Phillip Goodhand-Tait

Philip Goodhand-Tait has come close to stardom as a performer on a painfully regular basis since the 1960's -- without ever achieving it, while still finding success. He's an established producer, songwriter, and musician, whose work has benefitted artists ranging from Roger Daltrey to the Lords of the New Church, without ever quite becoming a marquee name himself -- sort of England's answer to Al Kooper. Born in Hull in 1945, his father was a trade unionist and his mother taught piano. He was a natural musician and quickly acquired a skill in the same instrument, as well as showing off considerable talent as a singer. When he was 12 years old, the family moved to Guildford, Surrey. It was while living there that he became enamored of rock 'n' roll, which was sweeping the British isles at the time, in the hands of visiting American stars such as Bill Haley and Buddy Holly, and through homegrown talent such as Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard & The Shadows. In his early teens, he started singing in local groups, working under names like "Phill Tone and the Vibrants." He and his three closest friends -- Ivor Shackleton (guitar), Kirk Riddle (bass) and Paul Demurs (drums) -- coalesced around a quartet lineup that, in 1961, took the name "Phil & the Stormsville Shakers" a group formed with Paul Demers on drums, Ivor Shackleton playing guitar, and Kirk Riddle on bass; the band name was appropriated from the Stormsville album by one of their favorite groups, Johnny & the Hurricanes. The Stormsville Shakers spent the next few years building a serious live reputation, on their own and, for a time, working as the backup band to Larry Williams, but they never managed to get a hit record. Their sound was a mix of rock 'n' roll and American-style r&b, highlighted by a pair of...