John Goodsall

Jazz-fusion guitarist BORN 1953

John Goodsall was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Surrey. A precocious musical talent, as a teenager he played with Carol Grimes’ group Babylon, The Alan Bown Set and his own Beefheart-indebted group Sandoz before joining Atomic Rooster for 1973’s Nice &

Greasy. In 1975 he was one of the founder members of jazz fusionists Brand X, whose early line-up featured Phil Collins on drums. Relocating to Los Angeles in 1980, Goodsall’s session credits (as part of the group Zoo Drive) included dates for Michael Des Barres, Ava Cherry, L. Ron Hubbard’s daughter Diane and Toni Basil, whose 1981 album Word Of Mouth featured the worldwide hit Mickey. He also played with Bill Bruford, Peter Gabriel, Billy Idol, King Sunny Adé, Jeff Beck, Mick Fleetwood, and Bryan Adams, among others, and from 1989 to 1994 led his own jazz-rock group Fire Merchants. From 1992 to 1998, and from 2016, he re-formed Brand X, leading them until his death. Clive Prior