Alan Caddy

Alan Caddy (2 February 1940 – 16 August 2000) was a guitarist, arranger, record producer and session musician.

He was born in Chelsea, London, and educated at Emanuel School, and the Royal Academy of Music where he learned the violin. He was lead guitarist in the first, seven-man line-up of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, and was the only member to remain with Kidd when the singer re-invented the "stage look" of the act, alongside bassist Brian Gregg and drummer Clem Cattini. While searching for a suitable rhythm guitarist, Caddy's playing evolved into a style that played rhythm and lead in a chunkier style. The band felt this worked and Kidd liked the way he and his Pirates looked onstage, with him in front of Cattini, flanked by Gregg and Caddy, all in full pirate regalia.

This line-up contributed to, and recorded "Shakin' All Over". Although a versatile and accomplished lead guitarist, Caddy didn't mind playing rhythm on both tracks for the resulting single, the band bringing in their friend, Scottish guitarist Joe Moretti. Moretti played the classic lead riffs and solo. "Shakin' All Over" was originally the B-side to a revival of "Yes Sir, That's My Baby", but the record company flipped the 45 and the new topside went all the way to number 1 in the UK charts. The same set-up was repeated for the follow-up, "Restless" which reached number 22. Caddy, Gregg and Cattini left Kidd after the failure of their 1961 single "Please Don't Bring Me Down" to join Tommy Steele's brother Colin Hicks as his Cabinboys for what turned out to be a disastrous tour to Italy.

After returning to Britain, Caddy and Cattini answered an advert for a new session group to work for Joe Meek, who needed a new house band now that the Outlaws were spending more time on the road backing some of his artists (like Buddy Holly impersonator Mike Berry) as well as in their own right. When the tone-deaf Meek needed help to translate his songwriting efforts to his artists, he turned to Caddy who would listen to the off-tune demo recordings (usually over previously-used backing tracks) and turn them into complete pieces for others to learn. With Heinz Burt on bass, George Bellamy on rhythm guitar and Roger Lavern on keyboards, this group backed John Leyton and others in the studio before evolving into the Tornados, whom Meek launched as an act in their own right in late spring 1962 with "Love And Fury". For the notes on Trojan's "Complete" CD set, Cattini thought of this track as being the first ever disco record.

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