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Jess Roden Who's Who A-C

Richard Bailey Although self-taught, Richard Bailey’s versatility is such that he’s been a first-call ‘kit-man’ for most of the last four decades. Born in Guyana and brought up in Trinidad, he is the son of Emmanuel McDonald Bailey, an Olympic runner who won a bronze medal for Great Britain in 1952. Moving to London aged 12, his first major gig came about by being recommended by Traffic’s percussionist Rebop Kwaku Bah as much as it was via his brother who was playing with the likes of Wendell Richardson and Fuzzy Samuels at the time… and it was joining Johnny Nash’s band just prior to his scoring worldwide with I Can See Clearly Now. ﷯During the 70s, this led to a raft of session work within the Basing St mafia that also included the likes of Rabbit, Steve Gregory, Tony Braunagel, Phil Chen and Winston Delandro. This, ultimately led to his recording Jeff Beck’s landmark fusion album Blow By Blow (although he never toured the album – Bernard Purdie did). “Over the years I became a very successful session drummer, recording several sessions a day, but after a while I reached a point where I wasn’t enjoying my playing – I once did a Greek album in an afternoon, and the time signatures changed every few bars. I wouldn’t want to do that now.” Among those countless other recordings – from rock to reggae, from jazz to pop by way of latin-fusion – that bear his name are records as diverse as the soundtrack to Tommy, albums by Mick Taylor, Snowy White, Ernest Ranglin, Morrissey Mullen, Sniff ‘n The Tears, Gary Boyle, The Screaming Iguanas Of Love, Edwin Starr, Mayumi Shinozuka, Joan Armatrading, Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine, Linda Lewis, The Paul Carmichael Band, Steel Pulse, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Gonzalez, The Breakfast Band, Steve Roach, Brian Eno as well as world tours with Billy Ocean. While Richard has played with a veritable who’s who, in 1992 he joined Incognito, a stint that was only meant to last a few weeks but which ended up with him occupying the drum-seat for 16 years. Then, Steve Winwood came a-calling… “I had known Steve for years and we used to jam a lot back in the days of Island Records, but I’d never really worked with him. He first asked me to play percussion on the About Time album, where Walfredo Reyes Jr played drums, Karl van den Bosch played congas and I played timbales.” Since recording Nine Lives, Bailey has become sticksman in residence in the Winwood band Jeff Bannister ﷯Following the demise of the AB, Jeff joined The O Band with whom he made two albums. He then worked with Charlie Dore’s Back Pocket and subsequently with the Gerry Rafferty Band when Baker Street topped worldwide charts. In the 80s, he toured America in The Jack Green Band (the former T-Rex bass player) prior to writing The Multichord for all Keyboards (a chord book published by Music Sales in UK & USA). The next decade saw him in The Breakers (led by ex-Ten Years After drummer Rick Lee) before touring with the houseband for The Solid Gold Rock ‘n’ Roll Show (featuring Marty Wilde, Joe Brown, Eden Kane, John Leyton and The Vernons) and again in 2004 (Craig Douglas, John Leyton, Freddy Cannon and Showaddywaddy) – each tour culminating with multiple performances at The London Palladium Chris Blackwell ﷯is the founding-father of Island Records – inarguably the most influential label of the last fifty years and synonymous with Jess’ career from Bronco through The Rivits. An intensely private man, CB has never wavered from his maxim: bigger labels are supermarkets, "I like to think of Island as a very classy delicatessen." He said in 2009: "I never expected Island to grow into the international phenomenon it became. I was very fortunate to connect with some great individuals along the way, songwriters, artists, producers and many, many talented people who proudly worked at Island over the years." CB, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, lives in Jamaica, New York and Theale (UK) Robbie Blunt ﷯Following the disolution of Bronco, Robbie joined Michael des Barres in Silverhead (replacing their original guitarist, Steve Forest alongside Nigel Harrison who would later join Bloindie) prior to a multitude of session with the likes of Chicken Shack, Steve Gibbons, Phil Collins and the Jeff Healey Band before working with Robert Plant on four early-to-mid-80s albums. Since leaving Plant’s band he has stepped back into sessions, recording with the likes of: Clannad, Eddie Brickell & The New Bohemians, Donovan, Julian Lennon, Roberto Vecchioni as well as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Alan Bown joined British prog-rock outfit Jonesy in 1973 and recorded two albums with them; he then became an A&R consultant at CBS Records after the group went its separate ways. He remains a music consultant and, in collaboration with Jeff Bannister, wrote and published a two-hundred pages-plus Alan Bown biography entitled ‘Before & Beyond’.
