User:Roymack

Roy Mack (born Patrick Royston McMahon 30th September 1944) is a Welsh professional musician (guitar, vocals, piano, ukulele). He played many types of music in many different bands before going solo in 1988. Having been voted Greenall's "Entertainer of the Year", on that brewery's pub and club circuit in 1996, he decided to change his mucical direction and concentrate on playing the Blues.

Biography
Roy, as he has always been known, despite being christened Patrick Royston,is the son of Laura and Patrick McMahon, a professional soccer player whose clubs included West Ham United, Wrexham and Stoke City, where he played alongside Sir Stanley Matthews. Roy was born in Wrexham, North Wales where his family lived in Rhosddu. When he was four the family moved to the large, post-war, housing estate of Queen's Park where he lived until his marriage in 1968. At the age of ten he passed the scholarship examination (11+) which enabled him to study at Grove Park Grammar School for Boys. This had a profound effect, not only on his education but also on his musical career. It was at this educational establishment that he was to make friends with those who would later help him form his first group - The Renegades. With classmates John Andrews (Vocals), Steve Lloyd (Drums) and other friends, John Halstead (Rhythm Guitar) and Kevin Hughes (Bass Guitar), lead guitarist Roy founded The Renegades in 1959 playing their first gig in May that year.

Early Career
Over the following few years the band underwent many changes in personel and a few changes of name and style.In the "Merseybeat" boom of the sixties the band, by now called Dave Eager & The Beavers, played as support to many of the famous names of the era, working mostly in North Wales and Liverpool. At that time Roy began to take an interest in, and play, the blues which was to become a major influence much later in his career. As a matter of interest the original members of the band, along with most of their replacements, are still close friends as are very many of their fans! The band went their seperate ways in 1965 and Roy joined the Ray Irving Showband as lead giutar and vocalist. In 1968 Roy abandoned music for three years whilst he attended Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, Lancashire, from where he graduated, in 1971, as a teacher of Physical Education and Geography. He remained in Lancashire for a further four years teaching in St. Helens and Warrington before returning to North Wales in 1975. In 1978 he re-joined Ray Irving's band. In 1983 he and drummer Phil Davies left to form "Speakeasy" a very versatile band whose styles range from comedy to rock. Whilst with this band he began songwriting and contributed most of the songs on the band’s first (and only!) album - "Destiny". The band made appearances on both radio and television IN 1988 he left Speakeasy to go solo and turn full time professional spending the next nine years touring the circuit of pubs and clubs all over Britain and also toured on the continent a number of times, playing a mixture of blues, ballads, instrumentals, rock’n’roll, etc. In 1996 he was voted "Entertainer of the Year". This was a "mixed blessing" as by this time Roy had tired of the club circuit and had made a decision to return to playing blues. The award brought offers of much work his way but of the type he no longer wanted to do so most of it was turned down in favour of getting back to playing the blues. Using the prize money to fund a long cherished dream trip to the USA to find his musical roots, Roy was lucky enough to meet one of his all time heroes, Buddy Guy at the latter’s "Legends" club, in Chicago. Roy had taken part in an onstage "jam session" and was amazed to be greeted, as he left the stage, by Buddy Guy himself who told Roy how much he had enjoyed his singing and playing. The two chatted (mostly about basketball!) for a good while and Buddy gave Roy a "Legends" baseball cap. Roy was feeling on top of the world, not knowing what fate had in store for him.

The Accident
After undertaking his first, short, blues tour in July 1997 Roy took a break and went on holiday with his family. On August 11, he was involved in an horrific car crash in the South of France in which his wife was killed. Coming round from a coma nine days later he was told of his wife’s death and that he would never walk again. Thirteen months and fourteen operations later he was released from hospital and began the long fight back to fitness and the rebuilding of both his life and his career.

A New Dawn
Roy spent the next two years attending a fitness centre regularly, working on his health and fitness.The new millennium saw the re-birth of Roy’s career. During the two years it took him to fight his way back to fitness he also spent his time writing, rehearsing and recording which enabled him to return to where he belonged - in front of audiences, playing the Blues! He also recorded his first solo album, "Shades of Blues",produced by Kevin Hughes and with some of the piano tracks played by Derek Crewe, both former members of The Renegades! Most of his work, over the following two years, was in the U.S.A. and, in the aftermath of 9/11, Roy undertook, in 2002, a "Route 66 Blues Tour" all the proceeds of which were donated to the 9/11 Fund. After this tour Roy decided to take a break from touring having realised that the legacy of his injuries were causing too much pain.

The Later Years
The ongoing demise of local live music in the U.K. has led Roy, and many others like him, to "retire" from gigging. However, having his own recording studio means that he is never far away from the musc he loves and is now spending his time recording. He has recently finished a C.D.which had been started just before the accident and had been forgotten about until he rediscovered the master in mid-2008. The C.D. entitled "Then & Now" charts Roy's musical journey from the fifties right through to the nineties.