A SHORT BIOGRAPHY
After a couple of false starts on violin and piano from age seven, Mick found his musical feet when at twelve he was given a small four-string guitar (ukulele?). By the following year he had formed his own skiffle group the ASTEROIDS and began to perform in public. There soon followed a two-year spell with local dance band The MELODY MAKERS, playing with them whilst also continuing to play in other line ups with friends.
Early in 1961, he was invited to join the original ROLLING STONES, a Dover-based group that had started as a skiffle group some five years earlier and having rapidly made the transition to electric pop and rock 'n roll had progressed to become the premier group in the area. 1961 was a busy year for Mick. With the band he played more than sixty gigs, made two TV appearances, recorded a single and took part in the London final of a national rock group competition (some people are convinced that was how their name came to be adopted and eventually made famous by Jagger and Co.).
The Rolling Stones' popularity was further increased by the exposure they gained by supporting visiting bigger name acts including Joe Brown, The Barron Knights, The Spotniks, Sounds Incorporated, Screaming Lord Sutch and many others. The following year, the Rolling Stones became The PLAYBOYS and then (from 1967 to 1970) TAKE FIVE. Much of this period was spent playing alongside bands such as John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (the Clapton, Green, Taylor period), Ike and Tina Turner, Georgie Fame, Geno Washington, Alan Price etc.
In 1971 Mick was a founder member of progressive rock outfit MIRKWOOD whose eponymous cult album at one time held the record for the most expensive listed in Record Collector magazine. The Mirkwood album has since been re-released several times and is still available today. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s, in between the rock gigs, Mick always managed to find time to fit in some jazz performances. He was a founder member of the popular Kent-based jazz funk outfit Whirligig and also played at various times with other local jazz outfits including the bands of Bill Barnacle, Bod Bowles, Geoff Miller and Dave Corsby as well as with visiting luminaries including Pat Halcox, Joe Harriot, Tony Coe etc. During this period Mick was also often employed as an accompanist to visiting artistes and touring shows including Larry Grayson’s Generation Game, The Little and Large Show, Arthur Askey, Kenneth McKellar, Roy Castle, Wee Willie Harris and numerous others.
In 1980 Mick joined EASY ACTION whose Fleetwood Mac influenced sound brought them considerable local success for several years until in 1987 he reunited with members of Mirkwood to form ICEBREAKER which in one form or another played until the end of 1996 when he decided finally to retire from the group scene. Apart from ‘helping out’ occasionally Mick didn’t play live again until 2005 when he was tempted out of retirement by the challenge of playing some tricky banjo parts for local Irish and country outfit FAIRISLE.
