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Dubbed "the best guitarist ever to come out of Wales" by BBC Radio,
Mickey Gee remains best remembered for his inspired collaboration with
Dave Edmunds, lending his virtuoso fingerpicking approach to the smash "I Hear You Knocking." Born in Cardiff on December 31, 1943,
Gee was working in a local brewery when he was asked to relocate to London and join beat group the Senators -- soon after his arrival, manager
Gordon Mills rechristened the act
Tom Jones & the Playboys in honor of its charismatic, powerhouse singer. After another name change, this time to the Squires, the band supported
the Rolling Stones at the 100 Club and in August 1964 issued its Decca Records debut single "Chills and Fever," which attracted scant attention. Around the same time,
Mills was commissioned to compose a song for singer
Sandie Shaw -- the Squires demoed the resulting tune, titled "It's Not Unusual," and when
Shaw's management turned it down,
Mills convinced Decca that it was the perfect vehicle to introduce
Jones as a solo act. Re-recorded without the Squires' involvement and released in January 1965, "It's Not Unusual" topped the U.K. pop charts two months later and launched
Jones' decades-long career. Without their singer, the remaining Squires parted ways, and
Gee returned to South Wales to play the local club circuit. He also mentored the up-and-coming Cardiff pop group
Amen Corner.
Gee came back to London in 1968 to join
Joe Cocker's
Grease Band, collaborating with the blue-eyed soul shouter on an arrangement of
the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends." The song soon emerged as
Cocker's signature, but
Gee's tenure with the group proved brief, and
Jimmy Page instead contributed guitar to
Cocker's hit recording of the tune.
Gee next teamed with
Edmunds on the heels of the singer/guitarist's stint with the blues-rock trio
Love Sculpture -- both men shared a deep admiration for the fingerpicked guitar style pioneered by American icons
Merle Travis,
Chet Atkins, and
James Burton, and when
Edmunds recorded his 1970 cover of the
Smiley Lewis R&B classic "I Hear You Knocking,"
Gee was a natural to lend its memorable lead guitar intro. "I Hear You Knocking" topped the British charts that Christmas season and reached the U.S. Top Five as well. The song was recorded at Monmouth's fledgling Rockfield Studios, and in the years to follow
Gee was a session fixture there, in 1971 contributing to I'm No J.D., the second album by neo-rockabilly act
Shakin' Stevens. He and
Stevens reunited frequently in the years to follow, reaching their creative and commercial zenith in the early '80s when
Stevens enjoyed an unexpected run of chart success via smash hits like "This Ole House," "Green Door," and "Oh Julie."
In 1977
Gee teamed with fellow session veterans
B.J. Cole and
Mick Weaver to form the short-lived Memphis Bend, paying homage to their rockabilly and country heroes with the album Good Rockin' Tonite. Although he also assumed lead vocal duties on the session,
Gee was by all accounts a humble and quiet man who eschewed the limelight as much as possible. In 1981 he resumed his partnership with
Edmunds for the album
Twangin', followed a year later by
D.E. 7th. During the 1985 concert event Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session, honoring the great
Carl Perkins,
Gee more than held his own in company including
Edmunds,
George Harrison, and
Eric Clapton. That same year he joined
Willie and the Poor Boys, the all-star pickup band led by
Rolling Stones bassist
Bill Wyman, and even contributed his own "Revenue Man (White Lightning)" to their self-titled debut LP. In the final years of his life
Gee returned to his favorite haunts along the Cardiff pub circuit, regularly playing venues like the Royal Oak -- for the most part a solo performer, on occasion he played with bassist
Martin Ace and erstwhile
Man drummer
Terry Williams.
Gee died January 21, 2009, following a long battle with emphysema -- he was 65 years old. ~ Jason Ankeny