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Batteur
Britannique né Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan, le 2 Mars 1943
à Hampstead. Tony Meehan a joué avec les Drifters, qui deviendront les
Shadows
et qui accompagnaient Cliff Richard. Tony a
enregistré avec le bassiste
Jet Harris en 1962. Il est décédé en
tombant accidentellement d'une échelle, le
28 Novembre 2005 à Paddington.
Tony Meehan
was one of the great success stories of early British rock & roll -- in 1958,
all of 15 years old, he played his first rock & roll gig, and within weeks he
was getting as many offers as he could handle to play drums with some of the top
music talent in London. Hardly a year after that, he was one of the best-known
drummers in England, and one of a handful of teenaged musicians of the time to
achieve national rock & roll stardom.
Born Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan in Hampstead in 1943 (some sources say 1942),
he took up the drums at age ten, and was good enough to earn a spot playing
timpani in the London Youth Orchestra. His parents wanted him to go into law,
but Meehan was hooked on music -- mostly jazz -- from the start of his teen
years. And his first visit to the 2I's coffee bar in London's Soho, at age 15,
marked the point of no return. It was then that he first met bassist
Jet Harris and guitarists Hank Marvin
and Bruce Welch, who were already playing together (as
the Drifters), and he was invited to play with them, a situation that very
soon became permanent.
In order to appreciate what this combo represented, one has to understand the
rock & roll scene as it existed in England in 1958. The music had started
catching on as an American export as early as 1955, but it soon became clear
that what British teenagers -- though they were properly enthusiastic when 30-ish
rock & roll star
Bill Haley came over -- really wanted was for the music to be played by
people like them. The British entertainment industry tried to oblige with
artists such as Tommy Steele and his
band, but it was obvious to anyone looking that
Steele and company were a packaged product; what the kids wanted was
something a little more real, preferably other teenagers making the music,
American style and spontaneously.
The Drifters, as they were called then, did that, both on their own and with
lead singer
Cliff Richard out in front, and they were all young:
Harris was the old man of the group, born in 1939; Marvin and Welch had both
come into the world in 1941; and then along came the 15-year-old Meehan, born in
1943, to help seal the deal for audiences. There were plenty of drummers playing
rock & roll around London at the time, and some of them were prodigiously
talented, but almost all of them were 30-ish jazzers, and looked it, and while
they were often great musicians, most were playing in rock & roll bands as a way
of cashing in on this fad and picking up what work there was. It was clear to
most onlookers that the best drummers on the scene really weren't part of the
scene, while the young percussionists were usually too limited in their
abilities to compete, even if they looked the part.
Meehan was the answer to a prayer -- literally half as old as his most talented
competition (not yet 20, forget 30) and just as good a drummer, and he played
the music for real and looked just right doing it. And with his combination of
skill and energy, plus his youthful appearance, he was soon getting as many
bookings as he could handle. Indeed, he and
Harris quickly became a double act, and when they weren't playing with
Marvin and Welch, they were working in bands backing such established talent as
Wee Willie Harris,
Vince Eager,
Vince Taylor, and Tony Sheridan. The names might not mean much in the 21st
century, especially outside of England, but to any teenager in Britain of the
time, just seeing those people in concert would have been memorable, and here
was Meehan, barely 16, playing with them.
By 1959,
the Drifters -- soon renamed the Shadows
in deference to the American R&B group
the Drifters -- were established, first as Cliff Richard's
backing band and later in their own right, as the top rock & roll band in
England. Their records sold by the tens and hundreds of thousands, and their
following was so huge that Meehan and
Harris were stars, almost as well known to English teenagers of that era as
the members of the Beatles would be to British youth in mid-1963. Meehan was
there first, years ahead of Ringo Starr as a star behind the drum kit -- along
with Clem Cattini of
Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, he would be part of the first group of young rock
& rollers in England to achieve recognition for their skills as musicians. Kids
ate up his playing on records like "Apache,"
the Shadows' breakthrough hit, and the group's other early singles, and
articles were written about his and
Harris' work, much as they were about Cliff Richard's
Vocalsizing.
Meehan was the last to join the classic Shadows
lineup, and also the first to leave, but it wasn't by design or -- really --
choice. As fine a drummer as he was, it turned out that he never fully adjusted
to the extensive touring that their success demanded. He became notorious for
showing up late, and then missing parts of gigs, and finally by the fall of 1961
he was gone from the band. Meehan then went to work as a fledgling producer at
England's Decca Records, and saw some success in the pre-Beatles era of British
pop/rock with "I'm Just a Baby," recorded by Louise Cordet and issued the
following spring. And although he didn't return to touring, his drumming could
be heard on records by the likes of
Billy Fury,
Adam Faith, et al., and on solo sides by
Jet Harris, the latter having quit
the Shadows in the spring of 1962. Meehan
continued working in these dual capacities behind the scenes until late that
year when the manager that he and
Harris shared, Jack Good, conceived of the notion of pairing them as a duo.
