Mick
was born in Luton, England, on the 7th April, 1943, which was
a very long time ago. There was a war still going on at the time,
which may explain why Mick can be a cantankerous old git and
a right, proper and loyal gent at one and the same time.
He took up the guitar at the age of ten and
went on to play in various bands in the early 60's, such as the
Jesters, the Hustlers, the Crusaders and the Toggery Five; all
acts in the Rock and Roll and R&B styles, before eventually
moving in a more Blues-based direction.
He formed the band "McGregor's Engine" in
1967 with Clive Bunker and Andy
Pyle and came to the attention of Ian Anderson when the Engine
supported the John Evan Band at a club near Luton, Bedfordshire
in 1967.
Mick was asked to join the band later that year, although by then, the other
Evan Band members had departed, leaving only Anderson and Glenn
Cornick to team up with Abrahams and Bunker in the prototype of Jethro
Tull in December of '67.
Throughout the Winter and early Spring the
group persevered with their Blues-based covers and original compositions,
finally being blessed with a residency at London's famous Marquee
Club in March, 1968.
After
recording the first Tull album, "This Was", Mick left
the band in the November 1968 under a cloud of bad feeling due
to disagreements as to musical direction and personality clashes
with Anderson and Cornick.
Mick went on to form the cult group "Blodwyn
Pig" in 1969 and enjoyed success with that band in addition
to his solo efforts which have endeared him to a series of fans
through three decades.
He nearly gave up music after quitting Blodwyn
Pig, working as a salesman of cars, double glazing and life insurance
and doing humourous character voice-overs for the advertising trade.
Mick took up music once again in 1987 and continues
to tour and record, both as a solo act and in various reincarnations
of Blodwyn Pig, The Mick Abraham's Band and, more recently in the
controversial cover band performing the music from "This Was" which
recently toured the UK prompting confusion as a result of a dubious "Jethro
Tull" style billing. Various albums and T-shirts are available
through "A New Day Magazine", the well respected Tull
fan-zine.
Ian Anderson has played with Mick live and
on Mick's solo recordings of acoustic, Blues-based songs in recent
years.
Mick is now very, very old -- even older than
Martin Barre -- and likely to out-live all of them. |