James Cregan (born 9 March 1946) is an English rock guitarist and bassist, best known for his associations with

Family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

. Cregan is a former husband of the singer

Linda Lewis Linda Ann Fredericks (born 27 September 1950), better known as Linda Lewis, is an English vocalist, songwriter and guitarist. She is the eldest of six children, three of whom also had singing careers. She is best known for the singles " Rock-a ...

and worked with her as a record producer. He has also worked with London Quireboys,

Glass Tiger Glass Tiger is a Grammy Award-nominated Canadian rock band from Newmarket, Ontario that formed in 1983. The band has released five studio albums. Its 1986 debut album, '' The Thin Red Line'', went quadruple platinum in Canada and gold in the Un ...

Katie Melua Ketevan Katie Melua (; ka, ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა, ; born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian and British singer and songwriter. She was born in Kutaisi and raised in Belfast and London. Under the management of comp ...

and formed ''Farm Dogs'' with

Bernie Taupin Bernard John Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English songwriter, singer and visual artist. He is best known for his long-term collaboration with musician Elton John, a songwriting partnership that is one of the most successful in history. Tau ...

Career

Born in

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somerset's southern border with ...

, Somerset, to Irish parents, Cregan joined

The Falcons ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, When aged fourteen, which was formed whilst he attended

Poole Grammar School Poole Grammar School (commonly abbreviated to PGS) is a selective, all‐boys grammar school and academy in the coastal town of Poole in Dorset, on the south coast of England. It is a member of the South West Academic Trust (SWAT). The school wa ...

. After developing his next band ''The Disastisfied Blues Band'', Cregan briefly joined with future

Traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...

frontman

Dave Mason David Thomas Mason (born 10 May 1946) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic. Over the course of his career, Mason has played and recorded with many notable pop and rock m ...

, in ''Julian Covay and the Machine'' in 1967 and moved on to join the rock and soul band ''The Ingoes'' as a vocalist and guitarist. This band soon morphed into the psychedelic Blossom Toes the same year, who later turned to guitar-led rock. After recording

Julie Driscoll Julie Driscoll Tippetts (born 8 June 1947) is an English singer and actress. Career Driscoll is known for her 1960s versions of Bob Dylan and Rick Danko's " This Wheel's on Fire", and Donovan's " Season of the Witch", both with Brian Auger ...

's solo album ''

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

,'' Cregan joined the soft rock band

Stud Stud may refer to the following terms: Animals * Stud (animal), an animal retained for breeding ** Stud farm, a property where livestock are bred Arts and entertainment * Stud (band), a British progressive rock group * The Stud (bar), a gay b ...

. The group featured Cregan, John Weider from Family, and also John Wilson and Richard McCracken, the rhythm section from Taste (best known as Rory Gallagher's pre-solo power trio). Stud dissolved when Cregan moved to Family in September 1972, after

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

two albums which were released in Germany, where they had their largest audience. He joined Charlie Whitney and

Roger Chapman Roger Maxwell Chapman (born 8 April 1942 in Leicester), also known as Chappo, is an English rock vocalist. He is best known as a member of the progressive rock band Family, which he joined along with Charlie Whitney, in 1966 and also the roc ...

, replacing bassist

John Wetton John Kenneth Wetton (12 June 1949 – 31 January 2017) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. Known for his dexterous bass playing and booming baritone voice, Wetton first gained fame in the early 1970s. Wetton was the singer and p ...

, adapting from rhythm guitar to bass guitar. He toured North America with the band, as the support act for

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

, in the autumn of 1972. Family recorded two singles and a final album '' It's Only a Movie'' (1973). A tour of the UK in the autumn of the same year preceded the demise of the band. Cregan was then briefly reunited with Chapman and Whitney on Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers (1974). He went on to work with British soul singer

, whom he would later marry. Cregan appears on four of her albums, also assuming a production role on ''Fathoms deep'' (1973) and ''Not A Little Girl Anymore'' (1975), which gave him the opportunity to work with the

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the ...

horn section. In October 1974 Cregan was recruited as a guitarist by

Steve Harley Steve Harley (born Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice; 27 February 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as frontman of the rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still tours, albeit with frequent and significant personnel changes. Ea ...

, as a member of a re-formed

Cockney Rebel Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are a British glam rock band from the early 1970s from London. Their music covers a range of styles from pop to progressive rock. Over the years they have had five albums in the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles i ...

. Harley and his new Cockney Rebel line-up recorded " Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" (1975) at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

. The song rose to No. 1 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top ...

during 1975. It eventually rose to No. 1 in Europe and Australia as well and featured a guitar break by Cregan, widely believed to have been recorded during a

soundcheck A sound check is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small p ...

