He loved music, but his main hobby was electronics. At the age of 10 his father presented him with a radio and John spent a lot of time trying to broadcast, they spent a lot of time together as he was extremely close to his father.

In 1962 John went to High-School where he was a good student, but his marks where average. He learned only as much as was needed to get by. Being a huge fan of the Beatles he decided he wanted to learn to play the guitar properly. He saved some money and he bought his first acoustic guitar, which he started practicing intensely every day.

It didn't take long before he could play competantly and he rehearsed with schoolmates in his friends garage. He enjoyed the playing in a band and played along to records and listened for hours to tapes to learn the songs.

In 1962 it seemed like John's world fell apart when his father died. He had always had a close relashionship to his father and he found music was his only comfort. He put his all into it and hiis band become more important to him than ever before. In 1965 he founded his fist band called 'The Opposition'. John was rhytm-guitarist and they played covers of a mix of pop, soul and Tamla Motown Songs. In September the band had their first show at a party of a good friend. One Month later the first official gig took place and they went down a storm!

After a few gigs in November they tried out a new vocalist,and played many concerts in Leicester and in the surrounding area. In 1966 they had several changes to the band, a new member joined the band and the bass-player was released, which was a stepping stone for John. He had been practicing bass for a while and found his niche, so he splashed out and bought himself his first bass-guitar.

Because of the changes in the lineup the band was renamed into 'The New Opposition'. They played lots of gigs, every weekend, sometimes during the week in several Clubs, Pubs or at Parties or Weddings.

John swiched school again in September 1966. He was still interested in electronics, and in January 1967 the band was once again called 'Opposition'. During that year they played many gigs and they also included two Go-Go-Girls into their act. They earned good money for such an young band at the time. At the start of 1968 they had bookings for almost every weekend and they make £10 to £15 a gig.

In March they changed their name again into 'Art'. They where one of the first local bands to afford their own lightning-rig for their show.

At the age of 17 John finished school with an O-Level in eight subjects and three A-Grades. This  was enough to enlist at Chelsea College in London. Therefore he played his last concert with his band in August 1969.

In his first year at college John concentrated on his study and was not involved at all with music as a participant, though he did take along his acoustic-guitar just in case!

He enjoyed going to concerts and gigs at his and other colleges to watch the thriving misic scene and enjoyed seeing local bands. In October 1970 he saw a new band at the College of Estate Management and they called themself Queen, but the Band had no permanent impression on him.

At his second year at the college he realised how he much missed music and playing in a band. He didn't want to give it up completely. So at his wish his mother sent him his complete equipment and he played with his flatmate Peter. They also rehearsed with some friends and they had a little gig together.

At the beginning of 1971 a friend introduced him to three guys. Two of them where Roger Taylor and Brian May. He found out that they played in the band 'Queen',  who had failed to impress him the year before! He found  that they where searching for a bass-player. They asked him if he wanted to audition. A few days later he played and the rest is history.

With Queen John prooved to be a prolific songwriter with great hits like 'Another One Bites The Dust', 'I Want To Break Free', and 'Spread Your Wings'. John decided to retire from music after Freddie's death and played his last public performance at the tribute to Freddie in 1992.