Biography     

Born in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England 1966, John began playing the drums aged 11. He studied with Barry Black at Ronnie Pearson’s ‘Drum Shop’ and made his first recordings in the shops basement studio aged 14. He became a full-time professional on leaving school at 16 with The Don Smith Band at Newcastle’s Mayfair Ballroom. After playing many Cabaret Clubs, Cruises and Summer Seasons, he moved to London in the mid 1980’s.

Initially playing with The Andy Ross Orchestra, John became a respected member of the ‘Session Community’ covering all aspects
of the music industry, accompanying artists such as Robbie Williams,
Hot Chocolate, Cliff Richard, The Corrs, Georgie Fame, Ruby Turner, Colin Blunstone, Chris Thompson, Barbara Dickson, The Drifters, James Belushi, Tony Burrows, Peter Green’s Splinter Group, Dave‘Greenslade’, Whitesnake’s ‘Moody Marsden’ and spent over 4 years with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band from 1996 – 2000.

John has worked for a range of Producers / MD’s such as Laurie Latham, Richard Niles, Matthew Fisher, Jeff Bova, Trevor Brown, Simon Webb, Don Airey, Julian Littman, Tony Ashton, Spike Edney, Andy Fairweather Low, Raph Ravenscroft and legendary Rolling Stones Producer Jimmy Miller but his main ‘employer’ for 12 years was Philip Pope the UK's most prolific composer of countless Film Soundtracks, Jingles and TV Themes including Spitting Image, Not The 9 o’clock News, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Jane Horrocks, Harry Enfield, My Hero, Kevin & Perry Go Large and the multi-award winning Fast Show ( AKA Brilliant ).

In 2002 John relocated to Australia and is loving life down under, recording and playing ‘live’ with Joe Camilleri, John Meyer, Eugene ‘Hideaway’ Bridges, Lucky Oceans & Friends, Yunyu, Claire Clarke, Blanche DuBois, Rachael Beck & Todd McKenney, The Paperdolls, Gerard Maunick, The Zydecats, Rachel Claudio, Rob Agostini and Anthony Cormican. He continues to develop his Drum School and in 2007 became an Australian Citizen.

“The move to Australia has been a fantastic experience, the quality of life is superb and I’m honoured to be working with such gifted Songwriters, Musicians and Producers”

Inspiration

“There are many great drummers that have inspired me throughout my career, Ringo Starr on The Beatles ‘Cartoon Show’ lit the fuse, followed by Harvey Mason, Steve Gadd, my teacher Barry Black and Graham Jarvis, but it’s no secret that Jeff Porcaro, John Robinson and Carlos Vega have been my main inspiration since 1980.
These days I love listening to Stanton Moore and Keith Carlock who along with JR, Steve Gadd and Vinnie Colaiuta for me set the standard and get better and better”