. However Cregan's acoustic guitar break was recorded late at night in

in several takes. In 1976 he joined Rod Stewart's band and became Stewart's musical director, co-producer and co-writer. Cregan co-wrote many hits with Stewart, including "Passion" and "Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me)", winning the

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

(ASCAP) award for outstanding songwriting, with each. Cregan was awarded a third ASCAP "outstanding songwriting" award for his co-writing of the song " Forever Young" (1988) and Stewart was awarded a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for his performance of this song. He stayed with Stewart until 1995 after twelve years working together. Cregan has received thirteen multi-

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platin ...

awards for his work with Stewart and together they have thirty recorded songs to their joint credit. In 1990 he spent time writing and producing heavy rock band London Quireboys's ''Little Bit of What You Fancy'' (1990) which gave him singles chart success and Canadian rockers

, who achieved international success and platinum selling albums. They were also awarded three

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall o ...

s, received in Canada. In 1993 Cregan was reunited with Stewart to record " Unplugged...and Seated" which was also filmed by MTV and featured a guest appearance by

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as an official member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, as well as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing guitar with a ...

. This recording became Platinum three times in both USA and Canada. In the same year Cregan recorded

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

's song "

Have I Told You Lately "Have I Told You Lately" is a song written and recorded by Northern Irish singer and songwriter Van Morrison for his nineteenth studio album '' Avalon Sunset'' (1989). It is a romantic ballad that is often played at weddings, although it was or ...

" (1993) with Stewart, which became a number 1 hit in UK and had top twenty success elsewhere. Cregan's biggest concert appearance with Stewart was on 31 December 1994 at Copacabanain

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, where they appeared in front of a total estimated audience of over 3.5 million. The Guinness Book of World Records states that this was "the staging of the largest outdoor concert in history". In 1995 he moved on to form Farm Dogs with Elton John's lyricist

and they released two albums. During 1997 Cregan started to work with

Windham Hill Records Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label wa ...

as both a producer and musician. Over the next four years he worked as producer and musician with artists such as

Janis Ian Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit " Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" and the 1975 Top T ...

, Kathleen Keane,

Peabo Bryson Robert Peapo "Peabo" Bryson (born April 13, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for singing soul ballads (often as a duet with female singers) including the 1983 hit " Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" with Roberta Flack. Bryson ...

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...

, W.G Snuffy Walden, Grand Drive,

Gaelic Storm Gaelic Storm is a Celtic band founded in Santa Monica, California in 1996. Their musical output includes pieces from traditional Irish music, Scottish music, and original tunes in both the Celtic and Celtic rock genres. The band had its fir ...

and

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...

. His work achieved top five hits in different charts and several more platinum selling records. He recorded two platinum selling albums with

, Call off the Search (2003) and Piece By Piece (2005), he has also toured extensively with her. Cregan was re-united with

in 2005, at first for live performances and then to produce Chapman's solo album ''One More Time For Peace'' (2007). In 2008, Cregan formed Creative Music Management with music business lawyer Robert W. Allan. Together they managed singer songwriter Charlie Hole. Hole's first album ''"The Joy of a Caged Bird"'' was produced released in Dec 2012 on Cocomack records and recorded by Cregan. In 2011, he formed his own band Cregan & Co. This gave him the opportunity to perform the songs he had written, recorded and co-produced with Rod Stewart. In January 2013, Roger Chapman reformed Family for two concerts in London at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, coinciding with Family winning ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

'' magazine's "Spirit of Progressive Rock" Award. On 13 September 2015, Cregan joined Rod Stewart on stage at the

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content ...

'Live in

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a Grade I-listed major park in Westminster, Greater London, the largest of the four Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance to Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Green ...

' Festival and joined Family for the group's final shows in late 2016, as part of a line up which only featured Chapman, Poli Palmer and Cregan's work with the band. In 2019, Cregan released his autobiography "And on Guitar..." for which Stewart wrote the foreword. Along with Broadcaster Alex Dyke and Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley, he began a podcast in 2020 called "Stars Cars Guitars" which is also hosted on a

Youtube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

channel.

Discography

With Blossom Toes * '' We Are Ever So Clean'' (1967) * '' If Only for a Moment'' (1969) With

* ''

'' (1971) With

Shawn Phillips Shawn Phillips (born February 3, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, primarily influential in the 1960s and 1970s. His work is rooted in folk rock but straddles other genres, including jazz fusion and funk. Phillips has reco ...

