He already played his first gig in public in the same week as he took his first drum lesson at the age of 14 and was soon working with pianist elder brother Bob's band, and then with the Ray Chester's Sextet.
When he was 16, he joined the singer Lita Roza, a national star who had left the Ted Heath band to tour the variety theatre circuit as a soloist.
He toured Germany with Tom Jones in 1969 and then took up the resident drum chair with the Kurt Edelhagen Band after moving to Cologne with his wife Jean, daughter Kim, and son Carl.
[3] He performed or recorded with Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Wes Montgomery, Zoot Sims, Quincy Jones, Paul Gonsalves, Johnny Griffin, Roland Kirk, Gerry Mulligan, Sonny Stitt, Barney Kessel, Benny Golson, Benny Goodman, Nelson Riddle, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, Tony Bennett, Ronnie Ross, Stan Tracey, Ted Heath, Dick Morrissey, Terry Smith, Jack Parnell, John Dankworth, Tubby Hayes, Cleo Laine, Kurt Edelhagen, Peter Herbolzheimer, Horst Jankowski, Rolf Kühn, Kenny Clarke, and Victor Feldman, among many others.
In addition to his many jazz connections, he also played with pop stars such as Tom Jones, Matt Monro, Engelbert Humperdinck, Cilla Black and Shirley Bassey.