David Maxwell Middleton (born 4 August 1946) is an English composer and keyboardist who was originally a docker on the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

docks. Middleton is known for his work on the

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

Electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

, the

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

synthesiser and his percussive playing style of the

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known ...

Clavinet. He started his professional music career by playing keyboards for

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock music, rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, ...

and is best known for his work on Beck's '' Blow by Blow''. He was the pianist on some pieces on the first album by TRUST, "préfabriqué".

Biography

After being introduced to Beck by bassist Clive Chaman during 1970, he played keyboards on the third Jeff Beck Group album '' Rough and Ready'' and the eponymously named fourth Jeff Beck Group album (also known as the "Orange Album"), in a line-up with Chaman, vocalist and guitarist Bobby Tench and drummer

Cozy Powell Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English rock drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, ...

. He went on to record '' Blow by Blow'' and ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fran ...

'' with Jeff Beck and to record and tour with Nazareth,

Hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics ar ...

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 ba ...

, Chris Rea,

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single " Wuthering Heights", becoming the first female ...

, Annette Peacock,

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

guitarist

Mick Taylor Michael Kevin Taylor (born 17 January 1949) is an English guitarist, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1967–1969) and the Rolling Stones (1969–1974). As a member of the Stones, he appeared on: '' Let It Bleed'' ...

and singer-songwriter

John Martyn Iain David McGeachy (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009), known professionally as John Martyn, was a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a 40-year career, he released 23 studio albums, and received frequent critical acclaim. ...

. Middleton worked with Beck in the second Jeff Beck Group line-up alongside vocalist/guitarist Bobby Tench, bassist Clive Chaman and drummer

. He briefly stayed with Beck in a third line-up that ultimately metamorphosed into the Beck, Bogert & Appice power trio before joining Tench in

during 1976. Hummingbird released two successful albums with Middleton as keyboard player '' We Can't Go on Meeting Like This'' (1976), and '' Diamond Nights'' (1977), both produced by Ian "Sammy" Samwell. During this period, he continued to work with Beck, appearing on ''Blow By Blow'' (1975) and ''

'' (1976). By this time Middleton had become a sought after

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

, playing on albums such as the soundtrack to the film ''

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composi ...

'' (1978) and Nazareth's most successful album, ''

Hair of the Dog "Hair of the dog", short for "hair of the dog that bit you", is a colloquial expression in the English language predominantly used to refer to alcohol that is consumed with the aim of lessening the effects of a hangover. Many other languages ha ...

'' (1975). In 1977 he played keyboards on the Rhead Brothers first EMI album 'Dedicate', later writing and arranging a score for the track, 'When the Seagull flies' on their second album ''Black Shaheen''. In 1979, he played keyboards on Morrissey–Mullen's ''Cape Wrath'' and released ''Another Sleeper'' in the same year, an instrumental album with guitarist Robert Ahwai. This classic jazz-funk album was released along with ''Cape Wrath'', on Fusion Harvest/EMI Records, the duo is supported by Richard Bailey, Kuma Harada, Darryl Lee Que, Steve Gregory, Bud Beadle, George Chisholm, Trevor Barber, Chris Rainbow and some backing vocalists. In 1980 Middleton was involved with the arrangements on and played keyboards for

's '' Never For Ever'', which had album and single success. The following year he played on John Martyn's first album for WEA, '' Glorious Fool''. Throughout the 1980s he was also involved with Chris Rea playing on '' Shamrock Diaries'', '' On the Beach'', '' New Light Through Old Windows'', '' The Road to Hell'', '' Auberge'', ''

God's Great Banana Skin ''God's Great Banana Skin'' is the twelfth studio album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1992. The album was not released in the United States, though some tracks later appeared on the US release of Rea's following album '' Esp ...

'', ''

Espresso Logic ''Espresso Logic'' is the thirteenth studio album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1993. The US edition of the album has a significantly different track listing, featuring two songs (''God's Great Banana Skin'' and ''Miles Is ...

'', ''La Passione'', ''

The Blue Cafe ''The Blue Cafe'' is the fourteenth studio album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1998. The singles released for the album were "The Blue Cafe", "Thinking of You", "Sweet Summer Day" and "Square Peg, Round Hole". There was also ...

'', '' The Road to Hell: Part 2'' and '' King of the Beach''. He produced Dick Morrissey's '' Souliloquy'' (1988) on which he played keyboards. He also toured regularly with

's band during the mid to late 1990s. Middleton is credited as co-writer with

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...

of "The Loner" from

's album '' Over the Top'' (1979) and as co-writer of "The Loner" from

's album '' Wild Frontier'' (1987). Middleton released the

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 1 ...

album ''Land of Secrets'' (2003) and became a member of Snowy White & The White Flames in 2005. In 2009, 2010 and 2013 he played with

's band. In November 2010 Middleton released the album ''One Thousand Sails''. In April 2013 Middleton released the album ''Two Cranes''.

Notes

References

*Bilyeu, Melinda; Cook, Hector; Hughes, Andrew Môn; Brennan, Joseph and Croban, Mark. ''The Bee Gees: tales of the brothers Gibb''. Omnibus Press (2004). *Moy, Ron. ''Kate Bush and Hounds of Love''. Ashgate Publishing Ltd (2007).

External links

*Eder, Bruce Max MiddletonBiography. Allmusic.com *Laney, Erokan
It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, But He Likes It
''Synthesis'' *Stringer, Bruce. (2000)

. ''The Jeff Beck Bulletin #8'' *Stringer, Bruce. (2002)

. ''The Jeff Beck Bulletin #10''

Snowy White Fanclub.
RL-2 current record label
{{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Max English keyboardists English session musicians 1946 births Living people People from Amersham The Jeff Beck Group members Hummingbird (band) members Streetwalkers members