Zoot Money biography

Quite simply the biggest character on the British rhythm and blues scene since
the early 1960s, Zoot Money was born George Bruno Money on 17 July 1942 in
Bournemouth, Dorset, England. Part of a large and noisy family, both his parents
were Italian immigrants, although his father's family (really called Money) were
originally English.

At school Zoot played the French horn and sang in the choir, but it wasn't long
before he heard the call from the pied pipers of rock and roll (aka Jerry Lee Lewis
and Ray Charles - what a combination!) and found himself transformed into a
leading light on Bournemouth's vibrant music scene.

In 1961 Zoot formed the first incarnation of the Big Roll band; over the next two
years the line-up settled into Andy Summers (guitar), Nick Newall (saxophone)
and Colin Allen (drums), with Zoot on piano and Hammond organ. This dramatis
personae continued for a few years with various interruptions. The first was
when Zoot, spotted by "British Blues Godfather" Alexis Korner's then manager,
was invited to play with Korner's seminal Blues Incorporated for a temporary
spell. Zoot decided to stay in London, and the other Big Rollers soon joined him.

Before long The Big Roll Band, alongside those other luminaries of the Soho
blues scene of the time, Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames and The Animals, had
become permanent fixtures at the Flamingo Club in Wardour Street. Zoot's
shows were famed far and wide for his combination of outrageous antics
(including "shocking" trouser activity that predated PJ Proby by several years),
tight musicianship and passionate vocal delivery. At that time, to be seen - let
alone to play - at the Flamingo was just about as achingly hip as it got. Two new
members, Paul Williams (bass/vocals) and Clive Burrows (saxophone), were
added to the line-up, and things really began to take off.

In the late 1960s the Big Roll Band metamorphosed for a while into the prototype
psychedelia outfit Dantalian's Chariot. Sharing bills with the likes of Pink Floyd
(Syd Barrett vintage), Soft Machine and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, there
were a lot of goings-on with white khaftans, lava lamps and sweet-smelling
incense at the most underground of clubs, but despite all this and an inspired
crop of songs, for various reasons no more than a single, Madman Running
Through The Fields, saw the light of day until the fabled Chariot Rising album
was released thirty years on in 1997.

A brief stint with Eric Burdon's American-based New Animals followed, and Zoot
decided to stay in the USA for a bit. At this point he began picking up acting
roles, starting a parallel career which has continued ever since with character
appearances in many high profile film and TV dramas.

On the musical side Zoot featured with the Grimms, Ellis, Juicy Lucy, Kevin
Coyne and Kevin Ayers before signing up in 1980 to Paul McCartney's label,
MPL, to record the Jim Diamond-produced Mr. Money.

Since the 1980s, during which he notably acted as musical director for "Tutti
Frutti", the BBC TV drama which first catapulted Hollywood favourites Emma
Thompson and Robbie Coltrane to fame, Zoot has continued to appear regularly worldwide, both as a featured artist with groups such as the Spencer Davis Band, Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames, Mick Taylor, Alan Price's Electric Blues Band, Humble Pie, The Blues Band, The Foundations and Geno Washington's Soul Train, and in his own right with a new-look Big Roll Band. Currently the Big Roll line-up is Mike Stock (bass), Martin Wild (drums), Gary Spacey Foote (sax) and Ronnie Johnson (guitar), although this is subject to variation. There have been sightings of Boz (Bad Company) Burrell on bass on occasion. Right now The Big Roll Band is enjoying a monthly residency with surprise guests at the famous Bull's Head in Barnes, West London, where last July the surprise was on Zoot when friends and family conspired to startle him for his sixtieth birthday. You can read a report of that event here.

In a departure from his usual haunts, 2003 sees Zoot embarking on a new solo venture, touring his new one-man blues show around Britain on an occasional basis.

In addition to his live music and acting Zoot is no mean songwriter - his song "It
Never Rains But It Pours" was recorded by Jimmy Witherspoon, for example, and
he has also written for such artists as Lulu, Maggie Bell and Long John Baldry.
His prodigious musical knowledge is also called on from time to time as a radio
programming consultant, and most recently Zoot has turned producer for two
very different artists: soul diva Ruby Turner ("Call Me By My Name" - Indigo
Records, 1999) and up-and-coming indie singer-songwriter Woodstock Taylor
("Road Movie" - Cuppa Records, 2002).

Zoot lives in Fulham, West London, with his wife, the redoubtable Ronni, and
their grown-up daughter Marisa.