“It is far more important who the elementary music teacher is in a small town than who the director of an opera house is because if the opera house director is not good, he will be dismissed in a year, but a poor music teacher in a small town can kill off the love of music for thirty years from thirty classes of children. This is an enormous responsibility. ”
If you have a child who shows interest in playing the piano, think carefully before you send him/her to piano lessons, because the wrong teacher can kill off a child's creativity. That's what happened to me when I was 6yrs old: I was sent to piano lessons after plonking a few notes on my granny’s piano, and I soon became bored with them because I was having to learn to read and play music I didn’t like. I stopped the lessons after a couple of years and might never have played again if I hadn't fallen ill with appendicitis when I was 11yrs old, and ended up recovering from the operation while my father was also recovering from an illness, which meant we were housebound together. Back then, there was no daytime tv, and our only source of entertainment was the radio and the piano. Dad fancied himself as a crooner, a singer in the mould of Frank Sinatra (he loved Frank Sinatra, so do I) and he could knock out a few tunes on the piano, albeit in a very basic manner. But he played well enough to teach me how to play the song Blue Moon, using the only 4 chords he knew: C, A minor, F and G. He used those chords in that order, regardless of which tune he was attempting to play, so it was my mission thereafter to put them in the right order. That’s when I started playing "by ear", which was the beginning of a whole new thing. I took musical education right through to A Level and Grade 8 piano and Grade 8 harmony, but little of it related to the music I played out of school.
Soon after that, a Hammond organ shop, Fox’s, opened in Chester-le-Street, which is where I went to school. I remember like it was yesterday, peering through misty windows at these fabulous instruments. A few days later, my dad arranged for me to do go into the shop and play and, from then on, I was in there on school lunchtimes, after school, all day Saturday and within a few weeks I was playing better than the shop manager (according to my Dad).
Fridays in Chester-le-Street was market day, which meant there were lots of shoppers around, and whenever I played on a Friday lunch time, crowds of people would gather in the doorway of the shop and spill onto the road to watch and listen and applaud this kid who cold barely reach the bass pedals, playing epic themes like the Dam Busters and 633 Squadron. It was good for the shop and it was good for me because I learned about something that motivates all musicians: Applause. I was hooked.
Birtley British Legion, Hammond A100, and my parents Ellen and John.
Chester-le Street might strike you as an unlikely place to set up a shop selling expensive organs made in Chicago, USA, but workingman's clubs were springing up all over the North East of England, and they all wanted these high-tech instruments from America to replace the pianos in their new concert rooms, and Chester-le Street happened to be the best place for Hammond to distribute them from. They sold so quickly, there weren't enough organists around to play them ( a lot of the clubs'piano players struggled to make the transition to organs) and it wasn't long until the shop manager was asking my dad if I could join the rota of organists he'd compiled and was sending out to the clubs. That weekend, aged 13, I played my first professional gig, and it wasn't long until I was making more playing at weekends than my Dad made working an entire week as a supervisor in a cable factory.
My proud, wonderful father passed away when I was 16. By then, I was resident organist at one of the better clubs (Houghton-le-Spring "Big" Club) and I’d soon made enough to buy a car that waited in the street until my 17th birthday (although I admit to taking it for secret midnight trips occasionally before that).
A band I was in that fluctuated between being called Brass Alley and Geordie, featuring L to R: George Defty, Dave Ditchburn, Vic Malcolm, Franky Gibbon, me and Brian Johnson, circa 1975.
In my early 20's, after year long stint playing in a band on a cruise ship that sailed around the Caribbean, I decided it was time to take music a bit more seriously, and I did. I became involved with a few local bands around Newcastle, one of which included singer Brian Johnson (see above) who not long after, joined AC/DC. Soon after, that led me to playing with Splinter who were signed to George Harrison's Dark Horse label (I met George when Splinter played the Hammersmith Odeon and he would turn up quite often at shows when, 10 or so years later, I was in Eric Clapton's band). I was recruited by Gallagher and Lyle for a couple of tours and their final album, in 1980 I joined Lindesfarne for a UK festival tour which included Knebworth and Glastonbury, and later that year I joined Dire Straits and remained with them until the band broke up in the early 90’s.
