Mike Kellie

Mike Kellie (born Michael Alexander Kellie, 24 March 1947, Birmingham, England)^[1] is an English drummer and best known as the sticksman for Spooky Tooth and later, The Only Ones.

Credits

He is also a session drummer of international renown who features on recordings by: The Who (Ken Russell's film soundtrack of Tommy); Joe Cocker; Traffic; George Harrison; Jerry Lee Lewis; Peter Frampton; Maurice Gibb; Luther Grosvenor; Paul Kossoff; Neil Innes; Andy Roberts; Sean Tyla; Nick Kent & The Subterraneans; Jim Capaldi; Heavy Jelly; Pat Travers; Andy Fraser among many others.

Kellie was prominent among the musicians featured on the six CD Jess Roden Anthology, presented by Hidden Masters. He contributed to the 2011 sessions for The Distractions re-union album, The End Of The Pier, which was released on Occultation Records in 2012.

Early career

After the initial demise of Spooky Tooth, Kellie joined Johnny Hallyday's band for a summer tour of France in 1974 before, in 1976, forming The Only Ones with Peter Perrett, Alan Mair and John Perry. The Only Ones – possibly best known for the single "Another Girl, Another Planet" – recorded three albums for CBS although, over the years, their catalogue has been mined with compilations and other releases now out-numbering their studio albums.

In February 1978, Johnny Thunders moved to London with his family, and began playing with a loose revue dubbed The Living Dead. Kellie became part of this floating line-up (that also included Peter Perrett along with various Sex Pistols including Steve Jones and Paul Cook) and recorded Thunders’ So Alone album together with his signature song "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory".

Following The Only Ones' farewell in 1981 at London's Lyceum, Kellie moved to the countryside north of Toronto, Canada where he lived for four years; time away but not entirely away from music he spent this time learning piano as well as writing songs.

Break from music and later career

Returning to Britain in 1985, Kellie spent several years farming in North Wales and in Scotland where he became a shepherd. In 2004, Kellie reunited with Mike Harrison and Gary Wright to play dates in Germany as a new incarnation of Spooky Tooth, from which the DVD release of Nomad Poets came. In 2007 The Only Ones re-formed, touring the UK, Europe and Japan as well as performing on BBC TV's Later... with Jools Holland.

In 2010, with The Only Ones enjoying another sabbatical, Kellie began recording his own collection of music which has become his first solo album. Entitled Music from The Hidden, the album was produced by Kellie who also played drums, organ, bass and acoustic guitars, percussion and sang lead vocals. There are also contributions from Gordon Jackson (acoustic guitar), Finley Barker and Tony Kelsey (guitars), Steve Winwood (organ, mandolin and bass), Bill Hunt, Levi French and Tony Arris (pianos), Rob Harrison (bass) Steve Gibbons(backing vocals) and Greg Platt Lake (guitar and vocals).

References

External links

• Official Spooky Tooth Website