Mick was a singer, bass player, and songwriter born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in 1953. As a youngster, he sang and played guitar on an obscure (but collectable) album by heavy rock band The Equinox (video here) on Boulevard records in 1973. Equinox were a short lived British quartet from Chesterfield who came together in 1972. The band spent most of their first year on the club circuit before a chance encounter with the folks at Boulevard Records, a well-known budget label with a nasty reputation for fleecing their artists and releasing substandard product. Naive, the band agreed to record their album (in the engineers basement) for a mere £25 per member. “Hard Rock” hit store shelves in early 1973. The band were quite surprised to find that the individuals depicted on the cover were not even in the band. Boulevard explained that they were suffering from a cardboard shortage and had decided to recycle some old rejected covers for the “Hard Rock” release.

He played bass and sang on the album “Craze Of Yours” by Protocol (MHD Records 1983).  He was a regular in the Alan Charnley Band – and worked many times alongside Alan, editor of a local newspaper. I played guitar on various sessions and gigs with them. Below a spoof newspaper article I subtly edited for him.

Other bands he was involved with included

Fixer
Toshrollo (with Alex Oliver and Danny Spencer)
Side Effects (1980 vocals)
HellHound (with Alex Oliver)
Shedd’s On Fire
Pig’n’Aif  (2009 with guitarist Pete Bangert)
ChinWig (2008/9 with guitarist Pete Bangert)
Phoenix Rising (vocals with guitarist Pete Bangert)

Long-term collaborator Pete Bangert writes: “I am in the process of mixing and finalising the last complete piece of work Mick and I did together. I’m hoping to have that out in the New Year. It’s a real shame that he has never heard the finished article. He was very excited about the material in production”.

You’ll struggle to find anyone with a bad word to say about Mick, a real gentleman, who always had time to chat. A true Sheffield legend.

Nick Robinson