Rod Alexander |
Rod Alexander (shown on the right above) started his career with The Titans from Seascale in Cumbria and then went on to local fame as the lead guitarist of Whitehaven's Lenny & The Silhouettes. Lenny & The Silhouettes disbanded after the death of founder member David Graham at the age of 23 and Rod decided to try his luck in London. On moving to London , Rod's first fully professional gig was as lead guitarist with Dave Curtiss & The Tremors. They had a minor hit with "What Kind Of Girl Are You?" The band gigged all over the UK and then spent a year in France and Africa. Dave Curtiss has recently found fame as the writer of "Ray Of Light" for Madonna. |
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In 1967, Rod was recruited by Australian's top artiste Johnny Young to join Young's band. Rod worked with Young on various T.V. spots and live gigs in the UK and Germany (including 3 weeks at the famous Star Club in Hamburg ) and then toured Australia for 8 months. Having had enough heat to last a lifetime, Rod returned to the UK and joined Carl Douglas's band (famous for Kung Fu Fighting!!) with whom he worked on gigs in London clubs and UK gigs for a year. The seventies proved to be a fantastic period for Rod. Starting with a short spell in Joe Brown's band. Rod was then invited to join Green Bullfrog by Ritchie Blackmore for the album "Green Bullfrog Sessions", along with Big Jim Sullivan, Albert Lee, Ian Paice, Chas Hodges, Tony Ashton, Earl Jordan, and Blackmore (see pic below). |
At the same time he was also invited to join 8 piece vocal act Blackwater Junction with whom he worked for 3 years. The highlight of this period was topping the bill on Sunday Night At The London Palladium (definitely brown corduroy trousers night!) Rod also managed to break into the session guitarist circuit, recording for various different artistes such as Peter Sarstedt, Mike Berry, Axe, Brother Hood Of Man, Barron Knights, Harry. H. Corbett and Rolf Harris, as well as top producers Phil Wainman, Pip Williams, Johnny Goodison and Tim Hollier. |
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Two other highlights of the 70's were supporting the legendary Everly Brothers on a gig in Suffolk, and working with Johnny Howard's 18 piece big band at that time Resident at London's Lyceum Ballroom. In the 80's Rod decided he'd had enough of late nights and hotels. He was offered a "real job" with the Arbiter group who had the European agency for Fender guitars, and he concentrated on songwriting and publishing. His next position was as Managing Director of Cramer Music, which he endured for seven years. A few song covers were achieved (Geordie, Barron Knights, Offanchi, Sarah Greene,).
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With the arrival of the nineties, Rod had had enough of "real jobs" and formed his own band Marrakesh Express (see top of page). Rod now concentrates on gigs (a couple a week) in London and the home counties and has also worked on 48 cruises for P&O on the Oriana & Arcadia liners. The highlight of the 90's for Rod was having dinner with Elvis Presley's guitarist James Burton (pictured on the right). They talked guitars for 3 hours - what else? Rod's journey came full circle in 1999 with a reunion gig with Lenny & The Silhouettes in Whitehaven.
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