Claim to fame...

I went round to the bungalow tonight (hopefully for the last time before it becomes mine - or at least the bank's) to see the chap who's selling it and settle up a few things before he sets of for retirement in the Shetlands (which sounds a fantastic idea incidentally). I was discussing some of my plans for the place, not least of which to convert the smallest bedroom in to a music room and possibly at some point, a mini-studio. It's ideally sized for me to set up the guitars, keyboards, drums, amps, speakers, etc., and best of all it's on an outside wall which minimises disturbance to the neighbours.

It turns out that prior to his using it as a study, he had used it for that very same purpose. Before his current job he had spent several years trotting around the globe as a session musician working with all manner of people including Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson, the Allman Brothers, Colin Blunstone, Jeff Beck, Donovan, Rod Stewart and Agnetha and Anni-Frid's (Abba girls) solo projects produced by Phil Collins in the 80's.

Far-fetched? Everyone's a sceptic aren't they. Well I've seen photos and heard recordings to back these stories up, he has such a huge repetoire of anecdotes and is so clearly knowledgeable about his music that it dispelled any of my original doubts. What was originally intended as a flying visit to drop off a cheque and pick up a few other details turned out to be a fascinating evening.

After 15 to 20 years of it all, he decided to call it a day in favour of a more settled lifestyle and although isn't a publicly well known figure, his name (which out of courtesy I'm obviously not going to share) appears on countless album credits.

I'm just wondering if I get to keep the same phone number whether perhaps Agnetha would be interested in popping round for a cuppa? OK, perhaps that is a bit too far-fetched...