Beverley Bevan (born 25 November 1944) is an English rock musician, who was the drummer and one of the original members of

The Move The Move were a British rock band of the late 1960s and the early 1970s. They scored nine top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of their car ...

and

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop, classical ...

(ELO). After the end of ELO in 1986, he founded

ELO Part II ELO Part II were a band formed by Electric Light Orchestra drummer and co-founder Bev Bevan. The band also included former ELO bassist and vocalist Kelly Groucutt, and violinist Mik Kaminski for most of its career, along with conductor Lo ...

. Bevan also was drummer for

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped def ...

during the

Born Again Tour The Born Again Tour was a concert tour by in support of Black Sabbath's ''Born Again'' album. Both the album and the tour were the only ones of Black Sabbath's to feature former Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan on lead vocals. Ex-Electric Ligh ...

, and later played percussion on ''

The Eternal Idol ''The Eternal Idol'' is the thirteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 23 November 1987 (UK) and 8 December 1987 (US). It is the first Black Sabbath album to feature vocalist Tony Martin. It spent six week ...

'' album in 1987. Bevan was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and ...

in 2017 as a member of Electric Light Orchestra.

Biography

Bevan was born in South Yardley, Birmingham, England. After attending Moseley Grammar School, where he gained two O level passes, he worked as a trainee buyer in a city centre

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appe ...

called The Beehive with school friend Jasper Carrott (Robert Davis). His professional music career started with a stint with

Denny Laine Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...

in his group Denny Laine and the Diplomats, then with

Carl Wayne & the Vikings The Vikings, also known as Keith Powell & the Vikings or Carl Wayne & the Vikings, were an English rock group from Birmingham, notable for including at various times Carl Wayne, Chris 'Ace' Kefford, Bev Bevan who would later become founders o ...

, followed by

in 1966. The Electric Light Orchestra released their first album in 1971, by which time The Move existed only as a recording outfit. They released their final single, " California Man" in 1972. Bevan has a deep singing voice. With The Move he sang lead on a remake of " Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" and the

country and western A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while t ...

spoof, "Ben Crawley Steel Co". He composed one Move song: "Don't Mess Me Up", an

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

spoof from the album ''Message from the Country'' that was also the B-side of The Move's single "

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

". He is also, incorrectly, credited with writing the rock-blues "Turkish Tram Conductor Blues" on ''

Looking On ''Looking On'' is the third studio album by The Move, released in the UK in December 1970. The album is their first to feature Jeff Lynne, their first containing entirely original compositions, and the first on the Fly label, its catalogue num ...

''; Roy Wood actually composed the song. On ELO records his voice can be heard most prominently on " Fire On High" and " Strange Magic", both from 1975's " Face the Music". He recorded a solo single in 1976, a cover of the Sandy Nelson instrumental, "

Let There Be Drums "Let There Be Drums" is a 1961 instrumental composed by American drummer Sandy Nelson and guitarist Richard Podolor, who later became a renowned record producer. Background The piece is a guitar and drums duet and is an early example of surf ...

". Bevan played on all Electric Light Orchestra and ELO Part II albums up to 1999. In 1980 he published a historical memoir of the Electric Light Orchestra. In 1983, he replaced Bill Ward in Black Sabbath for the

. Bevan was known for his heavy powerhouse drumming during this tour. He also appeared in Sabbath's videos " Trashed" and "

Zero the Hero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation such as the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, 0 also serves as a placeholder numerical digit, which works by multiplying digits to the left of 0 by the radix, usuall ...

". A headlining appearance at the 1983

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

– extracts of which appear on a reissue of ''

Born Again Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and se ...

'' – was only Bevan's second gig with the band. "It was just all over the shop," recalled guitarist Tony Iommi. "Bev didn't know he songsat all. He did try. As we went on the tour, he did get a lot better… We went to America and he done good. That particular stage, doing the Reading Festival, was a definite wrong for us." Bevan rejoined Black Sabbath briefly in 1987, recording percussion overdubs for album

, but was replaced by

Terry Chimes Terence Chimes (born 5 July 1956, Stepney, London, England) is an English musician, best known as the original drummer of punk rock group The Clash. He played with them from July 1976 to November 1976, January 1977 to April 1977, and again f ...

after refusing to play shows in South Africa, at the time under

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

rule. After the death of Carl Wayne in 2004, the drummer formed Bev Bevan's Move with Phil Tree and former ELO Part II colleagues

Phil Bates Philip Bates (born 30 March 1953) is an English musician who has been a member of many notable bands, including Trickster and Quill, and was the lead guitarist, songwriter and joint lead vocalist for ELO Part II from 1993 through to 1999 and the ...

and Neil Lockwood, to play a set comprising mostly The Move classics on tour. Bates left in July 2007 to re-join ELO Part II, by then renamed to The Orchestra. Bevan was then joined by former Move guitarist Trevor Burton. Bevan appeared on Paul Weller's 2010 album '' Wake Up The Nation'' and played drums on two songs: "Moonshine" and "Wake Up The Nation". Weller told him that he was his second choice; his first choice would have been

Keith Moon Keith John Moon (23 August 19467 September 1978) was an English drummer for the rock band the Who. He was noted for his unique style of playing and his eccentric, often self-destructive behaviour and addiction to drugs and alcohol. Moon grew ...

. Bevan currently presents a radio show on BBC Radio West Midlands on Sunday afternoons. He also reviews records for the Midlands' ''

Sunday Mercury ''Sunday Mercury'' is a Sunday tabloid published in Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a popula ...

'' and has a blog on their website. It was announced at the Best of Broad Street Awards on 17 January 2011 that Bevan would be honoured with a star on the

Birmingham Walk of Stars The Birmingham Walk of Stars is a walk of fame-style installation on the pedestrian pavement of Broad Street, Birmingham, England, which honours notable people from the Birmingham area or with significant connections with it. The scheme is orga ...

. Bevan is also a patron o
The Dorridge Music School (Knowle)
In 2012, Bevan narrated the audiobook version of Tony Iommi's biography ''Iron Man – My Journey Through Heaven and Hell''. Bevan's 2014 calendar contained no fewer than 102 gigs in 11 months, some of which formed the final gigs for The Move, before Bevan and Burton went their separate ways again. In 2014, Bevan joined Quill, a Birmingham-based band. As of 2022, The Bev Bevan Band has played gigs with Bev's former school mate Jasper Carrott under the name Stand up and Rock since 2017.

Personal life

He follows

Wolverhampton Wanderers FC Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. Bevan's first marriage was to Valerie Taylor. Their son, Adrian, was born in 1981. On 1st September 2022, Bev married Joy Brain (nee Strachan), his bandmate in Quill.

Bibliography

Timeline

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bevan, Bev Living people English rock drummers The Move members Electric Light Orchestra members Black Sabbath members English radio presenters Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands People educated at Moseley School 1944 births