John McCoy (musician)
Encyclopedia
John McCoy is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

ist who is best known for his work with Ian Gillan
Ian Gillan
Ian Gillan is an English rock music vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist for Deep Purple. During his career Gillan also fronted his own band, had a year-long stint as the vocalist for Black Sabbath, and sang the role of Jesus in the original recording of Andrew Lloyd...

 and Mammoth as well as numerous other bands and sessions
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

 since the late 1960s. He currently plays in British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 rock trio Guy McCoy Torme
Guy McCoy Tormé
Guy McCoy Tormé is a British rock band formed by Robin Guy and former Gillan members John McCoy and Bernie Tormé.-Personnel:*Bernie Tormé — Guitar and vocals*John McCoy — Bass*Robin Guy — drums and percussion...

 with former Gillan
Gillan
Gillan was a rock band formed in 1978 by Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan.-History:In 1978 Ian Gillan had become dissatisfied with the jazz fusion style of his band called the Ian Gillan Band and dissolved it, retaining only keyboard player Colin Towns, and formed a new band entitled Gillan...

/Ozzy
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...

 guitarist Bernie Torme
Bernie Tormé
Bernie Tormé is a rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, record label and recording studio owner.-Early career:...

 and Bruce Dickinson
Bruce Dickinson
Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....

/Sack Trick
Sack Trick
Sack Trick are an eccentric British music collective who have been compared to the humour of Monty Python and musical madness of Frank Zappa. The bassist Chris Paulo Dale is the center of the group, guiding the audience through a universe that is more rock circus than rock opera, with a partiality...

 drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

 Robin Guy. He is also an accomplished guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

, drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

, trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

, cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

, and double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

 player. Nearly as well-known as his music is his appearance: he is always pictured wearing sunglasses, with the striking contrast of bald head and robust chin beard. Along with guitarist Vic Elmes
Vic Elmes
Vic Elmes , played with several groups such as Acid Gallery and The Epics, before helping to form the band Christie in 1970...

 and ZZebra
ZZebra
Zzebra were a British fusion and afro prog band active in the UK in the early 1970s.The band was formed when Terry Smith and Dave Quincy , both left the band If, when it broke up, and joined Lasisi "Loughty" Amao ex-Osibisa , Gus Yeadon ex-The Love Affair , Liam Genockey and John McCoy .They...

 colleague Liam Genockey
Liam Genockey
Liam Genockey is an Irish drummer.Liam Genockey was born in Dublin, Ireland. During the 1960s he lived in Plymouth, Devon, U.K, playing in local semi-pro groups, then in the early 70's playing with Torbay based rock band Adolphus Rebirth...

 on drums, McCoy can also be heard playing in the intro and end titles theme of the 1970s cult TV series Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...

.

Early career

In the 1960s, when he was 13, whilst still at school, McCoy began playing as lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

ist with a working beat
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...

 group, The Drovers. In 1966 he responded to an advertisement in the Yorkshire Post
Yorkshire Post
The Yorkshire Post is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, a company owned by Johnston Press...

 newspaper for a guitarist to join a band called Mamas Little Children who were about to begin touring Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. McCoy went to audition only to find they had just given someone else the position, but still needed a bass player. He auditioned on a spare bass that was there and was given the job. In 1968 he was forced to resign from the band because he was working illegally under age. On his return to Britain he went to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 where he found work as a session musician with former Drifters
The Drifters
The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...

 member Clyde McPhatter
Clyde McPhatter
Clyde McPhatter was an American R&B singer, perhaps the most widely imitated R&B singer of the 1950s and 1960s, making him a key figure in the shaping of doo-wop and R&B. He is best known for his solo hit "A Lover's Question"...

 touring the U.K.

In 1974, McCoy was playing with London-based band Scrapyard when they recruited Irish-born lead guitarist Bernie Torme
Bernie Tormé
Bernie Tormé is a rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, record label and recording studio owner.-Early career:...

. Although Torme eventually left to form his own punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band, the two were later reunited in former Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...

 singer Ian Gillan
Ian Gillan
Ian Gillan is an English rock music vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist for Deep Purple. During his career Gillan also fronted his own band, had a year-long stint as the vocalist for Black Sabbath, and sang the role of Jesus in the original recording of Andrew Lloyd...

