Ian was born into a musical family in Manchester in 1962 and learned to play piano, organ and guitar by the age of ten. By the age of fourteen he was playing both Hammond organ and guitar at company demonstrations and public events and had already performed in the UK, Spain, Belgium and Holland. And at the age of sixteen he earned his first wages playing in pubs and clubs in the South of England.
His first professional job was as part of a duo at Butlin’s in Skegness for the summer of 1983 which entailed performing in the various entertainment rooms, but most memorably in the Gaiety Theatre where he had his first experience of playing in front of almost two thousand people every week. That summer was followed by seasons at Minehead, Dovercourt (where they filmed ‘Hi De Hi’) and Eilat in southern Israel. 1986 Ian moved to the Costa Blanca in Spain, performing his own show and backing local cabaret singers and many visiting acts from the UK. However it was in the winter of 1988 that a new and more intriguing stage of his career came to pass.
He had been working a summer season at a hotel complex called The Bermudas ApartHotel in Benidorm during the summer of 1988 and in an effort to maintain winter employment persuaded the owners to convert the function room into a theme cabaret venue for the winter season, and to bring over some hit recording artists of the 1950’s and 1960’s, who he perceived would appeal to the more mature age group during the winter. They agreed to try three acts – Frank Ifield, Karl Denver and Ricky Valance - and the ‘Bermudas Nite Spot’ was born. It proved such a success that the project continued for over two years (each artist eventually performing six full capacity shows a week) and the venue saw performers such as Lonnie Donegan, Ronnie Hilton, Ruby Murray, Emile Ford, The Love Affair, Craig Douglas, the Wurzels, and many more grace its stage.
During these two years Ian performed his own show each night, and then, along with a small band, played keyboards and acted as Musical Director to no less than 17 hit recording artists (all the artists on the index page of this website) including for one week becoming one of Cliff Bennett’s ‘Rebel Rousers’. In total he performed with artists who had achieved over 100 chart hits and more than forty top 10 hits including six number 1 hits – all whilst still in his mid 20's.
1990 saw a move to Tenerife, where he joined forces with Glen Dale, the original lead vocalist with the Fortunes. They created Glen Dale’s Fortunes, with both playing guitar and sharing lead and harmony vocals in the style of the original group at many of the major venues on the island.
In 1991 he returned to the UK and settled in Aberdeen, where he formed the cabaret duo the Beverly Brothers - a tribute to both the Everly Brothers and the ‘Sound Of The 60’s. To further enhance the show he brought up two of his old friends from the Bermudas Nite Spot days – Danny Williams and Ricky Valance – and placed the new package shows in various venues in the north east of Scotland.
These shows were well received and Ian began to be asked whether he could supply more entertainment of this quality. Consequently Ian arranged concerts for hit recording artists such as Bucks Fizz, Marmalade, George McRae, Black Lace, The Nolans, and many others.
Business commitments since 1997 began to reduce the time he had to dedicate to live performances. However he is available for selected dates in 2007 and is happy to receive enquiries through this website.