This made sense, as Meehan was on the records anyway, and people still
associated each with the other from their days with
the Shadows. In early 1963, they scored a
monster hit with their second single, an instrumental called "Diamonds," written
by Jerry Lordan, who had composed "Apache" and several other of
the Shadows' biggest hits. It reached
number one on the British charts later that winter, knocking their former
group's latest single out of the top spot in the process, and it looked like
Jet Harris & Tony Meehan were headed
for superstardom -- even more remarkable was the fact that this took place
against the backdrop of the Beatles' rise to fame and the establishment of the
Liverpool sound as the dominant form of British rock & roll.
It was at that point, coinciding with the release of the follow-up single "Applejack,"
amid a heavy schedule of concerts and television appearances, that disaster
struck --
Harris was severely injured in a car accident. Though the bassist gamely
tried to carry on, it fell to Meehan, who never liked touring, to put together a
band to fulfill their contractual obligations. The resulting Tony Meehan Combo,
assembled in the summer of 1963, had some of the top young talent of the day:
Joe Moretti, who had played (and devised) the lead guitar part on "Shakin' All
Over" by
Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, on lead guitar; John McLaughlin (yes -- of future
Mahavishnu fame) on rhythm guitar; John Paul Jones, then billed as John Baldwin,
on bass; and Meehan on drums. They played the shows that they had to, and by all
accounts did a superlative job, at least when they played the hits that Meehan
and
Harris were associated with -- but when they tried to do their own music,
which was much more a form of jazz-rock fusion, the audiences got impatient and
even surly. Still, they were together long enough to get a single released,
"Song of Mexico" b/w "Kings Go Fifth," that charted in England.
By 1965, however, Meehan had returned to production and session work, with
figures such as Tim Hardin, Roger Daltrey, and Eric Burdon. Hardin's 1973 album,
Painted Head, was virtually a musical tour de force for Meehan, who not only
produced but also played upwards of a dozen instruments on the record. He made
occasional appearances at conventions of Shadows
fans over the ensuing decades, and even played with the group again on one
occasion in 1968, substituting for an indisposed Brian Bennett, but he never
seemed to be too concerned about recapturing lost glories, assuming he thought
of them as glories at all, or lost. Meehan was content with what he'd had, along
with the lingering recognition that he occasionally received for the first nine
years of his professional work. He died in November of 2005, at age 62, from
head injuries sustained in a fall in his home.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Meehan
Talents : Drums
Style musical : Rock 'n' Roll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHyTN5DQT6E
BESAME MUCHO
(1962)
 (Jet
Harris)
THE
MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1962)
RAVED
(1962)
DIAMONDS
(1963)
THE TALL TEXAN
(1963) ( |
|
Years in activity :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 | 10 | 20 |
DISCOGRAPHY
Singles & EP
| 05/1962 | SP DECCA F 11466 (UK) | . | Jet
Harris -
Besame Mucho
/ Chills And Fever |
| 08/1962 | SP DECCA F 11488 (UK) | . | Jet
Harris -
The Man With The Golden Arm
/ Some People |
| 09/1962 | EP DECCA DFE 8502 (UK) |
 |
Jet
Harris -
Besame Mucho
/
Rave
/ Some People / Real Wild Child |
| 1962 | SP LONDON 9542 (US) | . | Jet
Harris -
Besame Mucho
/ Chills And Fever |
| 1962 | EP DECCA 454087 (F) |
|
Jet
Harris -
Besame Mucho
/
Rave
/ Some People / Real Wild Child |
| 01/1963 | SP DECCA F 11563 (UK) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan -
Diamonds
/ Footstomp |
| 03/1963 | SP DECCA DL 25 100 (GER) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan -
Diamonds
/ Footstomp |
| 03/1963 | SP DECCA 45-F 11563 (I) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan -
Diamonds
/ Footstomp |
| 1963 | SP DECCA 45-F 11563 (DK) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan -
Diamonds
/ Footstomp |
| 1963 | SP DECCA FM.7-6963 (SA) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan -
Diamonds
/ Footstomp |
| 03/1963 | EP DECCA 454094 (F) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan -
Diamonds
/ Again /
Footstomp
/ Blue Mood |
| 04/1963 | SP DECCA F 11644 (UK) | . | Jet Harris & Tony Meehan - Scarlett O' Hara / (Doing The) Hully Gully |
| 06/1963 | SP DECCA DL 25 109 (GER) |
