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Geoff Bridgford

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Geoff Bridgford
BornMelbourne, Australia
GenresPop
Instrument(s)Drums, guitar
Years active1960s–present
Formerly ofSteve and the Board, The Groove, Tin Tin, Bee Gees

Geoff Bridgford is a drummer from Melbourne, Australia. He was in pop group The Groove, and later worked with Steve Kipner in The Board and Tin Tin. For one year, he was an official member of Bee Gees, the last non Gibb brother to be in the group as an actual member.

Biography

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In 1967, Bridgford gave up his job working at an advertising agency, to join "Steve and the Board", the backing group for Steve Kipner, as drummer.[1] Most of the members knew The Bee Gees personally; Geoff replaced Colin Petersen as the Board drummer, as he left to become the Bee Gee's first official drummer.[2] Geoff joined just as the band ended; he played on Steve and The Board's final single, "Sally Was a Good Old Girl"/ "Good for Nothing Sue" in January 1967, but the group broke up soon afterwards, in May 1967.[2]

Geoff then formed The Groove.[3][4] They had a top ten in Australia in 1968 with "Soothe Me", and came in third place in the "Top group" category in the 1968 Go-Set Pop Poll.[5][6][7] In July that year they won the national final of the Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds competition with the prize including a trip to London. They relocated there in March 1969, and early the following year they changed their name to Eureka Stockade.

Bridgford and Steve Kipner then formed Tin Tin. The group have been given the status of one hit wonder as they only had one major selling record, "Toast and Marmalade for Tea", which was a top ten in Australia and went to number 11 in Canada in 1971.[8] Bridgford did not play on the record. They put out two albums and disbanded in 1973.

He played on Maurice Gibb's unreleased album, The Loner.[9] Geoff replaced Colin Petersen for a second time when in 1971, he was asked to join the Bee Gees. A year later, he left during the recording of their To Whom It May Concern album.[10] Bridgford was the last non Gibb brother to both join and leave the band as an official member,[11] after Geoff left the Bee Gees, the group chose not to replace him, and they were permanently a trio of Barry, Robin, and Maurice from that point onwards.

Many reasons led to Bridgford parting ways from the Gibb brothers: the brothers had drug and alcohol problems, and Geoff had problems working especially with Robin and Maurice, who had alcohol problems,[1] Geoff was already married with a daughter, and he left both of them to tour; while in New Zealand, he collapsed and had problems with alcohol to the point he "didn’t know who I (Geoff) was anymore".[1] After leaving the Bee Gees, he got his life back together, reunited with his wife and child, and took a career hiatus.[1]

Bridgford soon learned that the Gibb brothers wanted him to stay, and was approached by producer Robert Stigwood who told him "You’d be a millionaire in six months. I’ll put 25,000 pounds cash on the table right now".[1] Geoff declined the offer, stating that it was not the money.

Geoff was asked by Indigo Records to record a solo album in 1976. The record soon went defunct, and the album was never made.[12]

During his career hiatus, he travelled to India. He returned to Australia in 1982 and toured with Mark Gillespie.[1] He recorded albums with them, and eventually Bridgford began working on his own, producing his own solo material.[1] In 1990, he also began working in Los Angeles, and to this day shares his time between LA and Queensland.[13]

Bridgford now lives in Gold Coast, Queensland.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Geoff Bridgford: Beyond the Bee Gees". The Strange Brew. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  2. ^ a b c "MILESAGO - Groups & Solo Artists - Spectrum / Indelible Murtceps". www.milesago.com. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  3. ^ "Whammo Homepage". web.archive.org. 2004-08-03. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  4. ^ "MILESAGO - Groups & Solo Artists - The Groove". www.milesago.com. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  5. ^ Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
  6. ^ Note: Chart positions back calculated by Kent in 2005.
  7. ^ Kent, David Martin. "The place of Go-Set in rock and pop music culture in Australia, 1966 to 1974" (PDF). 12 & 13. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  8. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles – May 29, 1971" (PDF). 1971-05-29. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  9. ^ "1969: Gibb Songs". Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  10. ^ "The 10 best Bee Gees songs of all time". faroutmagazine.co.uk. 2021-09-01. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  11. ^ spirits79 (2013-05-06). "Bee Gees And Geoff Bridgford". Bee Gees BR (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-11-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Kimbo (2016-10-07). "HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN MUSIC FROM 1960 UNTIL 2000: GEOFF BRIDGFORD". HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN MUSIC FROM 1960 UNTIL 2000. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  13. ^ Fiona. "Bridgford, Geoff". Retrieved 2024-11-18.

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