Ted McKenna

Edward McKenna (10 March 1950 – 19 January 2019) was a Scottish drummer who played with The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Rory Gallagher, The Greg Lake Band, and The Michael Schenker Group.

He was the drummer of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band from 1972 to 1978, and then worked with artists including Rory Gallagher, 1978–1981; Greg Lake & Gary Moore in The Greg Lake Band, 1981–82; the Michael Schenker Group (MSG), 1982–84; Bugatti & Musker, 1982; Ian Gillan Band; during the Naked Thunder World Tour and worked on a solo album for Nazareth singer Dan McCafferty in 1975.

Before SAHB formed, McKenna started his career in a band called Rare Breed and also had a brief spell with Dream Police before joining up with Chris Glen, Zal Cleminson in Tear Gas where his cousin Hugh McKenna also joined.

Tear Gas had got to a point where they had got as big as they could get in Scotland and if they didn't make changes then the band would fold.

So they were introduced to Alex Harvey through their manager Eddie Tobin who at that time, Alex was looking for a band.

They got together at Thor Studios in Glasgow and the first song they played together was Midnight Moses and within a matter of minutes, they knew the band was going to work and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band was born.

SAHB as they were better known achieved more success as a live band as they were at one point the highest grossing live band in the UK and were touring with reputable acts such as Jethro Tull, The Who, and Slade.

They released eight albums in five years; the last being Rock Drill as the band had split just before the release of the album.

After SAHB, McKenna joined up with Irish Blues guitarist Rory Gallagher and performed on three albums.

The albums were Photo-Finish, Top Priority, and a live album Stagestruck.

McKenna was with Gallagher for three years before leaving the band to participate in what he called at the time a supergroup.

In 1981 after departing Rory Gallagher's band, McKenna joined forces with another Irish guitarist Gary Moore and bassist Greg Lake.

This band recorded two studio albums Greg Lake and Maneouvres.

They also released a live album recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon called Greg Lake In Concert.

This band was short lived and disbanded and from here McKenna met up with his old SAHB bassist Chris Glen at the 'Funny Farm' in London where all the touring musicians would hang out and was introduced to a German guitarist Michael Schenker who was looking for a drummer after the departure of Cozy Powell to Whitesnake.

It was here he joined the Michael Schenker Group

McKenna was now at the peak of his career, performing shows all over the world, and recorded two studio albums with MSG, Assault Attack, and Built To Destroy.

The band also released a live album Rock Will Never Die in 1984.

Shortly after the release of the live album, McKenna decided to leave MSG as Chris Glen had also departed due to Michael Schenker's behaviour involving drink and drugs.

After MSG, McKenna began doing session work for many bands and artists, as well as TV work.

Some of his work included Billy Rankin on his solo album Growing Up Too Fast which was a big hit in the US.

He also toured with Ian Gillan for a short period of time in 1990, alongside fellow former SAHB member, bassist Chris Glen.

In 1991, McKenna moved back to Scotland and it was here he put together a plan to form a new project which featured guest vocalists and were called The Party Boys.

This band originally had bassist Alan Thomson, most known for his work with John Martyn and David Gilmour, and keyboardist Ronnie Leahy who had worked with numerous acts over the years, including Jack Bruce, Jon Anderson, and Steve Howe.

McKenna also brought in SAHB guitarist Zal Cleminson to complete the musical line-up and had vocalists such as Stevie Doherty from Zero Zero, ex-Marillion vocalist Fish, and Nazareth lead vocalist Dan McCafferty who would all come in a various times to stand in as special guests.

Audience demand for SAHB songs in the set was high from the beginning.

Alan Thomson and Ronnie Leahy stepped down which opened the door for Chris Glen and Hugh McKenna to come on board.

It was at this point they decided to revive the SAHB name.

The new SAHB were riding high, performing shows throughout the UK and Europe, recorded a live album called "Live In Glasgow 93", but around the end of 1994 Stevie Doherty quit the band and was replaced for their final show with Stone The Crows vocalist Maggie Bell.

He lectured in Applied Arts at North Glasgow College from 1996 to 2011.

McKenna was born in Lennoxtown, Stirlingshire.

He was educated at St Patrick's High School, Coatbridge.

His studies included double bass lessons at school, several piano lessons, and a year under Glasgow big band veteran, Lester Penman.

After SAHB split, McKenna was back doing session work with various bands, and in 1998 he got what he termed "a real job".

He became a lecturer at North Glasgow College to teach young aspiring musicians about the music industry and the dangers of the music world if you don't know what you are doing.

McKenna also worked with Bugatti & Musker, performed several tracks on the album Phenomena which featured some of the top rock musicians at the time, and even formed his first ever solo project McKenna's Gold which featured a young and very talented guitarist Julian Hutson-Saxby who would later replace Zal Cleminson in SAHB in 2008.

McKenna's Gold band also had bassist Alex Bowler, keyboardist Richard Franklin, and vocalist Charles Bowyer.

This project soon disbanded when McKenna was approached by Womack & Womack in which he performed live shows as well as perform on the music video for their hit single Teardrops where he also appeared live on Top Of The Pops to promote the single.

After the tour with Womack & Womack finished, McKenna began working with the legendary Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan alongside his old pal and SAHB/MSG bassist Chris Glen for a World Tour of Ian's solo album Naked Thunder.

This tour lasted around a year.