Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan
Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan (March 2, 1943 – November 28, 2005), known professionally as Tony Meehan.He was a founding member of the British group the Drifters, with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, which would evolve into the Shadows. He played drums on early Cliff Richard and the Shadows hits and on early Shadows instrumentals. Meehan was professionally nicknamed "The Baron" by his many admirers and friends within the British pop-rock music industry. He is believed to have influenced many thousands of teenage boys and adolescents to take up music as a career, including Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac, as a result of his iconic film performance in Cliff Richard's film The Young Ones. His drumming style (cf. "Bongo Blues", "Apache") is noticeably different from that of other drummers that the Shadows employed during 1958–2010 such as Brian Bennett, Clem Cattini and Trevor Spencer. Meehan left the Shadows in October 1961 to work as an arranger/producer and session drummer for Joe Meek. He teamed again with Harris (who had also left the Shadows and moved to Decca) and as a duo had success with the instrumental "Diamonds" which also included Jimmy Page on acoustic rhythm guitar.
Meehan briefly played with the Shadows some years later when Brian Bennett was in hospital. At one point, John Rostill was in hospital at the same time, and the Shadows were playing live with Brian Locking on bass and Meehan on drums. Meehan quit the music industry in the 1990s for a major career change as a psychologist, as a result of a lifelong hobby/interest. He worked in London at a local college lecturing in psychology until his death. On November 29, 2005, BBC News quoted Bruce Welch as saying that Meehan had died the previous day, as a result of head injuries, following a fall down the main staircase at his London flat in Maida Vale. He was 62 years old.
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