Get into the Povey grooves…
ell, The Joint Was A Rockin’, going round 
and round…
Yep, piano players don’t come much more rock’n’roll than Gavin Povey, who’s bringing his band to The Arklow Bay Hotel on July 6th in aid of the Wicklow Hospice Garden – tickets here. 
However around the age of 12, I discovered rhythm & blues and particularly Elmore James, having found The Mike Vernon Show on BBC Radio 1 in the late ’60s. Although I listened to a lot of guitarists I never changed from the piano. I also discovered a lot of swing music in my Dad’s 78 record collection – one record being Boogie Woogie Man by Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons, which knocked me for six! I flirted with various bands at school, but turned pro at 16 and joined a nightclub band in Southampton playing six nights a week, five hours a night. After that I did various Palais bands (the equivalent of Show Bands, but resident), holiday camp seasons, etc.
“Eventually, I met up with John Moss and Lu Edmonds from the Damned, who were forming their own band. Although it was the punk era (1978), The Edge were more of a New Wave rock band. That lasted a few years, until I worked on some singles and an album with Kirsty MacColl and did a tour of Ireland in 1981. She was on Stiff Records, where I ended up playing with various artists, basically becoming a session player in London. 
I consequently worked with Shakin’ Stevens, Dave Edmunds, Graham Parker, Dion, and Steve Cropper, along with a load of different artists on one-off concerts and TV shows.