Ross Elder - Drums
Born in Inverness, Scotland, Ross began playing drums when he was 15 after dabbling with the usual school offerings of trumpet and violin.
Having played with a couple of local bands, the lure of the music business was overpowering and aged 17, Ross headed down south where the "Streets are paved with gold"! Joining a functions/covers band almost immediately, Ross played rock' n roll, pop, rock standards in pubs and social clubs 2/3 nights a week, which gave him invaluable grounding,
The first significant break came when Ross answered an ad in Melody Maker in 1976 by a band by the name of FOXEY LADY, fronted by a female guitarist and female vocalist/rhythm guitarist. This band worked the pub/club circuit regularly in/around London and up and down the country. The vocalist was eventually replaced by a male singer by the name of GARY BARDEN (later to become frontman for the MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP).
During 1977 Ross met former UFO/HEAVY METAL KIDS' Argentinean keyboard player DANNY PEYRONEL at a late night musician's club in London called The Speakeasy and was invited to put a new band together with him. This band became THE BLUE MAX and in 1978 secured a major recording deal with CHARISMA RECORDS recording their debut album at the famous CHATEAU STUDIOS in France. The debut single, Dream Machine, taken from the album became "Record of the Week" on Radio 1. After extensive touring to promote the album and the follow-up-single, Ross was not happy within the band and left when he was offered the drum seat with THE HEAVY METAL KIDS, which featured frontman GARY HOLTON who played "Wayne" in the TV series "AUF WIEDERSEHEN PET", gigging with them constantly throughout Britain and Europe until their demise late 1979.
In 1980, Ross then teamed up again with former FOXEY LADY band mate GARY BARDEN in FRAZER NASH, being taken under the wings of EMI. The band also included SLEDGEHAMMER bassist JOHN JAY and MAGGIE BELL keyboard player PATRICK BROWN. After much more extensive gigging and recording, Gary was poached by MICHEAL SCHENKER for 'MSG'. The remaining members of Frazer Nash continued together for some time working with different vocalists in numerous recording projects, one of which was with singer/songwriter, PAUL VIGRASS, one half of the VIGRASS/OSBOURNE songwriting team who collaborated on the WAR OF THE WORLDS album.
Around this period, Ross was also involved with former RARE BIRD songwriter/drummer turned frontman MARK ASHTON. A single was released on Mark's own label with a handful of promotional gigs to follow it up, but nothing was to come of it.
In 1982, Ross replaced Rick Lee (TEN YEARS AFTER) and became a member of legendary Blues band CHICKEN SHACK featuring infamous guitarist/frontman STAN WEBB. This band gigged and toured Europe constantly, playing to capacity crowds, TV appearances and recording. During the three years that Ross was with them, he had the pleasure of working with many first rate musicians including saxophonist DAVE WITHROPE (SECRET AFFAIR), bassist ANDY PYLE (JUICY LUCY, SAVOY BROWN, BLODWYN PIG, MICK JAGGER, GARY MOORE's MIDNIGHT BLUES BAND), keyboard player DAVE WILKIE (PRETTY THINGS, PETER GREEN), guitarist/vocalist MILLER ANDERSON (MARC BOLAN, SPENCER DAVIS GROUP, IAN HUNTER..later to guest with DEEP PURPLE at the Royal Albert Hall, September 1999).
During this period, Ross also found time to record with Californian singer JOHN DOUKAS (EARTHQUAKE), which saw him reunited with FRAZER NASH bassist JOHN JAY. Around this time GARY BARDEN had left THE MICHAEL SCHENKER group and had begun working on a solo career. Ross recorded with him once again on his demos.
In between all this, Ross managed to squeeze in a few pub gigs with fun band LEND US A QUID whose line up boasted BAD COMPANY'S DAVE "BUCKET" COLWELL and FM's ANDY BARNETT.
1986 saw a change in direction for Ross when he replaced BE-BOP DELUXE's SIMON FOX in 9-piece soul band THE MOTIVATOR's, featuring THE Q-TIP's brass section, playing clubs and corporate functions up and down the country. 1n 1989, Ross moved to Buckinghamshire where he continued to work with various established bands including THE LES PAYNE band and american west coast covers band J.D. ALLSTARS.
1n 1993, Ross played a one-off, stand-in gig for Burn The chemistry was immediately apparent and Ross found himself a permanent member ever since.