Name. Mike Ellis: AKA Jumbo Jet
Married to. Kathleen: Children. Joanne and James
Instrument played. Bass Guitar : Other instruments played. Rhythm guitar, Keyboards, Drums
Favourite musician. Jet Harris
First instrument. Hofner Committee Guitar. (Cost 60 in 1960! I paid for it from my paper round!)
Influences : Buddy Holly, Everly’s, Shadows, Chet AtkinsBeatles
I had my own band which I fronted from 1965 to 1994. (Royal Four).
All the same members too!! After having an operation on my vocal
chords in 1994, I was forced to pack singing in so we disbanded. We
used to play 300 gigs a year. I put my bass away and it only came out again in 2002 after a guy I met persuaded me to start playing again.
Memorable gigs or meetings? Too many to remember l. I met
Hank in 1999 and I was so overcome I thought I was talking to God!! I then met Bruce a year later and really enjoyed his company for an hour.
I got Hank to sign my right arm with a fine line pen which I then had
overwritten by a tattooist! Bruce also signed my left arm and I did
the same to that. It does create interesting comments
though when people see them!
Thoughts on WSMC ? Excellent, well run family club where all the
people seem to enjoy and partake in doing what they like doing! We are all there for the same thing, and all abilities are encouraged, as they should be!
Any other points of interest: My first band was a 5-piece called
the Nighthawks, and we were together from 1960 till ,62. After we packed up, Me, the drummer and the lead singer/ Guitarist formed a band called the " Blue Star Trio” (we got the name from the Shads tune! )
We used to have a lad come to see us every week and used to ask if he could have a go on the drums, so when our drummer left, we invited him up to play and show us what he could do ! Wow....we had never heard a drummer like it before, he was LOUD and fantastic with it!! He later went on to even more fame and fortune when he joined Led Zeppelin! Yes folks it was JOHN BONHAM!!
We started to work for the BBC in 1963 and used to play in pop shows on the Radio!
One tune we did was DIAMONDS and John had Tony Meehan's solo off to a tee!.
After we split in late 1964, I switched to Bass guitar an, I briefly played with the top B’,ham band, " Johnny Neal and the Starliners, who had just returned from taking over from the Beatles at the Star club. When I left I got together with 3 other local guys and we played together from 1965 till 1994.
My Mother used to say to me: " Our Michael, if you can play an
instrument you will always have a pound in your pocket " A truer word
has never been spoken!!
