In 1964 when I was 12 years old a cheap guitar cost about 10 English pounds- or about a year's pocket money (allowance). When the family relocated to Harrow in North London the vendor of the new house left an unwanted guitar for me, which led to the strange experience of arriving at a completely empty house except for this solitary guitar leaning against the wall. Both my mother and father had a sister who was much younger and who therefore bridged the generation gap. One had a husband who was a 1950s style rock'n'roller- he got me started with a few chords from Bert Weedon's 'Play in a Day' book. Needless to say I desperately wanted to be a Beatle, or a bit later, Eric Clapton. North London at the time was of course a musical hotbed and there were boys at school with electric guitars, drums, and albums, which were just taking over from singles as cool accessories. These would be brought to school, reverently examined, and if you were lucky, borrowed. In 1971 I moved to the college town of Cambridge, met Wave Alex Cooper, and a little later, my future wife Lee and Soft Boy Robyn Hitchcock. The Soft Boys made actual albums- first A Can of Bees, then Underwater Moonlight- which was licensed to Ralph Alfonso's Attic Records in Canada- he will reappear in this story. Both albums have been constantly reissued, most recently by YepRoc in 2010. Robyn went solo in 1981. Alex Cooper introduced me to Waves Katrina Leskanich and Vince de la Cruz. This was when I began to develop my 'British upbeat pop pub rock' songwriting style. Early efforts were the Bible of Bop (credited to Kimberley Rew and featuring members of the Soft Boys, Waves and American band the dBs), Shock Horror (credited to the Waves), Katrina and the Waves and Katrina and the Waves 2- all reissued in 2010. Reenter Ralph Alfonso and Attic Records which ultimately led in 1985 to EMI, the first single Walking on Sunshine and 12 years of touring and major label recording. In 1997 Katrina and the Waves won the Eurovision Song Contest (a big deal in Europe) with Love Shine a Light, the group's second major hit. Katrina and I (after the Soft Boys reunion album Nextdoorland) both started solo careers. All of my solo albums, of which 2011's Strawberry Fair is the latest, are available (some courtesy of Ralph Alfonso's Bongo Beat label). They all feature my singing and bass playing wife Lee Cave Berry, without whom I don't think I'd be making music at all. (Lee's Spring Forward album is available too). I'm technically semi retired now- except that I keep on writing songs and doing gigs!