's band.

On July 18, 2009, John McCoy performed at the Furnace in Swindon Wiltshire, England Performing in a group G.M.T with Bernie Torme (Guitar legend formerley with Gillan
Gillan
Gillan was a rock band formed in 1978 by Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan.-History:In 1978 Ian Gillan had become dissatisfied with the jazz fusion style of his band called the Ian Gillan Band and dissolved it, retaining only keyboard player Colin Towns, and formed a new band entitled Gillan...

, and Ozzy Ozbourne) Robin Guy (former Drummer with Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson
Bruce Dickinson
Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....

 and Faith No More
Faith No More
Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed originally as Faith No Man in 1981 by bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist Wade Worthington, vocalist Michael Morris and drummer Mike Bordin. A year later when Worthington was replaced by keyboardist Roddy Bottum, and Mike...

)

Career with Gillan

In July 1978, the jazz-rock fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...

 Ian Gillan Band
Ian Gillan Band
The Ian Gillan Band was a jazz-rock fusion band formed by Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan in 1975.-History:After leaving Deep Purple in 1973, Ian Gillan had retired from the music business to pursue other business ventures, including a motorbike manufacturing company and a hotel. These ventures all...

 were altering direction, under the influence of keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

 player Colin Towns
Colin Towns
Colin Towns is an English composer, born 13 May 1948 in London, specialising in soundtracks for film, television and commercials. Learning piano as a child, by the age of 13 he was earning money playing at weddings and birthdays in his neighbourhood of the East End of London...

 in a return to Ian Gillan's hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

 roots. Towns had begun writing new material, and Gillan gave him the task of recruiting the new line-up. Towns recruited session drummer Liam Genockey
Liam Genockey
Liam Genockey is an Irish drummer.Liam Genockey was born in Dublin, Ireland. During the 1960s he lived in Plymouth, Devon, U.K, playing in local semi-pro groups, then in the early 70's playing with Torbay based rock band Adolphus Rebirth...

, McCoy and guitarist Richard Brampton, who was replaced by Steve Byrd - a former colleague of McCoy's from ZZebra
ZZebra
Zzebra were a British fusion and afro prog band active in the UK in the early 1970s.The band was formed when Terry Smith and Dave Quincy , both left the band If, when it broke up, and joined Lasisi "Loughty" Amao ex-Osibisa , Gus Yeadon ex-The Love Affair , Liam Genockey and John McCoy .They...

 - almost immediately. Within a month of their formation the band had recorded their first album, Gillan
Gillan (album)
Gillan is the first album by British rock band Gillan, released in September 1978. It was only released in Japan, Australia and New Zealand, but the album sold well in the UK as an import, aided by positive press reviews...

, and they made their live debut at the Reading Festival
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...

 on 16 August 1978. They were originally listed there as the Ian Gillan Band, but in a move away from the jazz-rock connotations they renamed the band simply Gillan.

Gillan underwent a further three line-up changes, but McCoy remained as bass player until the band eventually split acrimoniously in 1982.

Mammoth

Post-Gillan, McCoy recruited session drummer Vinnie "Tubby" Reed, guitarist "Big" Mac Baker and vocalist Nicky Moore
Nicky Moore
Nicky Moore is a vocalist who is best known as a former member of the British band Samson. He replaced Bruce Dickinson who left the band to join Iron Maiden in 1982. Moore left Samson in the late 80s and rejoined in the late 90s....

 to form a band initially called Dinosaur. The name was already in use by a California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

n band, so McCoy renamed his new outfit Mammoth. The name was also a tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...

 reference to the large size of the band members: McCoy weighed 120 kg (18.9 st), Reed 140 kg (22 st), , Baker 152 kg (23.9 st), and Moore 127 kg (20 st), .

The band toured with Whitesnake
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...

 and Marillion
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...

 and were well-received by fans. They released one single, "Fatman", and two albums, XXXL and Larger And Live. In 1988 the entire band appeared in the film Just Ask For Diamond, playing the henchmen
Henchman
Henchman referred originally to one who attended on a horse for his employer, that is, a horse groom. Hence, like constable and marshal, also originally stable staff, henchman became the title of a subordinate official in a royal court or noble household...

