The response to the signed Robin Le Mesurier book competition was amazing,one of the highest amount of entries we have ever had.
The lucky winner drawn from the SMILER litter collection bag [Womble joke for anyone who didn’t get it!!] Is Vaughan Bendall from Essex in the UK who correctly answered that ‘Sweet Surrender’ was the 1983 hit written by Robin and Rod.
Well done Vaughan,Robin will be sending out your personal copy very soon
We are sure that this is going to be a book most SMILER members will want to read as the competition proved, Robin is one of the most popular band members to have played in Rod’s band.
At the end of January 1981, Rod summoned band members Gary Grainger, Phil Chen and Kevin Savigar for an American television appearance to push the new single Passion. The response of Grainger and Savigar was far from enthusiastic. Rod was furious and immediately sacked all three. This gave him the excuse he needed to inject new blood into the band. Out went Billy Peek to be replaced by Robin, Grainger was replaced by Danny Johnson and Chen by Jay Davis. Kevin Savigar later re-joined! When the new line-up made their debut in the Far East during May, they played in a noticeably heavier style than the previous band. It soon emerged that drummer Carmine Appice was behind many of the changes in an attempt to give the band a more rock based sound.
Robin was also in the Faces re-union line up at Hurtwood Park in 2015
The book also has a foreword by Sir Rod Stewart CBE and you can now buy copies from
https://www.bookguild.co.uk/bookshop-collection/non-fiction/art/charmed-rock-n-roll-life/
Photo Mike Walton