Tony Braunagel ﷯was born in Houston and cut his teeth in the local scene before moving to New York in ’71 and then to London via Scandinavia a year later by way of touring with Johnny Nash whose band featured fellow Texan John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick. The pair landed up in London and became part of the session-scene that centered around Basing St – among other albums Tony contributed to Paul Kossof’s solo debut (Back Street Crawler) as well as being a founder-member of Crawler itself. He moved back Stateside in 1981 to work with Eric Burdon and Bette Middler (1983) before joining Bonnie Rait’s touring band for her Nick Of Time and Luck Of The Draw tours. He moved back into session work in ‘91 – his studio work over the years including recordings with the likes of Taj Mahal, BB King, Sue Glover, John Martyn, Speedy Keen, Buddy Guy, Andy Fraser, Danny Federici, Maria Muldaur, John Mayall, Eddie Quansah and Otis Rush among many others. Tony is currently a member of Robert Cray’s touring band John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick ﷯was born in Houston TX but came to prominence on the Johnny Nash Scandinavian tour of 1972. Thereafter tipping up in London, and initially working with Julie Felix, he rapidly established himself at Basing St playing on a raft of Island albums – not least being Bob Marley’s seminal Catch A Fire (he’d met Marley on the Nash tour) as well as records by Sandy Denny, Bryn Haworth, John Martyn, Speedy Keen, Toots And The Maytals, Kevin Ayers, Claire Hamill, Rebop Kwaky Bah, The Sutherland Brothers, Paul Kossoff, Jim Capaldi and, of course JR. His recordings with Kossoff saw him play an integral part in the Free off-shoot, Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu and Rabbit before he became a fully-fledged member of Free on their final album, Heartbreaker. Amid much other session work – as well as releasing his own albums via Island (Broken Arrows and Dark Saloon) he began a long-lasting musical relationship with Pete Townshend and The Who – with whom he has performed continuously since Live Aid in 1985 John Cartwright ﷯After the JRB ended, John relocated – initially to New York but, more recently to France where he lives and works with his partner, Jaki Whitren whose most recent album was Isis Unveiled – released during June 2007 Tony Catchpole After leaving The Alan Bown, went on to record for the BBC’s Radiophonic Orchestra as well as guesting on The Shadows XXV album Phil Chen ﷯was born in Kingston Jamaica and, over the past 40 years or so, has forged a reputation as one of the top bass players in the world. His resume is impressive – from his early days in Jimmy James’ The Vagabonds his studio credits amassed rapidly and he was unsurpassed as number one on the list of top UK based session bassists for years working with Jeff Beck, Donovan, Joan Armatrading, Linda Lewis, Desmond Dekker, Bob Marley, Gonzales, Arrival, The Soundtrack to Tommy, StreetWalker among numerous others. After recording with Rod Stewart, he turned down a gig with The Faces because of a previous commitment – The Butts Band. Phil did, however, become part of Rod Stewart’s touring band through the course of Foot Loose..., Blondes Have More... and Foolish Behaviour. After being fired in ’81, along with the rest of the band for (allegedly) refusing to fly to America for a TV show, he tipped up on albums by Eurythmics, Jackson Browne, Pete Townshend, Robin Gibb, Lita Ford, John Fogerty, Keith Richards, Jerry Lee Lewis, Peter Frampton, Eddie Money, Albert Lee, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, B.B. King, John Mayall, Spencer Davis Chuck Berry, The Bee Gees, Dave Edmunds, Graham Parker, Carl Wilson, Clarence Carter, Brian Wilson, a Brian May / Eddie Van Halen project, Marc Almond, The Skatalites among many others. Phil has been an integral part of the Manzarek / Krieger band since 2004, performing worldwide Lionel Conway ﷯is one of Music Publishing’s most respected figures. His career began at Dick James Musicin London, working The Beatles’ catalogue as well as with Elton John / Bernie Taupin. He then ran Island’s Music Publishing division – Blue Mountain and Island Publishing – signing Cat Stevens, Dave Stewart, Robert