Anthony Michael Clarkin was born and grew up in the Shard End area of Birmingham, which spawned a number of bands tagged with the 'Brum Beat' label.

They began to develop their own style by playing Clarkin's songs at a residency at The Railway Inn, in Birmingham's Curzon Street, in 1976.

It was not until the band came into association with manager Keith Baker, their breakthrough album came in 1985 with On a Storyteller's Night which featured the single "Just Like an Arrow".

Also, at this time, Catley was becoming increasingly focused on his solo career, and he quit Hard Rain, marking the end of a working relationship with Clarkin that dated back to 1972.

Since the end of the Seventies, in fact since we embarked on the preparations for our debut recording Kingdom of Madness, not a single month had gone by in which I didn't work for Magnum, composed for the group, or at least thought of them permanently.

Magnum completed work on a new studio album, Princess Alice and the Broken Arrow with drummer Jimmy Copley released on 26 March 2007, that also marked the return of cover artwork by Rodney Matthews.

[3] The previous month the band revealed that he was diagnosed with a rare spinal condition, which brought about the cancellation of their Spring 2024 tour.