Guest speaker Geoff Britton entertained an almost capacity audience at the Javea U3A general meeting at the Parador with his presentation entitled “The Life of a ‘60s & ‘70s Rock/Pop Star Drummer”.
It started with a video of Geoff playing drums with Wings at a rehearsal at Abbey Road Studios, along with (Sir) Paul McCartney, his late wife Linda and group members Denny Laine and Jimmy McCulloch.
It followed with an entertaining questions-and-answers session, with Geoff reflecting on his star-studded career and tales of associations with some of the pop world’s biggest performers.
Geoff, who at 76 still performs publicly on the Costa Blanca, played drums on Wings’ top-selling album ‘Venus and Mars’.
During his illustrious career, he played in a number of groups including Manfred Mann’s Earthband, Rough Diamond, The Kingpins, East of Eden, The Pirates, The Keys and Wild Angels. He also accompanied a host of star names such as Bill Haley and Mike Oldfield.
Geoff, who revealed that another passion of his in his younger days was cycle racing, moved to Spain in 1989 “to ride my bike in the sun”. However, he formed his own band ….. and cycling took a backseat!
At one time he owned 16 drum kits and one of them that
he still has is 58 years old.
He concluded his talk by confessing that he still practises drumming for a
couple of hours every day, adding: “The more I learn, the less I know!”
U3A Vice-President Peter Allin – himself a passionate amateur drummer – thanked Geoff and presented him with a bottle of wine and one of Geoff’s favourite CDs in appreciation of a fascinating presentation.