Palmer, Andy Fraser, Tom Waits, Jimmy Cliff, U2 and Jimmy Cliff as well as Jess among many others. After twenty years at the helm in the UK, Lionel relocated to LA to open up the company’s West Coast office. In 1992 (and after the sale of Island to Universal) he moved over to Maverick, working closely with Madonna. From 2001 he joined the Mosaic Media Group (administering the catalogues of ZZ Top and Aerosmith as well as over 40 #1 Country hits among others) and is currently President of its North American operation. Alan Coulter went on to play drums with Bees Make Honey, Meal Ticket, Roger Chapman as well as becoming a noted session player

Jess Roden Who's Who D - L

﷯Keef Hartley came to prominence as a member of the British R&B group The Artwoods before joining John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in 1967. He contributed to the album “Crusade” before leaving in 1968 to form the first line-up of his own band. Over many years, he recorded a series of classic albums, many of which have now been re-released on CD ﷯Dick Hayes Front of House Sound-man for Bronco who, along with Alan Stone, was badly injured in the van-collision of May 1971. Nowadays Dick is senior sound-guru for Entec having not just cut his teeth with Bronco but The Who (and helping run their businesses for many years). ﷯John (Anthony) Helliwell joined Supertramp, found fame and fortune with their ‘Crime Of The Century’ album and has remained with them for over thirty years. He has also contributed saxophone to recordings by Pink Floyd, Diana Ross, Thin Lizzy, Chris de Burgh and fronts his own Crème Anglaise group ﷯Pete Hunt is still gigging – on an occasional basis – in and around Southampton Grace Jones﷯ Singer, model, actress, Grammy nominee and cited by VH1 as one of the top 100 greatest women in Rock ‘n Roll. She headlined one of the Island50 celebratory nights at Sheperds Bush Empire dressed as if en-route to Ascot... tho’, perhaps not the Ascot that HRH The Queen attends. Ms Jones, who is 61-ish, released her highly critically acclaimed album, Hurricane in 2009 Mike Kellie has enjoyed a long career a-top the drum riser; from starting out in the mid-60's via local Birmingham group The Phantoms prior to Locomotive (originally named The Kansas City Seven, they were something of a Midlands super-group of the time that also featured Chris Wood). He quit in 1966 to join The Beachcombers (replacing John Bonham in the process) but a year later joined The VIPs from Carlisle replacing the group’s original drummer, Walter Johnstone, a few months before Keith Emerson joined and then left to form The Nice. ﷯The VIPs renamed themselves Art, signed to Island and after one album as well as another backing Hapshash And The Coloured Coat became Spooky Tooth. After a merry-go-round of personnel changes, ST ground to a slightly less than permanent halt and Kellie joined Three Man Army (with Paul and Adrian Gurvitz) making one album before briefly joining Balls (with Denny Laine and Trevor Burton) after which came Parrish & Gurvitz (with Mickey Gallagher and Rick Wills) before the three hooked up with Peter Framton to become Frampton’s Camel. Another stint with Spooky Tooth preceeded a brief sojourn alongside Mick Feat with Paul Kossoff and then Peter Perrett came calling – result, The Only Ones. Although they disbanded in ’81, the band have released more albums posthumously. Next up was a stint with Johnny Thunders (alongside Perrett and Paul Gray and Simon Nicol from Eddie And The Hot Rods). Spooky Tooth re-formed and dissolved (again); The Only Ones re-formed and toured as well. Over the years, Kellie’s session work includes albums by Gary Wright (Extraction) Luther Grosvenor (Under Open Skies and Floodgates), Steve Gibbons (Short Stories), Peter Frampton (Wind Of Change), Paul Kossoff, Nick Kent And The Subterraneans (one incredibly rare single called My Flamingo), Viv Stanshall (alongside Rosko Gee from Traffic), Joe Cocker (With A Little Help From My Friends), Andy Leigh (Magician), Jess Roden (the unreleased Rabbit album), Ritchie Francis (Songbird), Jik Capaldi (Oh How We Danced) The Liverpool Scene (Reformed), Neil Innes (How Sweet To Be An Idiot), Chris Jagger, Grimms (Rockin’ Duck), Jerry Lee Lewis (The London Sessions), Andy