[1] He began drumming at the age of 13 in a local rock band with Jim Butt (guitar), Doug Houston (vocals), Colin Burgess (bass) and Jan (Murray) Obodynski (keyboards).

One of the leading lights of the English progressive rock movement, Camel enjoyed considerable success worldwide, peaking in 1975 when they performed their album The Snow Goose at the Royal Albert Hall, accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra.

Two years later, he resurfaced briefly with the neo-progressive rock band Marillion,[3] appearing in the video of the hit single "Garden Party" from their debut album Script for a Jester's Tear and performing with them for three months as a replacement for their original drummer, Mick Pointer, who had recently been sacked.

However, as both Kelly and Fish have recalled, his personal problems had resurfaced and he succumbed to a nervous breakdown midway through the band's first American tour.

[6] Other projects included the studio-only group the Chrysanthemums, led by singer-songwriter Yukio Yung (aka Terry Burrows), who received drum tracks through the post from Ward before building songs around them, playing all the other instruments himself.