Born to Rock

During Reggie's fourth year at Pinner County Grammar, he began playing music with a local amateur group called the Corvettes. At the time, Reggie was only fourteen years old. The group played a mix of rock and roll and blues. The founders of the group were two local boys, Stuart Brown and Geoff Dyson, who played guitar and bass. Mick Inkpen played the drums for the band. Mick's father ran a small bar called the Gate, which was very close to where Reggie lived.

Reggie of course played the piano for the band. Unfortunately, though, since pianos cannot be moved around without a lot of help, Reggie always had to play whatever piano was in the bar, no matter how old or new. Most of the time, the piano was horribly out of tune, so the band would actually tune their instruments to the piano, meaning they were making their guitars out of tune! However, it was a smart move because their songs ended up sounding much better than if the piano was out of tune and the other instruments were in tune.

The Corvettes broke up after only a few performances. Each member went his own way, but six months later they met up and decided to try playing together again. With a new name, Bluesology, they began relying on Geoff Dyson, the bass player, as their booking manager—the person who finds the band gigs to play. At the time, none of them knew that Bluesology would not only stay together but play with some of the biggest names in rock and roll.