Tony Chapman

Tony Chapman was a British drummer, especially active during the 1960s. He played with an early line-up of The Rolling Stones before they settled on their permanent band members. He appeared with the band in 1962, including a performance at Sidcup Art College, Bexley, which Keith Richards had attended, and was probably the drummer at the first official performance of the group, on 12 July 1962 at the Marquee Club in London. [Gary Galbraith, [http://rocksoff.org/1962.htm 1962 Rolling Stones gigs] , "The Rocks Off Rolling Stones Setlists Page".]

Chapman was the person through whom Bill Wyman was enlisted to the Stones, having been in Wyman's band "The Cliftons". It was Chapman who made enquiries about vacancies with the Stones and discovered they might be found at the Wetherby Arms in the King's Road, Chelsea. He and Wyman turned up for a run-through and although they had doubts about the blues style and did not like the name, agreed to join on a make-or-break basis. Another drummer, Steve Harris, also sat in for some sessions - Charlie Watts was still with Alexis Korner. After a short time Chapman felt he did not fit in with the way-out approach of the group and left to form a band called "The Preachers". It was not long after Wyman joined the group that Watts took over the drums. [The Rolling Stones "Our Own Story - as we told it to Pete Goodman" Corgi Books, 1964 pp73-76]

Chapman's group, The Preachers had a less wild approach. It was one of the first bands of Peter Frampton and was produced and managed by Bill Wyman. Chapman was responsible for the first meeting between Wyman and Frampton. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19971019/ai_n14138463/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1 How we met: Peter Frampton and Bil Wyman] , "The Independent", 19 October 1997.] After The Preachers, Chapman went on to play drums in "The Herd", where he was a member for the first two years, [ [http://www.repertoirerecords.com/cgibin/blog/?p=55 Peter Frampton — The Face Of The Herd] "Hot New Repertoire Releases", 6 June 2006.] again with Peter Frampton, and also with Andy Bown (later of Status Quo) and others.

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