. Musically, commercial success eluded them however and the band eventually split in 1989, with McCoy becoming an independent producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

.

McCoy

John McCoy also led his own band under the simple name McCoy during the 1980s, which has been integrated with members of bands like Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...

, Samson
Samson (band)
Samson was a British hard rock band formed in 1977 by guitarist and vocalist Paul Samson. They are best known for their first three albums with future Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, then known as "Bruce Bruce", and drummer Thunderstick , who wore a leather mask and performed on stage in a...

 and Gillan
Gillan
Gillan was a rock band formed in 1978 by Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan.-History:In 1978 Ian Gillan had become dissatisfied with the jazz fusion style of his band called the Ian Gillan Band and dissolved it, retaining only keyboard player Colin Towns, and formed a new band entitled Gillan...

.
  • (1983) Mini Album/Oh Well (single) - Legacy
  • (1985) Think Hard - Mausoleum
  • (1998) Think Hard... Again - Angel Air Records
    Angel Air Records
    Angel Air Records is an English independent record label established in February 1997, specialising in reissues of classic pop and rock albums originally issued in the 1960s and 70s and latterly new albums from known artists up to the 21st century, formed by Peter and Shirley Purnell...

  • (1999) Brainstorm - Angel Air Records
    Angel Air Records
    Angel Air Records is an English independent record label established in February 1997, specialising in reissues of classic pop and rock albums originally issued in the 1960s and 70s and latterly new albums from known artists up to the 21st century, formed by Peter and Shirley Purnell...

  • (2000) Live 1977 - Angel Air Records
    Angel Air Records
    Angel Air Records is an English independent record label established in February 1997, specialising in reissues of classic pop and rock albums originally issued in the 1960s and 70s and latterly new albums from known artists up to the 21st century, formed by Peter and Shirley Purnell...

  • (2007) Unreal: The Anthology (Compilation) - Angel Air Records
    Angel Air Records
    Angel Air Records is an English independent record label established in February 1997, specialising in reissues of classic pop and rock albums originally issued in the 1960s and 70s and latterly new albums from known artists up to the 21st century, formed by Peter and Shirley Purnell...


Equipment

McCoy usually uses a traditional four string fretted Fender Precision
Fender Precision Bass
The Fender Precision Bass is an electric bass.Designed by Leo Fender as a prototype in 1950 and brought to market in 1951, the Precision was the first electric bass to earn widespread attention and use. A revolutionary instrument for the time, the Precision Bass has made an immeasurable impact on...

 guitar and predominantly Marshall
Marshall Amplification
Marshall Amplification is a British company, founded by drummer Jim Marshall, that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, brands personal headphones/earphones , and, after acquiring Natal Drums, drums and bongos. Marshall amplifiers, and specifically their guitar amplifiers, are among the most...

 amplification
Bass instrument amplification
Bass instrument amplification, used for the bass guitar, double bass and similar instruments, is distinct from other types of amplification systems due to the particular challenges associated with low-frequency sound reproduction. This distinction affects the design of the loudspeakers, the speaker...

 in various configurations. Although he has used Trace Elliot
Trace Elliot
Trace Elliot is a United Kingdom-based bass amplification manufacturer, and has a sub-brand, Trace Acoustic, for acoustic instruments.-History:...

, he has described it as "...a bit clean for my personal taste..." Currently he uses a Marshall 200w integrated amp driving a 2x15 cab and a Marshall 100w lead amp driving 4x12 cabs.

His playing style utilises both pick
Guitar pick
A guitar pick is a plectrum used for guitars. A pick is generally made of one uniform material; examples include plastic, nylon, rubber, felt, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, glass, and stone...

 and fingers, although he plays mostly with picks, preferring Fender extra heavy large triangles "...for greater precision and attack."
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/mccoy-p276125/discography/main", McCoy discography.

List of bands and artists worked with

  • The Drovers
  • Mamas Little Children
  • Clyde McPhatter
    Clyde McPhatter
    Clyde McPhatter was an American R&B singer, perhaps the most widely imitated R&B singer of the 1950s and 1960s, making him a key figure in the shaping of doo-wop and R&B. He is best known for his solo hit "A Lover's Question"...

