HISTORY OF GROSVENOR

ROAD STUDIOS

In celebration of GRS’s founder John Taylor’s 100th birthday, we join Richard Loftus in conversation with Jez Collins, founder of Birmingham Music Archives and John Taylor’s son, Richard Taylor, who grew up living in Grosvenor Road Studios, as they celebrate the legacy of this iconic place.

Grosvenor Road Studios, formerly the renowned Hollick & Taylor Studios, has been Birmingham’s best keep secret for over sixty years. During that period, many firsts have been recorded here including: All the original sound effects for Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds Are Go, the fabulous brass band rendition of Brighouse and Ratrick’s Floral Dance, The first Brum Beat album, Jasper Carrott’s Funky Moped.

Grosvenor Road Studios, was acquired by Black Voices in 2003 with the support of Arts Council England. The studios are managed by a voluntary board which brings diverse skills and knowledge of the music industry and community development.

Tune in below to the interview:

The fabric of the original house dates to 1872. At this time Handsworth was part of Staffordshire, but in 1911, with a population of 70,000, Handsworth became a major suburb of Birmingham.The Taylors bought the house in 1945 and converted part of the house into a recording studio soon afterwards. It became known as Hollick & Taylor studios when John Taylor teamed up with Charles Hollick, a technical engineer with whom he had previously worked.

The studio has been changed and refurbished several times over the past sixty years, adapting to suit the demands of the music industry and accommodating new changes in technology.

Following the death of Charles Hollick, the studio changed its name to Grosvenor Recording Studio Complex and continued producing high quality recordings until the beginning of the 21st Century.

Grosvenor Road Studios, was acquired by Black Voices in 2003 with the support of Arts Council England. The studios are managed by a voluntary board which brings diverse skills and knowledge of the music industry and community development.

We spoke to Jez Collins, founder of Birmingham Music Archives and Richard Taylor, former resident of the studios and son of Hollick and Taylor’s John Taylor about the legendary studios.

What was it like to live at Birmingham’s very own Abbey Road, Grosvenor Road Studios?

Richard Taylor: Both my brother, Chris and I both kind of feel now “I wish we’d done more in there as children.” I think if I was there now, I’d just sleep in there and be in there all the time. It was an amazing thing to be part of it and I’m just so proud of it. It’s great now that it’s becoming a piece of history.

There’s been a huge number of artists to go through and music to come out of the studios, what are some of the highlights?

Jez Collins: It’s played host to people from John Bonham, of Led Zeppelin, was first ever recorded at Grosvenor Road Studios. That in itself is a massive piece of music, global music history. Noddy Holder, when he was with Steve Brett and The Mavericks – first song recorded at Grosvenor Road Studios – and obviously Noddy would go on to be fronting Slade. That in itself is a huge piece of music history. All the Brum Beat bands who were there, who recorded there: The Move, Spencer Davies Group, The Moody Blues. Into the 70s, you’d have the reggae bands like Steel Pulse who would come and rehearse and record there.

For me, one of the most interesting parts is Jean Taylor who also worked at the studio. For me, she’s a bit of a forgotten woman of Electronica. At Grosvenor Road Studios they did the sound effects for Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds and, for me, Jean is our Delia Derbyshire. Really important and very unusual to see women in recording studios anyway, and even more so working the machines, recording the sound effects and putting things on to tape. It’s such an important place and space, Grosvenor Road Studios and the Taylors – as a family, all of them – are an incredibly important piece of Birmingham music history and their contribution to our music culture.

Richard: There was always odd celebrities coming through. Like The Krankies. I remember meeting The Krankies. I don’t know how old I would have been. Gordon Jackson, from The Professionals, that was a big thing when he came through.

And I can remember when we did the launch for Cliff Richard. He did an album launch there for the “I’m Nearly Famous” album. And I can remember being thrown out of there many times with Mum saying “Would you stay out of there, Richard!” I just wanted to go in there and see what was going on!

How did growing up at the studios impact your life?

Richard: When Dad was thinking about retiring, both Chris and I didn’t want to be stuck in the studio. We concentrated more on a career as live musicians. The studio side of things, of course, is always there and plays a part in my work every day as a live musician. I’ve carried on doing writing and production as well as being a live musician.