Roberts (Urban Cowboy), Kenny Young, Splinter, Pat Travers, Andy Fraser, Sean Tyla, Roderick Falconer, Traffic (although nothing was subsequently released) and many, many more. Kellie is currently completing his first solo album entitled The Hidden. Billy Livsey ﷯After twenty-plus years as an in-demand session player Billy began to evolve into a successful songwriter, which ironically led to cross-continental co-writing sessions with Nashville writers such as Don Schlitz and Fred Knobloch. Ultimately, he decided to relocate to Nashville, which led to his songs being recorded by artists such as Mark Chestnut, John Berry, Lorrie Morgan, Ty Herndon and Tayna Tucker. Soon Nashville producers started getting wind of Livsey’s keyboard chops, and he once again became an in-demand session player, playing on records by Rodney Crowell, Michael McDonald, Jim Lauderdale and Travis Tritt. The evolutionary process continued and Billy is now in-demand for production projects on both sides of the Atlantic Paul Lockey Following the dissolution of Bronco Mk11, re-joined The Band Of Joy with whom he recorded two albums
Winston Delandro ﷯started playing the guitar in his mid-teens; by 18 he was working in Italy with a band of like-minded funkateers, The African People. They recorded only the one album – an of-its-time masterpiece of Afro-psychedelia – in Milan before he teamed up with Johnny Nash and Jimmy Ruffin (playing on the latter’s What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted). A semi-official member of the musical collective otherwise known as Gonzalez (alongside the likes of Steve Gregory, Roy Davies, Phil Chen, Gerry Conway and Richard Bailey – all of whom crop up at various times within JR’s life and times) he was also a member of Snowy White’s band (alongside Richard Bailey) recording Land Of Freedom (which featured the mega-hit Bird Of Paradise). Winston featured on early Bob Marley recordings that were made at CBS in London – most recently released as a box set entitled Grooving Kingston | JAD Masters 1970 / ’72 (Rabbit and Richard Bailey also feature on those recordings). Subsequently, Winston has gone on to play sessions for / work with Eric Clapton, Joan Armatrading, Osibisa, Elton John, Mark Ashton (with Mick Feat and Tony Braunagel), Doris Troy, Peter Sarstedt, Eddie Quansah, The Reggae Beatles, Ryo Okumoto’s band and the Mick Taylor Band (both of which, at the same time, featured Richard Bailey), Paul Carrack, Stanley Turrentine, Mica Paris as well as compose for film and television. He is a current member of UB40 founder, Ali Campbell’s band. Sandy Denny ﷯remains the quintessential English chanteuse; her timeless songs form part of not just the backbone but beat as heart and soul of pivotal folk-rock from the Seventies. Not only is (for example) Who Knows Where the Time Goes? a stoneground classic, but her enduring musical legacy bridges contemporary to traditional. Sandy, tragically, died from a brain haemorage resulting from a fall at her home in London during April 1978 ﷯Joel Dorn was one of the most influential producers of the last four deacdes. Originally a disc-jockey at a Philadelphia jazz radio station prior to joining Atlantic Records to oversee their prestigious jazz stable from 1967 until 1974 where he worked with Herbie Mann, Eddie Harris, Mose Allison and Roland Kirk. He went on to produce the debut albums for Bette Midler and Roberta Flack as well as records by The Allman Brothers Band, Don McLean, Leon Redbone, Lou Rawls and the Neville Brothers. Joel Dorn died of a heart attack in New York in December, 2007 aged 65 Steve Dwire ﷯Initially a drummer, then a bass player, also a children’s book author and a photographer whose most recent project is “Wheel” a multi- format film with featured artists that include Erick Montgomery and Jerry Marotta. As well as playing bass on The Rivits’ Multiplay album, Steve also co-produced as well as played on and contributing arrangements to Seven Windows. He has worked as a staff composer with Audio Network PLC (UK); collaborated with Grammy award winners PM Dawn on a remake of the George Harrison song Within You And Without You; spent three years as Director Of Custom Music Services for Killersound, Inc. in California and