* ''Second Contribution'' (1971) With

* ''September'' (1972) * ''Goodbye Live at Command'' (1973) With Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel * ''

The Best Years of Our Lives ''The Best Years of Our Lives'' (also known as ''Glory for Me'' and ''Home Again'') is a 1946 American epic drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo and Harold ...

'' (1975) * '' Timeless Flight'' (1976) * ''

Love's a Prima Donna ''Love's a Prima Donna'' is the fifth studio album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, which was released by EMI in 1976. It was produced by Harley, and would be the band's last album before splitting in 1977. Background Harley began writing mate ...

'' (1976) * '' Face to Face: A Live Recording'' (1977)

* '' It's Only a Movie'' (1973) With

* ''

Lark Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark oc ...

'' (1972) * '' Fathoms Deep'' (1973) * '' Not a Little Girl Anymore'' (1975) * '' Woman Overboard'' (1977) With

Streetwalkers Streetwalkers were an English rock band formed in late 1973 by two former members of rock band Family, vocalist Roger Chapman and guitarist John "Charlie" Whitney. They were a five piece band which evolved from the Chapman Whitney Band. The ...

* '' Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers'' (1974) With

Murray Head Murray Seafield St George Head (born 5 March 1946) is an English actor and singer. Head has appeared in a number of films, including a starring role as the character Bob Elkin in the Oscar-nominated 1971 film '' Sunday Bloody Sunday''. As a mu ...

* '' Say It Ain't So'' (1976) * '' Between Us'' (1979) With

* ''

Hobo with a Grin ''Hobo with a Grin'' is the debut solo album by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, which was released by EMI in 1978. The album was produced by Harley, except for " Roll the Dice", which was produced by Michael J. Jackson. Jackson also act ...

'' (1978) * ''

Yes You Can ''Yes You Can'' was a Canadian children's television series broadcast on CBC Television from 1980 to 1983. Hosted by singer Kevin Gillis, and co-hosted by Trevor Bruneau and Tammy Bourne, the half-hour live-action series was sports-themed and ...

'' (1992) * '' Uncovered'' (2020) With

* '' Foot Loose & Fancy Free'' (1977) * '' Blondes Have More Fun'' (1978) * '' Foolish Behaviour'' (1980) * '' Tonight I'm Yours'' (1981) * ''

Body Wishes ''Body Wishes'' is the twelfth studio album by Rod Stewart released in 1983 by Warner Bros. Records. The tracks were recorded and mixed at The Record Plant, Los Angeles. It produced three singles, " Baby Jane", "What Am I Gonna Do (I'm So in L ...

'' (1983) * ''

Camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

'' (1984) * '' Every Beat of My Heart'' (1986) * '' Out of Order'' (1988) * '' Vagabond Heart'' (1991) * ''

A Spanner in the Works '' A Spanner in the Works '' is the seventeenth studio album released by Rod Stewart on 29 May 1995. It ended a four-year gap since his previous studio album. At that time, it was Stewart's longest break between albums. It was released on Warner ...

'' (1995) * ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' (2013) With Bruce Roberts * ''Bruce Roberts'' (1978) With

* '' God and the FBI'' (2000) With

Mike Batt Michael Philip Batt, LVO (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director and conductor. He was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Having achieved substantia ...

* ''Tarot Suite'' (1979) * ''Waves'' (1980) With Roger Taylor * '' Happiness?'' (1994) With

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on ''Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and th ...

* ''Love Lessons'' (1992) With

* '' Air Time: The Best of Glass Tiger'' (1993) With Farm Dogs * '' Last Stand in Open Country'' (1996) * '' Immigrant Sons'' (1998) With

* '' Call off the Search'' (2003) * '' Piece by Piece'' (2005) With London Quireboys * ''Little Bit of What You Fancy'' (1990) With

* ''One More Time For Peace'' as producer. (2007) With various artists * ''Tribute to Curtis Mayfield'' with Rod Stewart (1994)

Music videos

Personal life

Cregan was married to

for five years. He later married

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

model Jane Booke and lived in Los Angeles. On Steve Harley's

show aired in January 2004, he explained that he had grown tired of Los Angeles culture and moved back to the U.K.

References

External links

Official websiteFairwood Music websiteStrange Band: The Family Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cregan, Jim 1946 births English rock bass guitarists Male bass guitarists English rock guitarists English songwriters English session musicians Lead guitarists English people of Irish descent English expatriates in the United States Family (band) members Living people People from Yeovil People educated at Poole Grammar School Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel members Streetwalkers members

Career

Discography

Music videos

Personal life

References

Further reading

External links