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Bobby Graham, legendary drummer and former leader of the John Barry Seven dies
September is becoming a bad month for deaths. We are very sad to announce that Bobby Graham, legendary drummer and former leader of the John Barry Seven has died after losing his battle against cancer.
Bob was one of the finest rock 'n' roll drummers the UK has ever seen. He played on countless hit records (and many misses, too) both as a session musician and as a member of groups like Joe Brown & The Bruvvers and the JB7.
It's especially sad for me because Bob was a great help when I was writing the first biography of John Barry. He had a fund of very amusing stories about life as a musician, but the most interesting one concerned the closely-guarded secret that he had played drums on all the Dave Clark Five recordings, while Clark himself, who was not a technically proficient drummer, masterminded the recordings.
Bob had accepted a larger than usual session fee to keep this to himself but after so many years decided it was time to make it public!
During one of our conversations he even offered to fix me up with a Filipina wife (he had just married one himself) but I told him I was too used to being on my own!
He will doubtless be sorely missed by all his friends and family and it is fortunate that so many of his performances will live on in the form of records and CDs.
His autobiography, The Session Man, is still widely available at a bargain price. It's a fitting memory and tribute to his lengthy career.
