Status Quo and my band might seem like odd bedfellows, but there’s something about their fans that I like. And they don’t mind me, it seems. Rochester was good enough, but Caldicot Castle was a real blast. New bass player, Kuma Harada, has boosted the feel of the rhythm section more than somewhat. He is keen to take a solo, too, on Best Years when I throw it into the set. I’ve struggled to get bassists to look like they are enjoying themselves for a lot of years. Billy Dyer does, and now so does Kuma. I like players who like playing, and show it. But he won’t sing. “You won’t like my Japanese accent”, is his excuse. And that’ll do.

The “Rock For Ronson” event proved a real joy. It was good to see old friends like Suzi, Mick’s widow, for the first time in many years. Mick’s sister, Maggi, sang “Ziggy Stardust” with my band backing her, and his daughter, Lisa, performed two Bowie songs that her dad had made his own, musically, with Earl Slick on lead guitar, and my chaps.  Steve Norman joined the band for the whole set, and shook the old City Hall to a tremor with a blistering saxophone solo and improvisations n “Cavaliers”.

I'll keep this brief. It's been quite a crazy time lately. Baby born; baby now, finally, named: Cameron (after his strong Scottish ancestry) William (after his South African bloodline; father-in-law is Willem) Nice.

Click Read more to see proud Grandad with the wee bairn. He's a cracker.

How do I put this without feeling my age, or even older than my age? Straight to the point then: I am a Grandfather. On  February 3rd, 2016, daughter-in-law, Lieze,  and my son, Kerr, were gifted a healthy and, dare I say, beautiful (aren’t they all?)

I wanted it to be a clever, dastardly stunt. I didn’t want it to be true. David Bowie dead? I mix with people who were close to him. I never felt a hint of a serious medical problem from any of them. David, cancer? His friends were as loyal as he’d obviously asked them to be. That in itself speaks well of the man. My thoughts are with those who were his family and friends. I hadn’t actually spoken to David since Marc Bolan’s funeral. But the Beckenham days have always been with me, so a certain friendship, with the smallest of Fs, has endured. For now, many

Manchester came a little too quick on the heels of rehearsals, to be truthful, and a few endings must have seemed ragged to the sharper-eared and more critical among the audience. But those peccadillos were soon behind us and it all got better and better by the show. That’s touring for you.

Now Greta Joy is married. My little girl, aged 30, has tied it with Nelson George. It was a faultlessly brilliant day and evening. We were extremely proud of Greta. She is clever and modest; witty and compassionate; charming and loveable…….

The recent festivals have gone well, Brentwood being like playing "at home". We live 40 minutes from there. Holt was special. Beautiful setting: an amphitheatre in the woods around Gresham's School. A thousand souls (sold out many weeks in advance) prepared for all elements that might get thrown at them. It had poured the day and evening before, so the track downhill to the  backstage area was slippy, but the weather stayed fine for us; clear, blue skies and a cool, dry evening for the show. I saw many anoraks with hoods. Not needed after all! Mona and Lisa Wagner were with us, on stage with us for the first time. What a debut…

We were fired up for Rochester. The girls, Mona and Lisa, were with us and we’d already done a sound-check before the bad news was broken to us backstage. I wish Rick Parfitt better health; he’s had a rough time of it for a few years, apparently. Here’s a phot, taken by Barry, of the magnificent view from the stage:

We spent a few days in a recording Studio recently, and “Ordinary People” came out sounding like a potential R2 play-lister…..if only! I’ve added an extra 12 bars of new melody and lyric (a Middle 8, which is actually 12). The files (that’s the digital recording) are on their way via the Ethernet to Matt Butler for re-mixing. We’ll release it as a single in the autumn, in the hope of getting some air-play around the country, serving as a boost to publicity for the November tour. And that tour is…..