 Brian replaced Tony Meehan as the Shadows drummer in October 1961 and was an integral part of "The Shadows Sound" for the best part of thirty years until their last tour and album in 1990. Before joining the Shadows, Brian had been drummer with Vince Taylor and the Playboys (Brand New Cadillac) and Marty Wilde and the Wildcats. After leaving Marty, the Wildcats (Brian plus Jim Sullivan, Brian Locking and Tony Belcher) became the Krew Kats and released two singles for HMV, Trambone/Peak Hour and Samovar/Jack's Good. Full details of Brian's early recordings are given in Ulrich Sasu's excellent article |
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Brian's first solo project was 'Change of Direction' released
in 1967, shortly before the group's first 'split'. An excellent album, it highlighted
Brian's writing and arranging talents. Completely different from Shadows music, it showed
a heavy jazz influence and combined Brian's arrangements of famous numbers together with
some of his own originals.
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| After the Shadows broke-up as a full time band in 1968, Brian spent three years as Cliff Richard's musical director, scoring and conducting for records, TV and films. He also produced 'solo' singles under various names, such as 'Riding on the Gravy Train', 'Bubble Drum', 'Chase Side Shoot Up' etc. After the re-forming of the Shadows, more solo projects followed including 'Rock Dreams', an outstanding album drawing on Brian's experience in Rock and Roll. The 'Shadows' period was represented by the tremendous track 'Thunderbolt'. Rock Dreams also saw an early collaboration with son Warren on 'The Girls Back Home'. |  |
| Brian has now resigned from The Shadows, saying that he does not want to be
involved touring and recording full time but hinting that he would be prepared be involved
in special one-off occasions. He is certainly very busy with his writing, in particular,
themes for 'The Knock' and 'The Ruth Rendell Mysteries' for which he won an Ivor Novello
Award, but also countless others. Brian did return to touring in 1994 with Hank and their sons Warren and Ben. His playing of 'Mountains of the Moon' showing that he has lost none of his outstanding drumming skills. For more information on Brian's career, read Rob Bradford's in-depth interview in Pipeline issues 24 and 25. Trev Faul's article in Pipeline issue 8 contains lots of information about Brian's time with the Krew Kats. |
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