Twink Adler
| John Charles Alder | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Charles Edward Alder |
| Born | 29 November 1944 |
| Origin | England |
| Genres | Psychedelic music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, drummer, percussionist, singer-songwriter, actor |
| Instruments | Drums |
| Years active | 1963–present |
| Labels | Decca, HMV, Parlophone, Sire, Columbia, Rare Earth, Midnight |
| Associated acts | Dane Stephens and the Deep Beats, The Fairies, Tomorrow, The Pretty Things, The Pink Fairies, PinkWind, The Rings, Syd Barrett, Stars |
John Charles Edward Alder (born 29 November 1944), better known as Twink, is an English drummer, singer and songwriter who was a central figure in the English psychedelic movement, and an actor. Recently, while still recording as Twink, Alder has converted to Islam and changed his name to Mohammed Abdullah.
Alder was born in Colchester, Essex, England, into a musical family. His father's mother was a concert pianist and soloist. Alder has said he was always interested in music as a child.
Alder's career began in 1963 as a member of a rhythm and blues band from Colchester called Dane Stephens and the Deep Beats. After a year, the band evolved into The Fairies – Dane Stephens (vocals/blues harp), John 'Akky' Acutt (lead guitar), Mick 'Wimps' Weaver (rhythm guitar/fiddle – NOT the same-named organ player also known as Wynder K Frog), John 'Freddy' Gandy (bass) and John 'Twink' Alder (drums). In 1964 The Fairies recorded the single "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" for the Decca Records label. The Fairies were sometimes sent gifts and Alder, having long curly hair, regularly received bottles of Twink brand home perm lotion. It was at this time that he adopted 'Twink' as his stage name.
"With Dane Stephens, our shows were not only blues but soul numbers, touches of jazz as well. He was an amazing singer, very very special. Had a great voice, played amazing blues harp, the Fairies were just about to break big." "Dane Stephens was involved in an accident while he was driving the group van – without any licence or insurance. He hit another car and killed maybe 4 people. He went to jail after the accident, so we lost him for a year and got Nick Wymer from Nix Nomads instead. We had been actually about to break at that point, there was no doubt about it. We had Mickey Most producing us in the studio, we had a single out and another one on the way, an agent who was getting us booked back again everywhere – we were good, a really good R&B band." Brian 'Smudger' Smith from Watford R&B band Cops 'n' Robbers occasionally sang with the band as well.
In 1965, after Wymer replaced Stephens as singer, they recorded two more singles, "Get Yourself Home" and "Don't Mind", for HMV. "We became like the Pretty Things when Nick Wymer came along – mostly because Nick looked and sounded so much like Phil May... and then after [Dane Stephens] came out Nick left and we got Dane back but we were really trying to recreate something which we'd already lost." Wymer briefly joined an embryonic group formed by ex-members of Them in late 1965. The Fairies split at some date before 1967, Twink having already departed by August 1966. Freddy Gandy joined a late line-up of Sam Gopal in 1969.
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