composed music for the international charity Breath of Hope Foundation – a not-for-profit, educational organization that was created in response to the 2004 tsunami Ben Foot tour managed the JRB from first to last; he was the fourth child of Hugh Mackintosh Foot, Baron Caradon who held the office of Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of Jamaica between 1951 and 1957; Ben’s brother was the late Paul Foot, noted journalist and author as well as founder of Private Eye, the satirical UK magazine Kevyn Gammond ﷯revived the Band Of Joy in 1977 to perform at a benefit gig for the families of a local band involved in a fatal motorway accident; the line up included Paul Lockey, John Pasternak, Pete Robinson and Michael Chetwood (Keyboards). A revised version of the group recorded two albums – 1978’s ‘Band Of Joy’ on Polydor with Francesco Nizza (drums) replacing Robinson and ‘24K’ which remained unissued (due to contractual reasons) until released by Thunderbolt Records in 1983. Both records were remastered and issued with previously unreleased material by Cherry Red in 2005. Nowadays a senior lecturer in Music Studies in Kidderrminster, Kevyn Gammond and Robert Plant founded their occasional group, The Priory Of Brion, in 1999 Chris Gower joined Graham Parker & The Rumour on the JRB’s disolution before spending much of the eighties involved in either touring or session work with the likes of: Randy Crawford, Desmond Dekker, Kirsty MacColl, Cliff Richard, Amazulu, Musical Youth, Shakin’ Stevens, Suzi Quatro and The O-Jays. Chris is currently playing with Digby Fairweather’s Half Dozen, his career equally divisble between jazz and rock music, since he’s also been a member of The Glenn Miller, Syd Lawrence and Andy Ross Orchestras as well as acclaimed slots with the BBC Big Band, Pizza Express All Stars and the 19-strong Goodmania Band ﷯Nick Graham Formerly of Atomic Rooster and Skin Alley; composer and musical director for the 1998 / 2001 ‘The Complete Milennium Musical (abridged)’ performed by The Reduced Shakespeare Company – the subsequent album was called ‘All Of The Songs And None Of The Dances.’ ﷯Gary Grainger played with Strider prior to joining Rod Stewart’s global touring band. He is the co-writer of ‘Hot Legs’, ‘Passion’ and ‘I Was Only Joking’ as well as being a sideman to Roger Daltry, Paul Young, Ringo Starr and the late Jim Capaldi ﷯Luther Grosvenor fronted his own Aeriel Bender Band and, more recently, was part of the Mott The Hoople reunion

 

Jess Roden Who's Who M - S

‘Mac’ Mackintosh ﷯was photographer-in-chief for the first two Bronco albums. Mac (or Malcolm) Macintosh has since gone on to a successful career within film as (mainly) a cameraman; shooting such films as - The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, New Best Friend, Big Trouble, Black Night, The New Professionals (for TV), Holy Joe, Virus, The Odyssey, Dawsons Creek, Rob Roy, The Chase (time-laose photography), The Young Insiana Jones Chronicles (TV Series), Christopher Columbus, Ladybugs, James Bond movies - Licenece to Kill and The Living Daylights, A Private Function, An American Werewolf in London, A Private Function, The Watcher In The Woods, The Kids Are Alright among many others. He also acted (as a student in The Bright-Eyed-Body-Snatcher which, actually, just pre-dated his work with Bronco) while he also played himself in a short documentary entitled On The Set With John Glen in 2006 which also featured Timothy Dalton Rob Mounsey ﷯has worked as a producer, arranger, composer, conductor and performer in pretty much ever genre of music imaginable. He has scored an Oscar-winning documentary, created music for Sex and the City, worked with (among many others) Steely Dan, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, James Taylor, Aaron Neville and Madonna, has achieved five Grammy nominations, two Emmy awards and - over the years - collected inumerable Platinum and Gold records. Gordon Neville had a stint with Beggars Opera and also collaborated with Rick Wakeman and was later a member of Elton John’s backing band John Pasternak ﷯sadly died of a heart attack on September 23rd 1986 in Kidderminster. At the time he was involved with a local band, Pictures In The Dark Room and had set up