Rod Harrod

ROD HARROD -biography

Rod Harrod was ‘IN’ at the birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the UK before he’d blown out the candles for his 12th birthday.

Within a couple of years he was writing a music column for his local papers around the Welsh capital, Cardiff. He saw most of the new one-night-stand music shows that hit town from the Beatles to Basie and the City's 'own' Shirley Bassey; Ella Fitzgerald to the Everly Brothers, the Platters to Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and many, many more.

He wasn’t Jewish, gay or from the ‘Pool. So he didn’t get the PR job in the Beatles office. Instead, while still 18, he joined the Fleet Street staff of Disc, one of four National weekly music papers. Rod’s double-page gossip column put him on the night-beat with all the fast-rising stars.

This was only a short step to creating the most successful musician’s hideaway and exclusive ‘IN’ club in the world in ‘65 - the Scotch of St James.

He provided opportunities for a number of now household names, including the début of the subject of this first book.

Before he'd reached 21 Britain’s Sunday People referred to him as one of the most “IN” young men in ‘60s Swinging London.

He’s mixed with Royalty, riches and many in rags. He's been a friend of the Stars - from the great to the 'great unwashed,' from the brilliant to the outright bizarre.

Rock ‘n’ Roll, original R. & B, Reggae, Rock, Soul, Skiffle, the Beat Boom and dozens of other genres, styles and fads have formed a unique sound-track to his life.

“I WAS THERE” he says. Rod didn't read about it, or hear about it from others. He didn't research it in libraries or on line, he experienced it. Now, for the first time he’s writing about it. Not just reporting the facts but giving a running commentary of how the world was at the time it happened.

He’s been the insider, as friend and confident, looking out at how the rest of the world observed the ‘Pop Bubble.’ But as a non-musician he's been an outsider, observing the people, their music, their ‘ups’ and their ‘downs.’

He’s giving his unique ‘insider’ information and personal impression, giving the truth about what actually happened.

In this first of a series of eBooks, ‘Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll – I WAS THERE’ he takes readers through the highs and the lows, the good times and the horrendous climax to the life of the world’s first ‘King of the Electric Guitar.’

JIMI HENDRIX – 50 Years On – The Truth

You may have heard differently but he emphasises, and proves, this is not a version of the truth, or an opinion or a fantasy. It is the truth because, as he says, ‘I WAS THERE.’