MISSING...
THE DAILY MAIL offers the opportunity to re-establish contact with long-lost relatives and friends. Each week, MONICA PORTER features the story of someone trying to find a missing loved one and a tale of people reunited. Produced in conjunction with the voluntary tracing service Searching For A Memory, run by Gill Whitley. CAN Sixties bandmates be reunited for one last show?
‘I’d like to trace my old mate, Geoff McClelland, who I haven’t seen for 40 years,’ says Andy Ellison, 75, who has a music studio in Windsor, Berks.
‘He was the original guitarist in the legendary Sixties band John’s Children, and was replaced by Marc Bolan.
‘Geoff was from Bookham, Surrey, and worked as a bathroom salesman after he left. I was the vocalist and have been called the godfather of punk. I’d love to invite Geoff back on stage for old times’ sake.
‘After signing with Simon Napier-Bell, manager of the Yardbirds and later Wham!, we bought a club in Leatherhead, Surrey. We paid for it with the money from our No. 1 hit in California: Smashed Blocked. Many famous names appeared, including Jimi Hendrix.
‘Our first hit, Desdemona, was banned by the BBC. We always wore white to look angelic, but gave a full-on performance with a wall of amplifiers. We were deported from Germany after causing riots in stadiums.
‘We played support for The Who, and Pete Townshend, who was famous for smashing his guitars on stage, complained that we were ‘too loud and too dangerous’!