  • Welcome
  • Curtiss Maldoon
  • Julie Felix
    Julie Felix
    Julie Ann Felix is a folk rock recording artist, who was notably produced by Mickie Most on his RAK Records label.-Career:...

  • V.H.F.
  • Scrapyard
  • Samson
    Samson (band)
    Samson was a British hard rock band formed in 1977 by guitarist and vocalist Paul Samson. They are best known for their first three albums with future Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, then known as "Bruce Bruce", and drummer Thunderstick , who wore a leather mask and performed on stage in a...

  • John Du Cann
    John Du Cann
    John William Cann , later known by his stage name John Du Cann, was a British guitarist primarily known through his work in the 1970s band, Atomic Rooster...

  • Riblja Čorba
    Riblja Corba
    Riblja Čorba is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. Their presence on the scene has lasted from 1978 to today. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1980s, but it has declined in the 1990s, partly due to controversial political attitudes of the band's leader Bora Đorđević...

  • Francis Rossi
    Francis Rossi
    Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi, OBE is a British musician best known for being a co-founder of the English rock band Status Quo, in which he sings lead vocals and plays lead guitar.- Career :...

  • Andy Bown
    Andy Bown
    Andy Bown is an English musician, who has specialised in keyboards and bass guitar. He is a member of the rock band Status Quo.-Career:...

  • Pete Kircher
    Pete Kircher
    Peter Derek Kircher , is a retired English rock/pop drummer.He played between 1982 to 1985 in the rock band Status Quo...

  • Neo
    Neo (UK band)
    Neo was an early New Wave band which was part of the Engish musical scene originated by punk in the 1970s. The group was formed by the American-born singer Ian North, who was the frontman and the only continuous member from the band formation in 1977 to the end in 1979.-Early days: Radio:In 1976,...

  • Mike Hugg
    Mike Hugg
    Mike Hugg is a professional musician and a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.-Biography:...

  • ZZebra
    ZZebra
    Zzebra were a British fusion and afro prog band active in the UK in the early 1970s.The band was formed when Terry Smith and Dave Quincy , both left the band If, when it broke up, and joined Lasisi "Loughty" Amao ex-Osibisa , Gus Yeadon ex-The Love Affair , Liam Genockey and John McCoy .They...

  • McCoy
  • Quadrant
  • The Coolies
  • Curved Air
    Curved Air
    Curved Air are a pioneering British progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classic, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band was a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements...

  • Atomic Rooster
    Atomic Rooster
    Atomic Rooster were an English progressive rock band, composed of former members of the The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Throughout their history, keyboardist Vincent Crane was the only constant member, and wrote the majority of their material. Their history is defined by two periods, in the early...

  • Bernie Torme
    Bernie Tormé
    Bernie Tormé is a rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, record label and recording studio owner.-Early career:...

  • Gillan
    Gillan
    Gillan was a rock band formed in 1978 by Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan.-History:In 1978 Ian Gillan had become dissatisfied with the jazz fusion style of his band called the Ian Gillan Band and dissolved it, retaining only keyboard player Colin Towns, and formed a new band entitled Gillan...

  • Colin Towns
    Colin Towns
    Colin Towns is an English composer, born 13 May 1948 in London, specialising in soundtracks for film, television and commercials. Learning piano as a child, by the age of 13 he was earning money playing at weddings and birthdays in his neighbourhood of the East End of London...

  • Sledgehammer
  • U.K. Subs
  • Mammoth
  • Sun Red Sun
  • Joey Belladonna
    Joey Belladonna
    Joey Belladonna is a heavy metal singer and drummer, best known as the lead singer for the heavy metal band Anthrax...

  • Rafi Weinstock
  • The Split Knee Loons
  • Skintight jaguars
    Skintight jaguars
    Skintight Jaguars are a hard rock/punk band from London, England. The current line-up consists of guitarist/vocalist Ryan Simmonds, bassist Matt Valentine and drummer J Machete.The band supported Backyard Babies on their 2008 tour of the UK....

  • G.M.T.
    Guy McCoy Tormé
    Guy McCoy Tormé is a British rock band formed by Robin Guy and former Gillan members John McCoy and Bernie Tormé.-Personnel:*Bernie Tormé — Guitar and vocals*John McCoy — Bass*Robin Guy — drums and percussion...

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