Whitehead, Alan

He is a drummer and businessman, sometimes credited as Alan “Noddy” Whitehead, who began drumming in 1966 for Crispian St. Peters when he was 19 years old. Soon he was performing with other groups such as The Attack and performed on their debut single “Try It”.

In 1967 he joined the Scottish band The Marmalade after answering an advert for a drummer after they had relocated to London. This would be a turning point for his career. when the band became resident at the Marquee Club and their recordings were soon hitting the charts. These hits, including two No. 1s, include “Loving Things”, “Wait for me MaryAnn” and the chart-topping “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and the internationally chart-topping “Reflections of My Life”. The band also went on world tours to promote their music.

He left The Marmalade in 1978 to pursue a career in management and set up his own company which got it’s first production contract with EMI Records. From that time on his company saw success when they managed popular acts such as Amazulu, Belle Stars, Lipps Inc., Mel and Kim and Modern Romance.

In later years he set up and managed table dancing clubs and more recently ran Chubby Lama Management with Sasi Langford. With that company he saw further success when the Global Song Writing Competition was won by the band Shoot the Preacher, which he represented .

Recordings he has performed on during his career include About Time! by The Attack, The Cops ‘N Robbers by The Cops ‘N Robbers and BBC Sessions, Heaven’s Above and The Only Light On My Horizon Now by The Marmalade along with various compilations.

As an author he has published the books Don’t Shoot the Messenger Book One and Don’t Shoot the Messenger Book Two on the teaching of Lao Tzu.

The Marmalade recordings
Falling Apart at the Seams (Tony Macaulay)
Target (TGT 105) UK single

Sources:

Whitehead, Alan (1946/7-Present)

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