First music steps here
stone and spent his entire childhood in the area as he learned to play the violin, mandolin and guitar.
In May 2003 Redding was found dead at his home in Clonakilty, Ireland, after suffering a haemorrhage as a result of cirrhosis of the liver.
His legacy was honoured in his hometown with a town square being renamed “Noel’s Yard”.
Dartford train station played host to possibly the most important encounter involving Rolling Stones duo Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in October 1961.
The pair arrived on platform two of the station as an 18-year-old Jagger made his way to the London School of Economics and Richards, then 17, was travelling to Sidcup Art College.
Richard was carrying his electric guitar while Jagger had with him some of his most prized blues records. The teens recognised each other as they both attended Wentworth Primary School, in Dartford.
A conversation about music led to guitarist Richards joining Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys fronted by Jagger. The Rolling Stones were then born in 1962 when Jagger and Richards quit and formed the world-renowned rock band.
Jagger et al are estimated to have sold more than 250 million records worldwide and were ranked fourth on the “100 greatest Artists of All Time” list by Rolling Stone magazine.
Away from the rock scene, but also from Dartford, is DJ Pete Tong whose love affair with music began with drumming.
The 56- year- old moved onto DJing and played his first gig at a friend’s wedding when he was just 15.
Tong, who attended King’s School, Rochester, set up a mobile disco based in a van before starting his own club in Baker Street.
His radio career began in the 1970s on Radio Invicta before former Kent Messenger journalist Eddie Gordon helped build a county profile for him. These days he is a familiar name and DJ at BBC
Radio 1. While some of the world’s biggest music acts may not have come from Kent, a number of them shot to stardom after gracing the county’s stages. Muse, The Beatles, Radiohead and Jimi Hendrix played smaller venues in the South East before they were propelled on to greatness. On January 12, 1963, The Beatles landed at the Invicta Ballroom in Chatham and played to hundreds of fans. American guitar God Jimi Hendrix played with his group at the Hillside Social Club in Folkestone in December 1966 and the growing music scene in Canterbury led to performances from Pink Floyd at the Technical College in the same year. U2 performed at the University of Kent on November 11, 1980, and 12 years later Radiohead played there. The Forum at Tunbridge Wells – a former set of public toilets – hosted a headline gig for Muse in January 1999 as they released their Muscle Museum EP. Just eight months later the band released their first full length album Showbiz.