Tony Meehan
| Tony Meehan | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan |
| Born |
2 March 1943 New End, Hampstead, North London |
| Died | 28 November 2005 (aged 62) Paddington, London |
| Occupation(s) | Drummer, Lecturer in Psychology |
| Instruments | Drums |
| Years active | 1956–1990 |
| Associated acts | The Shadows, The Vipers Skiffle Group |
Daniel Joseph Anthony "Tony" Meehan (2 March 1943 – 28 November 2005) was a founder member of the British group The Shadows with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch. He played drums on early Cliff Richard and The Shadows hits and on early Shadows instrumentals.
Meehan was professionally nicknamed "The Baron" by his many admirers and friends within the British pop/rock music industry. He is reckoned to have influenced many thousands of teenage boys and adolescents to take up music as a career including Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac as a result of his iconic film performance in Cliff Richard's film The Young Ones. His drumming style (cf. Bongo Blues, Apache) is noticeably different from that of other drummers that the Shadows employed during 1958–2010 such as Brian Bennett, Clem Cattini and Trevor Spencer, preferring a simpler 1950s jazz style kit to a voluminous 1970/80s rock/metal drum kit. Thus his kit was significantly more spartan, in terms of quantity of drums and accessories, than Brian Bennett's modern expansive drum kits through the decades. In his contribution to the 1961 book "The Shadows by Themselves" Meehan gives very useful, timely and helpful advice to all would-be drummers on drum-kit care and maintenance.
Tony Meehan was born to Irish parents at New End Hospital, New End, Hampstead, North London, England. He was 10 when he became interested in playing drums. By 13, he had his first job with a band playing in a dance hall at Willesden, London. He also played timpani with the London Youth Orchestra. When he was 15, Meehan was set on becoming a lawyer but he was offered a job at £25 per week in a touring show. He was given six months' holiday. The tour never materialised but he did not go back to school. Unlike other members of the Shadows he was never short of work, playing cabaret at Churchill's and the Stork Club. He also played with Jet Harris in "The Vipers".
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