 |
Jet Harris & Tony Meehan - Scarlett O' Hara / (Doing The) Hully Gully |
| 07/1963 | SP DECCA 45-F 11644 (I) |
 |
Jet Harris & Tony Meehan - Scarlett O' Hara / (Doing The) Hully Gully |
| 1963 | SP DECCA F 11644 (DK) |
 |
Jet Harris & Tony Meehan - Scarlett O' Hara / (Doing The) Hully Gully |
| 08/1963 | SP DECCA F 11710 (UK) | . | Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan - Applejack /
The Tall Texan
|
| 1963 | SP DECCA F 11710 (DK) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan - Applejack /
The Tall Texan
|
| 1963 | EP DECCA DFE 8528 (UK) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan - JET & TONY - Scarlett O' Hara
/ (Doing The) Hully Gully /
Diamonds
/ Footstomp |
| 10/1963 | SP DECCA 23.440 (B) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan - Applejack /
The Tall Texan
|
| 10/1963 | EP DECCA 457014 (F) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan -
Scarlett O' Hara / Hully Gully
/ Applejack / The Tall Texan
|
| 11/1963 | SP DECCA 45-F 11710 (I) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan - Applejack /
The Tall Texan
|
| 1963 | EP DECCA EDGE 71838 (S) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan - Scarlet O'Hara
/ (Doing The) Hully Gully /
Diamonds
/ Footstomp |
| 1963 | EP DECCA DFE 7099 (SA) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan -
Diamonds
/
Footstomp /
Besame Mucho
/ Chills And
Fever |
| 1964 | SP DECCA F 11801 (UK) | . | Tony Meehan Combo - Song Of Mexico / Kings Go Fifth |
| 1969 | SP DECCA F 12877 (UK) | . | Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan - Scarlett O' Hara /
Diamonds
|
| 1969 | SP MARMALADE 598016 (UK) | . | Darkness Of My Life (Keith Meehan) / Hooker St. (Tony MEEHAN) |
| 12/1976 | SP DECCA 6.11 982 (GER) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan -
Oldies But Goldies -
Diamonds
/ Scarlet O'hara |
| 1980 | EP DECCA F 13892 (UK) |
 |
Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan -
Diamonds
/ Scarlett O' Hara
/ Applejack /
The Man With The Golden Arm
|
| 11/1983 | SP Old Gold OG 9332 (UK) | . | Jet
Harris &
Tony Meehan -
Diamonds
/ Scarlett O' Hara |
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Albums
| 06/1975 | LP 12 " DECCA LPD 289 (B) |
 |
Jet Harris & TONY MEEHAN - Footstomp / Besame Mucho / Some People / Man With The Golden Arm / Real Wild Child / Diamonds / Chills And Fever / Tall Texan / Raved / Scarlet O' Hara / Clap Your Hands / Applejack |
| 10/1976 | LP 12" DECCA REM 1 (UK) |
 |
REMEMBERING - Jet Harris & Tony Meehan - Diamonds / Some people / Hully Gully / Big Bad Bass / Besame Mucho / The Man With The Golden Arm / Applejack / The Tall Texan / Song Of Mexico / Man From Nowhere / Footstomp / Scarlet O' Hara |
| 11/1976 | LP 12" DECCA LPD 297 (B) |
 |
JET HARRIS & TONY MEEHAN STORY - Jet Harris & Tony Meehan - Hully Gully / Big Bad Bass / Rifka / Man From Nowhere / Again /Blue Mood /Song Of Mexico / Kings Go Fifth / My Lady / You Don't Live Twice |
| 05/1983 | LP 12" DECCA TAB 68 (UK) |
 |
DIAMONDS - Jet Harris & Tony Meehan - Diamonds / Applejack / Man From Nowhere / Hully Gully / Real Wild Child / Footstomp / Man With A Golden Arm / Scarlett O' Hara / Besame Mucho / Clap Your Hands Once Again / Chills & Fever / The Tall Texan / Rifka / Rave |
| 1993 | CD DECCA POP 820 634-2 (UK) |
 |
DIAMONDS & OTHER GEMS - Jet Harris & Tony Meehan - Diamonds / The Hully Gully / Footstomp / Scarlet O'Hara / Applejack / The Tall Texan / Song Of Mexico / Kings Go Fifth / Besame Mucho / Chills & Fever / Clap Your Hands Once Again / The Man With The Golden Arm / Real Wild Child / Some People / Rave / Man From Nowhere / Big Bad Bass / Rifka / Lonesome Part Of Town / Again |
| 08/2000 | CD SPECTRUM / UNIVERSAL 544268 (UK) |
 |
THE BEST OF JET HARRIS & TONY MEEHAN - Jet Harris & Tony Meehan - Diamonds /Footstomp / Scarlet O'Hara / Hully Gully / AppleJack / The Tall Texan / Song of Mexico / Kings Go Fifth / Besame Mucho / Chills And Fever / Lonesome Part Of Town / Again / Man From Nowhere / Rave / Big Bad Bass / Rifka / Some People / Man With The Golden Arm |
| 05/2008 | CD RPM RETRO 825 (UK) |
 |
DIAMONDS AND OTHER GEMS - THE COMPLETE DECCA SINGLES - Jet Harris & Tony Meehan - Besame Mucho / Chills And Fever / Rave / The Man With The Golden Arm (Main Title Theme) / Some People / Wild One (Real Wild Child) / Clap Your Hands (Once Again) / Man From Nowhere / Lonesome Part Of Town / Again / Diamonds / Footstomp / Scarlet O'Hara / Hully Gully / Applejack / The Tall Texan / Song Of Mexico / Kings Go Fifth / Big Bad Bass / Rifka |
© Rocky Productions 16/01/2016
