The son of a lorry driver and a sweet factory cleaner who was born in West Ham, London, before leaving for college in Glasgow where he developed a passion, originally for traditional folk music, before being inspired by Bob Dylan and later by Ralph McTell with whom he carved a close friendship.

His debut as a support act for Steeleye Span on a British tour with in 1974 led to his becoming a support act for such acts as Supertramp, Jethro Tull, Joan Armatrading, David Essex, Tom Jones and Elkie Brooks through the 70s.

At the end of the decade, having already secured his own BBC Radio 2 series for six years, he joined Capital Radio in London, where he presented the first ever folk programme on British commercial radio. He then joined LWT and so began his television career.

After 11 years in television he opted to concentrate more on his music and and a quieter life in Salisbury with his two daughters Polly and Rosie. He now composes soundtrack music in his digital recording studio and performs in smaller intimate venues.

His compositions include the audio book music for Bill Bryson’s best-seller The Road To Little Dribbling, while his Animal Alphabet poems are used as English Teaching Aids in 14 countries and his guitar instrumentals are used on numerous TV productions.