Zone To Zone Records. Mourners at his funeral, at St Johns, included Robbie Blunt and Robert Plant – the latter leading an all-star tribute concert at Stourport Civic Hall, scene of a number of early Shakedown Sound gigs – in his memory during December of that year Leon Pendarvis ﷯Over the years, ‘Pen’ has written, produced and performed for artists such as Eric Clapton, Marvin Gaye, Ike and Tina Turner, Roberta Flack, Quincy Jones and B.B. King. He also owns and operates Pinwheel Productions, a world-class recording facility that has hosted such artists as Pink and Avril Lavigne. Over and above his production work, he has performed worldwide – from presidential inaugurations to Sting’s Save the Rainforest concerts as well as a tribute event for Atlantic Records’ Ahmet Ertegun. ‘Pen’ is the longest serving member/musical director of the Saturday Night Live Band in NYC for NBC TV Doane Perry ﷯began his musical life playing piano at the age of 7. He discovered drums aged 11 and (other than a brief stint as an ice-cream salesman) has forged an enviable career since working with: Lou Reed, Bette Midler, Todd Rundgren, Dave Mason, Pat Benatar, Jim Messina, Martha and the Vandellas, Dweezil Zappa, Stan Getz, Fairport Convention, Dionne Warwick, Liza Minelli, Patty Scialfa, Vonda Shepard, Charles Aznavour, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Freda Payne, Jeffrey Osbourne, Diane Warren, Elliot Murphy, Gary U.S.Bonds, Adrian Gurvitz & Gary Brooker (among many others). During 1984, he joined Jethro Tull and, in fact, is now their third longest serving member Robert Plant ﷯needs no introduction. He released ‘Sixty Six To Timbuktu’ during 2003, an extensive retrospective that covered his solo career, noted not only for its inclusion of his rare early solo singles, but also two of the original Band Of Joy demos Doc Pomus ﷯I look at music one way. It’s either soulful...or not. If it’s internal it’s great, if it’s external it’s not great. I can tell where a songwriter has sat with a line for two weeks. To me, any artist who sits there analyzing the lines should be a mathematician instead. Since his death in 1991, Pomus has been elected into the Rock & Roll, Songwriting, Blues and New York Music Halls of Fame. His songs have featured in hundreds of films, TV shows and commercials and have sold over 250 million copies worldwide whilke achieving more than 50 million broadcast performances. They have also have reached number one on every concievable chart across the globe
Bruce Roberts ﷯After the JRB parted company, Bruce played sessions – including guitar on Bryan Ferry’s You Go To My Head as well as going out as guitar-for hire. He then formed the R&B tinged Roxoff – featuring Pete Hunt and Ronnie Taylor before Roger Pope (former Elton John and and Kiki Dee drummer) replaced Hunt. Bruce went on to write With My Heart – the b-side to Shakin’ Stevens’ Merry Christmas Everybody (Epic A6769) before forming Fester and The Vomits, seeing-in more road-work with The Groundhogs and Motorhead. Nowadays, he fronts The Bruce Roberts Band who have supported The Mick Taylor Band, Zoot Money, Snowy White and played countless shows across the UK, Germany and France Harry Robinson ﷯Besides being the musical director of the BBC’s Six-Five Special and ITV’s Oh Boy! Robinson’s score composing encompassed films such as the Hammer House Of Horror’s bodice-ripping yarns as well as work for Sandy Denny, Nick Drake, Judy Garland, Julie Felix, Fairport Convention, John Martyn, Ijahman and Serge Gainsbourg. He died in 1996 and his son, Myles is now the 12th Baron Wharton (inherited through Robinson’s wife Ziki Arbuthnot). Pete Robinson ﷯Despite suffering severe injuries in the motorway crash that pretty much saw the end of Bronco Mk1. Pete remained with the band after Jess left and recorded one final album with them, Smokin’ Mixture. The group at that point comprising Robbie Blunt (vocals, guitar), Kevyn Gammond (vocals, guitar), John Pasternak (bass, vocals), Pete Robinson (drums, harmonica, vocals) with Dan Fone (guitar, keyboards, harmonica) and Paul Lockey (guitar, vocals) Steve Smith ﷯produced the ‘lost’ JRB album. Steve first came to prominence as the keyboard player and guitarist in Smith Perkins and Smith who recorded