British Music Industry
Albie Donnelly started playing saxophone at an early age and played with Merseybeat groups in Liverpool, England. He was then signed to Virgin Records with his group, Supercharge, which he formed in 1974 with drummer, Dave Irving. Their first album, released on the Stag label, was titled Between...
Tony Boase started his career in music when he was 16 and landed his dream job at Mersey Music, a musical instrument shop on the Wirral Merseyside near Liverpool in the early 1980s. Tony has worked with so many famous artists including Scotty Moore and Gerry and the Pacemakers through organizing...
Ozzie Yue started a group with school friends who later went on to be known as the band, The Hideaways. The Liverpool based band played in the Cavern more times than the Beatles – in fact they played the Cavern five times in one day! Besides playing for the Hideaways, Ozzie also performed in the...
Ronnie Tennant first began playing cornet when he was nine years old. His father joined a brass band when he was about the same age and, in 1952, his father joined the Army Band. Ronnie was deeply involved with brass bands. He played many of the instruments in the band with a special focus on the...
Tony Bolland was just 16 when he got a job at Plug In, a rock shop in Liverpool. The store was part of Hessy’s Music, the famous store which sold instruments to the Beatles in the early part of their career. Tony loved music retail and in fact later managed the main Hessy’s Music store, which was...
Brian Farrell was an original member of Colonel Bagshot, a Liverpool based band which was formed in the 1960s. Brian played guitar in the band and wrote several songs recorded by the band including “Six Days.” Like so many who grew up in Liverpool in the early 60s, Brian has his own Beatles related...
Gaz Gaskell has fond memories of playing for AKG at the Frankfurt MusikMesse in the 1990s. These gigs were among several booth performances Gaz took part of as a product endorser, which throughout the years included such brands as Maxima Guitar Strings, Bobby Dukoff Mouthpieces, and Hohner...
Keith Hubbard formed a band in Liverpool with some of his school mates and called themselves The Rebels. The band enjoyed success in the pre and post Beatles era. In 1963, the band first played The Cavern Club; a small club in Liverpool made famous by the Beatles. Keith later played with a number...
Dave McCluskey was like so many of his peers growing up in Liverpool after the Beatles who joined a rock band. He started off on guitar but switched to bass. In 1988 he landed the perfect job that allowed him to gig at night, while working in music retail during the day. Dave was a salesman for...
Nick Batt is the Director of Sonicstate - a website and podcast dedicated to reviewing and commenting on advancements in electronic musical instruments. During his NAMM Oral History interview he spoke about the history of Sonicstate, which was launched at the dawn of the Internet in 1994. Nick also...