One of the songs we recorded when we were making the Love over Gold record was Private Dancer, which didn't make the record because the lyrics are from the point of view of a female. But it was perfect for Tina Turner, and I arranged and recorded it with her which led to her asking me to join her on her forthcoming tour of the US. As Dire Straits was having a hiatus, I accepted her offer and while we were on tour in the US, her Private Dancer album went to number one there and around the world. The party that night at a Mexican restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, is one I won’t forget. I remained Tina’s musical director for several years.
I’ve recorded a solo piano version of Private Dancer, as a tribute to Tina, on my forthcoming solo piano album, Backstory.
One of the reasons I play music is because of hearing Tina’s River Deep, Mountain High record, on the radio. Playing that tune with Tina for the first time, in a rehearsal studio on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, was a special moment. I had a similar experience, a year or so later, when I heard Bob Dylan’s voice in my headphones when I was recording his Infidels and Empire Burlesque albums. I got on well with Bob. I met him for the first time at one of the first gigs I played with Dire Straits, the Roxy in Hollywood. He turned up at the show and came back to our hotel and played a few tunes with Mark.
But it was in Eric Clapton's band (1987 through 1990) that I had the most fun. Eric often came to see Dire Straits during the Brothers in Arms tour, and would often watch from my side of the stage, and when that tour was over, he invited me to join his band. And what a band it was: Steve Ferrone, Nathan East, Greg Phillingaines, Ray Cooper, Tessa Niles, Katy Kassoon, and when Eric said he needs a second guitarist, I suggested Mark Knopfler (Mark was later replaced by Phil Palmer). My first experience as Eric’s keyboard player was to fly to with him to New York and back on Concorde, to record the song After Midnight, for a Michelob beer ad (we shot the video in the Lone Star club on 13th street, which I knew well because I’d lived in a house on that street when Dire Straits recorded the Love Over Gold record). It was a brilliant band - some say Eric's best ever - and a most enjoyable few years. Happily, Eric recently described the Journeyman album, which we made during my time with him, as his favourite of all his records. I also co-wrote, with Eric, some of the music for the movie Communion. I reluctantly left his amazing band in 1990 to co-produce Dire Straits’ On Every Street album, and play on the subsequent tour.
After that tour, I’d had enough of travelling the world and I spent the next few years hanging my very young children (twins, born 1989), and making music for TV dramas and documentaries in my home studio. Between then and now, I've played and recorded with lots of people, produced records, made music for movies, directed a movie, and made TV ads music, co-written and co-produced an album for LEGACY ( 3 Chord Trick); co-produced, played on and and written songs for two of Italian mega star Renato Zero’s albums, both of which went straight to number one in Italy (all of his do); I’ve also worked on several projects with ace producer Trevor Horn and I’m a member of his band; I’m a member of DSL Dire Straits Legacy, which is the latest incarnation of our Dire Straits band; I made my solo piano record, Backstory, and I’ve got more lined up - watch this space.
Some of the talented people I’ve played/recorded with:
Dire Straits Trevor Horn Eric Clapton Bob Dylan Tina Turner The Swing Bridge Singers Bee Gees Gerry Rafferty Splinter Prefab Sprout The Blessing Escape Club Ian Drury Bo Diddley Buddy Guy Billy Joel Lou Reed Dave Stewart David Knopfler Gallagher and Lyle Bill Wyman Dave Ditchburn Joe Cocker Mary Hopkins Shakin Stevens Matt Monroe Mark Knopfler Rory Block Westernhagen Joan Armatrading Tim Healy Lindesfarne Geordie Brian Johnson Nils Lofgren Jimmy Nail Mike Brecker Sting Jamie Squire Robert Cray Renato Zero Al Green George Harrison Pacifico Legacy Robbie Williams Seal Beverly Knight Ronnie Wood The Pet Shop Boys Stuart Copeland Renato Zero Rod Stewart Clannad Tiromancino Steve Hogarth Ronnie Wood Andrea Corr Guy Garvey Lol Creme Robert Fripp