In the summer of 1970, guitarist Arthur Ramm and drummer Alan Craig approached bassist Bob (Bill) Campbell, lead guitarist Les Tones and singer Rob Turner to form the band 'Beckett'. 

After extensive rehearsals and two months of gigging, tragedy struck; singer Rob Turner was involved in a fatal road accident. A replacement vocalist was found in the young Terry Wilson Slesser.

The band quickly gained a great following, but guitarist Les Tones decided to quit the band to pursue other interests, and so Kenny Mountain, guitarist, singer and songwriter, became the new fifth member.

As the band continued working in the local clubs and bars, rock promoter Geoff Docherty, realising that Beckett had a huge potential, offered his services as manager. Geoff,  with his expertise in the promotion of rock acts, placed Beckett frequently supporting the big names. Tours quickly followed, supporting such names as Free, Rod Stewart & The Faces,   Ten Years After, Argent, UFO, Lindisfarne, Alex Harvey, Slade and Captain Beefheart.

 Click here for the poster advertising Beckett supporting Argent.

Want to peep inside Arthur's archives?  Let's see some Newcastle City Hall photographs....  some snaps of Arthur with John Miles... and Arthur with Koss

Beckett played regularly at the legendary Marquee Club in London and the Top Ten Club in Hamburg. Warner Bros. records immediately signed the boys after a great show at the Marquee and an album was in the pipeline.

                                     Publicity shot from 1972: Terry, Bob, Alan, Arthur & Kenny.

Publicity shot: Terry, Kenny, Arthur, Alan & Bob.

  Raft record's publicity shot; Autumn 1973; Arthur Ramm, Frankie Gibbon, Terry Slesser, Kenny Mountain, Keith Fisher (Keith joined on New Year's Day 1973).  After more changes to the band's line-up (now including Bob Barton),  Beckett released a debut album on Raft Records in the spring of 1974. There was also a promotional single. (The original vinyls can still be found on eBay! I have them! Beckettwebmaster)

Eventually the band split; members ventured into other projects and bands, until 2000, when they met at Springs, talked, practiced and played a few gigs.  This led to Beckett reforming with three of the very first members, plus Kenny, but minus Terry.  Michael was well known as a talented and respected keyboard player who had been in several bands with Arthur and Alan, so he was approached and enlisted on keyboards.  Kenny now takes care of the vocals, though Arthur or Michael take lead vocals on some songs, and all three share vocal duties to produce some powerful harmonies on other songs.

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Rest in Peace, Alan.

Alan Craig, a founder member of Beckett, our dearest friend, our 'best bud', died on stage on Friday night, 27th April, 2007, after playing a fantastic set to a packed house..............  a part of Beckett was lost that night. Alan's final farewell was at the Crematorium, South Shields, on Friday 4th May, 1.30pm.

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In June 2007 the remaining four members made the decision that they should seek out a drummer, and get the band out there again... and so July, August & September were spent practicing with Colin Scott on the drum stool.  Beckett were back!  Colin did a great job but eventually decided to leave the band, and so, in May 2008, Beckett were again searching for a drummer...

... and in June 2008 Malcolm Bainbridge from Tynemouth became Beckett's drummer.