Bev Bevan
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Beverley Bevan (born 25 November 1944)[1][2] is an English rock musician who was the drummer and one of the original members of the Move and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the end of ELO in 1986, he founded ELO Part II.
Bevan also was a drummer for Black Sabbath during the Born Again Tour, and later played percussion on The Eternal Idol in 1987. Bevan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 as a member of Electric Light Orchestra.[3]
Early years and education
Bevan was born in South Yardley, Birmingham.[4] After attending Moseley Grammar School, where he gained two O level passes, he worked as a trainee buyer in a city centre department store called The Beehive with school friend Jasper Carrott (Robert Davis).
Career
The Move
His professional music career started with a stint with Denny Laine in his group Denny Laine and the Diplomats, then with Carl Wayne & the Vikings, followed by the Move in 1966. The Move was known for being the boost to fame for Roy Wood. The Move's highest selling songs were "Fire Brigade" and "Blackberry Way".
Bevan has a deep singing voice. With the Move he sang lead on a remake of "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" and the country and western spoof, "Ben Crawley Steel Co". He composed one Move song: "Don't Mess Me Up", an Elvis Presley spoof from the album Message from the Country, which was also the B-side of the Move's single "Tonight". He is also credited with writing the rock-blues "Turkish Tram Conductor Blues" on Looking On; Roy Wood actually composed the song, but gave the songwriting credit to Bevan as a reward for his promotional efforts on behalf of the band.[5]
They released their final single, "California Man", in 1972.
Bev Bevan's Move
After Carl Wayne died in 2004, the drummer formed Bev Bevan's Move[6] with Phil Tree and former ELO Part II colleagues Phil Bates and Neil Lockwood, to play a set comprising mostly Move classics on tour. Bates left in July 2007 to re-join ELO Part II, by then renamed to The Orchestra. Bevan was then joined by former Move guitarist Trevor Burton.
Electric Light Orchestra
The Move’s spinoff, Electric Light Orchestra, was formed by Bevan, Wood, and Jeff Lynne in 1970. They released their first album in 1971, by which time the Move existed only as a recording outfit.
Among ELO's output, Bevan's distinct baritone vocals can be heard most prominently on "Fire On High" and "Strange Magic", both from the album Face the Music (1975). Often called one of the most influential groups in music history, their songs "Mr. Blue Sky", "Sweet Talkin' Woman", "Livin' Thing" and "Don't Bring Me Down" left an impact on 1970s music, all written, composed and sung by Jeff Lynne.
He recorded a solo single in 1976, a cover of the Sandy Nelson instrumental "Let There Be Drums".[7] Bevan played on all Electric Light Orchestra and ELO Part II albums up to 1999. In 1980 he published a historical memoir of the Electric Light Orchestra.[8] In 1982, Bevan played drums on the solo album released by ELO bassist and co-vocalist Kelly Groucutt.[9]
In 1988, Bevan approached Lynne with a proposal to reunite ELO, record a new album and embark on a world tour. Lynne declined to participate and would not allow Bevan to use the Electric Light Orchestra name, thus Bevan managed to swerve around this by forming a spinoff group called ELO Part II. While initially the sole member of Part II to have been involved with the original band, Bevan was eventually joined by ELO violinist Mik Kaminski, Kelly Groucutt and ELO orchestrator Louis Clark, all of whom toured and recorded with Part II for the majority of the 1990s. Bevan ultimately departed Part II in November 1999 and sold his share of the ELO name back to Jeff Lynne.
Black Sabbath
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In 1983, he replaced Bill Ward in Black Sabbath for the Born Again Tour. Bevan was known for his heavy powerhouse drumming during this tour. He also appeared in Sabbath's videos "Trashed" and "Zero the Hero". A headlining appearance at the 1983 Reading Festival – extracts of which appear on a reissue of Born Again – was only Bevan's second gig with the band. "It was just all over the shop", recalled guitarist Tony Iommi. "Bev didn't know [the songs] at all. He did try. As we went on the tour, he did get a lot better… We went to America and he done good. That particular stage, doing the Reading Festival, was a definite wrong for us."[10]
Bevan rejoined Black Sabbath briefly in 1987, recording percussion overdubs for the album The Eternal Idol, but was replaced by Terry Chimes after refusing to play shows in South Africa, which was at the time under apartheid rule.[11]
Later works
Bevan appeared on Paul Weller's 2010 album Wake Up The Nation and played drums on two songs: "Moonshine" and "Wake Up The Nation". Weller told him that he was his second choice; his first choice would have been Keith Moon.[12]
Bevan formerly presented a radio show on BBC Radio WM on Sunday afternoons. He also reviews records for the Midlands newspaper Sunday Mercury and has a blog on its website.[13] It was announced at the Best of Broad Street Awards on 17 January 2011 that Bevan would be honoured with a star on the Birmingham Walk of Stars.[14]
Bevan is also a patron of The Dorridge Music School (Knowle).[15] In 2012, Bevan narrated the audiobook version of Tony Iommi's biography Iron Man – My Journey Through Heaven and Hell.[16] Bevan's 2014 calendar contained no fewer than 102 gigs in 11 months,[17] some of which formed the final gigs for the Move, before Bevan and Burton went their separate ways again.
In 2014, Bevan joined Quill, a Birmingham-based band.[18]
As of 2022, the Bev Bevan Band had played gigs with Bev's former school mate Jasper Carrott under the name "Stand Up and Rock" since 2017.[19][20]
Personal life
Bevan is a supporter of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers FC.[21][22]
Bevan's first wife was Valerie Taylor; their son Adrian was born in 1981. [23][24] On 1 September 2022, Bev married Joy Brain (nee Strachan), his bandmate in Quill.[25]
Bibliography
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Timeline
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References
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- ↑ Tommy Vance's Friday Rock Show, BBC Radio 1, 28 June 1992, transcribed in Sabbath fanzine Southern Cross #14, October 1994, p40
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- Pages with script errors
- Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts
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- 1944 births
- Living people
- English rock drummers
- The Move members
- Electric Light Orchestra members
- ELO Part II members
- Black Sabbath members
- English radio presenters
- Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands
- People educated at Moseley School