their one, eponymous, album for Island (illustrated below). The record was cut at Muscle Shoals with the (now) legendary rythmn section of David Hood, Barry Beckett and Roger Hawkins who – themselves – would later work with Island stable-mates Traffic (notably on their Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory and On The Road albums). SP&S toured in England on the same bill with Free, Fairport Convention, Argent, Uriah Heep, Family and Vinegar Joe (with Robert Palmer.) After the band split, Steve moved into production and was one of the key people behind the seminal recording of Bob Marley: Live At The Lyceum Guy Stevens was – arguably – one of the most influential music svengalis of the mid-60s through to the late-70s. Either via his ideas; his truly formidable record collection; extraordinary abilities for naming, production or management – his influence on a vast array of music and muscians is inestimable. He gave both Procol Harum and Mott the Hoople their names; his maverick genius produced The Clash’s seminal London Calling album as well as albums by Free and Spooky Tooth; his knowledge of obscure American R&B was second to none, so much so that bands like The Who, Small Faces and The Rolling Stones among many others trawled his knowledge-base as a source for their own repertoire. And, it is also correct to state that Guy Stevens made another of his greatest contributions to music while at the helm of the first modern soul label in the UK, Island’s Sue Records subsidiary. Guy died at the tail-end of August 1981, just 38 years old – having overdosed on the prescription drugs he was taking to reduce his alcohol dependency Alan Stone ﷯is the former Bronco roadie who was badly injured in the tragic van-collision back in May 1971. Besides his ‘conventional’ roadie-duties Alan also recalls: We also did lots of work in the studios at Island at Basing St for Bob Marley and the Wailers as well as Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts who were there, remixing a Stones album for the U.S. market as well as Paul Kossof, The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver and even King Crimson. All these sessions were done through the night mainly and ordering a Take Away for 15 and bringing drinks in was all part of the job. Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island, always made it worth our while and never abused us Roadies like some other groups did as we found out later in our career. How we fitted all the studio works in I honestly don’t know. You felt tired somehow but never worried about it and when Dick Hayes from Ruislip became the head roadie we were always busy. Dick had been with The Who as well as a company called M &L that hired equipment out to groups. He even got us in to films as extras so, for a few seconds, we were famous appearing in crowd scenes or being roadies in Tommy and Stardust with David Essex. Throughout his career in music, Alan’s time was colourful to say the least and included (among many other things) gardening work for George Harrison; studio work for Dusty Springfield and her manager / partner Vicki Wickham Jess was well known to them as a singer but they had never met him.; touring on and off with Silverhead (with Robbie Blunt with whom he shared a flat in Shepherds Bush); restoring Viking boats at the University in Odense; flat-sharing with Quiver’s guitarist Tim Renwick in Wimbledon and Merry Clayton during 1973. Merry was great with her extra large Afro and her infectious laugh; as well as living in a squat in Chalk Farm with a manic depressive called George, He would only eat All Bran and one day I noticed there were twenty seven packets of it around the flat and on shelves.While out on tour with Silverhead, however, the squat was burgled. I lost everything, Stereo system, Tape Machine, record collection, past photos, letters, documents and...my Bronco scrapbook Vic Sweeney among many others, worked extensively with the late Kevin Coyne

Jess Roden Who's Who T - Z

