki,  after recording tracks on his solo album “All I Do.”

1988: Other work for Japanese artists including 3 albums for Epo, one for Hideaki Matsuoko, as well as session work for producer, Kuma Harada.

1989: Recording work on Kate Bush’s “Sensual World” album, Chris de Burgh’s “Spark to a Flame” album, and Epo’s “Supernatural” album.  Live projects included a co-production of a TV broadcast/Live album for French artist, Daniel Guichard at the Olympia theatre in Paris (Franz Auffray was executive producer in charge of this project).

1990: Toured Australia and New Zealand with Elton John, and returned to Japan to tour with Henry Mancini and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

During the early 1990‘s, taught Rock Drums & Studio Techniques at the Royal Academy of Music in London. 

1991: recording work for Judie Tzuke’s “Left Hand Talking” album, and Kate Bush’s cover of the Elton John classic “Rocket Man”, for the “Two Rooms”  tribute  album.

1992: sessions for Tasmin Archer’s first album “Great Expectations” and Chris Farlowe’s “Farlowe” album.

1992/3: Completed a 14 month (160 date) sell-out World Tour as Elton John’s drummer. An album of drum loops (Master Drums) on CD-ROM and CD audio sold well enough to prompt two sequels (Master Drums 2 and 3) and two new sample CDs (Past Masters & The Premier Collection).

1994: saw completion of an album produced by George Martin, for Larry Adler’s 80th birthday, working with such diverse artists as Lisa Stansfield, Chris de Burgh, Meatloaf, Kate Bush and Cher, as well as studio work on Elton John’s new album, ‘Made In England’ and orchestral tracks on the new Chris de Burgh album, ‘This Way Up’. Master Drums II was also recorded and released in 94. Also acted as an expert witness in the case of Sade vs. Paul Cooke.  The case was settled out of court.

1994: During the summer, toured with the double bill of Elton John and Billy Joel, which took in 25 dates in 12 major cities across the USA.

1995: The Elton John/Billy Joel “Two Pianos”  tour concluded in April 1995, followed by a 9 month World tour with Elton John, which ended in Rio de Janiero, Brazil in November.

1996: recorded 3 singles with Elton John – one a duet with Luciano Pavarotti. Completed first production – a South African act, Jive Nation (also played percussion, sang backups and played keyboards), and drummed on grunge/metal 3-piece,Fleshdevils, debut album.

1997: Various freelance sessions, including the soundtrack to the Bond movie “Tomorrow never Dies”.

1997/8: saw the recording of Elton John’s new album “The Big Picture”  and a World tour to coincide with the release of the album.  In early 1998,  they once again joined up with Billy Joel, this time to tour Australia, New Zealand and Japan,  followed by Europe later in the year. Bridge recordings also recorded and released a new album by the SAS band,  a star-studded “supergroup” of musicians from a huge variety of backgrounds.  Also recorded 2 tracks for the Hellecasters’ latest album: “Hell III, New Axes to Grind.”

1999/2000:  In the early part of the year 1999, employed as an expert witness in the Spandau Ballet law suit,  working on behalf of Gary Kemp. The case was won by Mr. Kemp after several weeks in the High Court in London.  Also completed sessions for Björk’s movie “Dancer In The Dark” (winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2000).  After moving from the UIK to the United States,  became involved in freelance session work and gigs,  mainly working out of Nashville and Los Angeles.

2000:  Toured the entire summer of 2000 with Trisha Yearwood, one of Country Music’s top female artists.  In the Autumn, returned to the UK to tour with fellow Elton Band member,  John Jorgenson, promoting his recently released solo album, “Emotional Savant”,  and recording live tracks.  Also recorded tracks for Baz Luhrmann’s award winning musical, “Moulin Rouge”.

2001:  Invested in equipment and set up a small, State-of-the-Art, Hard Disk based tracking room at home in Orlando, Florida (from which he can now record drum tracks for clients),  spent time in the early part of the year “plugging in” to the Orlando session scene.  Recorded the Voices of America CD (post-September 11, for the families of those lost in NYC and DC), using this facility,  as well as Cool Breeze by Plan9 (www.plan9theband.com), Cyd Ward’s Between The LInes and Tom Paul’s  debut album: I Was King.

