In Memory of Roy Davenport

ROY DAVENPORT
1938-1997

Born, Manchester, 24th August, 1938, George Roy Davenport was educated at Chorlton Grammar School and trained as an accountant – which he hated. He started playing the electric guitar at 19, and during his National Service, played alto saxophone and bass guitar in the Durham Light Infantry band. After six years in the army, he bought himself out, playing and recording with the Kontinentals, a band in Hong Kong, whose albums outsold the Beatles there. Roy returned to England in 1966, marrying his childhood sweetheart, Jean, in 1967. He continued playing, composing and arranging, with a little accountancy on the side. Jean recalls that he was loath to wash dishes, maintaining that ‘Henry Mancini’s wife would never ask him’.

Roy arranged music for the Stockport Stage Sound, a youth jazz band, who appeared on the Granada TV show Celebrations in 1983, Ronnie Scott playing with the band, Roy the bassist. Frank Zappa was Roy’s idol and he amassed what is probably the largest collection of albums, CDs and books of Zappa in the UK. Roy spoke fluent German, some Cantonese and Swedish, was a Times crossword addict, wrote poetry, and was an active member of the MU for 28 years.