Ronnie Taylor ﷯has worked extensively with John F. Wands playing first with the electric band Press To Play and subsequently as the duo, ‘Ronnie and Johnny’. He has also contributed to a wide range of radio and television recordings throughout Europe. Among others, he currently plays with – and has written for – local band Damaged Goods around the Southampton area. Ronnie has been playing the same saxophone, once owned by Southampton bandleader Gil Hume since 1965 Dougie Thompson Joined Supertramp ﷯Allen Toussaint is one of the most influential figures in all of R&B with his roots firmly in New Orleans. A myriad of his songs are covered nightly the world over and it is highly possible that few really know that Working in the Coalmine or Ride Your Pony are Toussaint originals. His songs have been covered by artists as diverse as The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Hollies, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Glen Campbell, Boz Scaggs. His horn arrangements have graced albums by The Band; he has collaborated with Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello. Toussaint has also produced albums by The Meters, Dr John and the Wild Tchoupitoulas as well as Robert Palmer, Willy DeVille, Frankie Miller, Mylon LeFevre and Solomon Burke. Allen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 ﷯Steve Webb has enjoyed a chequered yet colourful career after the disolution of the JRB. It has seen Steve base himself in America, recording extensively on the West Coast but, more recently, in Scandinavia where he is constsntly in demand for live shows. Steve has released over 10 albums – either in his own right or as collaborative works in the last 15 years
Hal Willner ﷯is among the most eclectic and original producers in contemporary music. He started to work with Joel Dorn aged 23 and, over time, has produced albums for (among many others) Lou Reed, Marianne Faithfull, William S. Burroughs, Gavin Friday, Laurie Anderson and Allen Ginsberg. He has also presided over a host of unique multi-artist live events which include The Harry Smith Project (at The Royal Albert Hall, London and Royce Hall, Los Angeles); The Doc Pomus Project (St. Mark’s Church, New York); Shock & Awe: The Songs of Randy Newman (Royce Hall); Dream Comfort Memory Despair: An Evening of Songs by Neil Young (Celebrate Brooklyn Festival)and Came So Far for Beauty: An Evening of Leonard Cohen Songs (Celebrate Brooklyn Festival 2003, the Sydney Opera House for the Sydney Festival 2005; the Point for the Dublin International Theatre Festival 2006). Recent albums productions include Bill Frisell’s Unspeakable, which won a Best Jazz Album Grammy in 2005, Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (Soundtrack) and Marianne Faithfull’s Easy Come, Easy Go and Horses and High Heels ﷯Peter Wood is possibly most remembered for co-writing Al Stewart’s eternal Year Of The Cat (1976). Pete was a founding member of Quiver as well as playing keyboards in Stewart’s band besides being one of the original members of The Bleeding Hearts Group (alongside Snowy White, Andy Bown and Willie Wilson) who featured as the unseen backing band during Pink Floyd’s The Wall tour. Following The Rivits, Pete continued with session work and features on albums by (amongst others): Carly Simon, Lou Reed, Clarence Clemons, Julian Lennon, Cyndi Lauper, Rodney Crowell, Al Stewart, Bob Dylan and Andy Fairweather-Low. He featured on Roger Waters’ The Wall live double CD from Berlin in 1990 but, sadly died in December 1993, aged 43 ﷯Suzy Worth Originally introduced to JR via Elaine Roden – Suzy was one of the creatives in our gang, she wrote poetry, was an accomplished artist, great cook and, during the Bronco years, she wrote lyrics for several of my tunes StomuYamashta ﷯initially studied music at Kyoto University before moving to the US and continuing at The Juilliard School of Music and Berklee College of Music. He released a number of solo albums for Island before coming to prominence with Go (that featured Steve Winwood, Al Di Meola, Klaus Schulze, Michael Shrieve with Jess contributing vocals to the third (Arista) album). Stomu has composed for the British Royal Ballet besides writing the soundtrack to the David Bowie film The Man Who Fell to Earth and for Ken Russell’s The Devils. His Space Theme was used by the BBC on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. To date, he has released more than 30 albums

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