Live work included touring with the Voices of Classic Rock (www.rockforever.com),  featuring the vocal talents of such artists as: Spencer Davis, Pat Travers, Larry Hoppen (Orleans), Leslie West (Mountain), John Cafferty (Beaver Brown Band), Ronnie Hammond (Atlanta Rhythm Section), Jimi Jamison (Survivor), Dave Jenkins (Pablo Cruise), Alex Ligertwood (Santana), Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), Joe Lynn Turner (Deep Purple, Rainbow) & Mike Reno (Loverboy).  Also played live with Larry Hoppen’s Allstar band (ex-Orleans)  in and around Orlando

2002:   VH1 Classic concert for the Voices of Classic Rock in Maui, featuring 14 of the singers.  This is to be aired by VH1 and DirecTV over the next 18 months.  Live shows for Orleans (www.orleansonline.com),  which culminated in involvement as drummer and engineer for their latest release – Still the One, Live – a celebration of their 30 years in the business

2003: Apart from continued work with the Voices of Classic Rock, also toured with Orleans, promoting the latest album. Continued to upgrade the studio (Manicdrums Productions),  and record sessions for a number of clients,  including Michelle Tumes (songwriting demos), Tom Paul (a new album, to be released early 2004),  Beth Schafer and Jim Wilson’s 3rd album – Sanctuary.

2004: continued to work with Orleans, both on live shows,  and in the studio, recording their first studio album in almost 8 years (as sound engineer and drummer).  Continued work on Planet 9, a cooperative project (www.plan9theband.com) which had a successful summer hit on the Adult Contemporary charts, and is preparing for the re-release of their Christmas album, the 9 Days of Christmas.

2005: Continued to build clientele for Manicdrums Studio, whilst interspersing live shows with Orleans, and a new classic Rock project (born out of Orleans and The Voices of Classic Rock) called Rock & Pop Masters (RPM) (www.rpmconcerts.com), with several trips to Nashville, checking out the scene.

2006: More work in Manicdrums Studio,  including album tracks for Beth Schafer, Michelle Tumes, Planet 9 and Jim Wilson (Beneath Olympian Skies) as well as parade music for Disneyland Tokyo (arranger/composer Scott Erickson).  Continuing to build a live and studio presence with Orleans. Spent much of the summer juggling Orleans gigs with John Jorgenson’s Gypsy Jazz Quintet.  John’s expertise in the Django Reinhardt style of jazz guitar was an unusual and exciting departure in style!

2007: Made the move to Nashville,  whilst managing to tour the entire summer with Orleans (who have had their busiest season to date).  Built a new studio in the basement of the Nashville house, and moved Manicdrums Productions  to “Music City!” Took advantage of the move to build a soundproofed tracking room,  and a professionally wired control room.  The result is a major upgrade to the facilities that were originally in Orlando.

2008: The new studio, Manicdrums Productions,  has been busy all year, with a wide variety of projects.  Work includes theme park music for Disney, demos for Nashville songwriters, as well as a number of recording projects for producer/arrangers in Los Angeles, London, New York and Munich (Germany) and new album tracks for Orleans.  Orleans continued to have a busy summer season, as well as RPM (www.rockandpopmasters.com) expanding their roster and increasing their share of the marketplace.

In June,  flew to Los Angeles to record Barry Manilow’s new release,  along with bassist, Leland Sklar,  for producer Scott Erickson (Erickson Entertainment).  This album is released in November 2008.

In September, was flown to London to record the Bond theme tune with a 71 piece orchestra,  for David Arnold.  This was be part of the Bond film:  A Quantum of Solace,  which was released in November 2008.

2009:  Kept busy in the studio recording a number of projects, including a “super group” in Europe, featuring guitarist Robin George and a cast of musicians from such groups as: Climax Blues Band, Medicine Head, Thin Lizzy and Uriah Heep.  Also completed drums on an album project for Mexican star, Manuel Mijares, which subsequently went platinum in the Latin charts.   Continued to tour with both Orleans and Rock & Pop Masters.

2010:  more studio work for Mexican artists, including a follow-up album for Manuel Mijares (which also went platinum) and a huge selling album for female Mexican singer, Yuri (which also went platinum).  Continued to record many  studio projects from home. Was part of a team that developed an iPhone app:  Drums Challenge.   On the live front, juggled shows with RPM and Orleans, as well as some rewarding concerts with John Jorgenson’s Gypsy Jazz quintet.  In July, toured Iraq/Kuwait with the Rock & Pop Masters.