Terry Rawlings
TERRY RAWLINGS’ love of music dates back to the late 1970s when he was employed as a post boy for Decca Records.
His first literary break came courtesy of Paul Weller in 1982, when he wrote his first booklet ‘All Our Yesterdays’, one of only two books ever published on the Jam leader’s short lived ‘Riot Stories’ imprint. He then established his career as a designer for bands signed to the Sire, Warner Brothers and Stiff record labels.
Terry came to prominence in 1994 with his highly controversial book ‘Who Killed Christopher Robin? The Truth Behind The Murder Of Brian Jones’ , in which he uncovered the real and now widely accepted truth behind the fate of the Rolling Stones founder and original guitarist. Eventually much of his material formed the basis of the script for the major feature film ‘Stoned’, directed by veteran British filmmaker Stephen Woolley. Terry was the project consultant during the filming in 2005.
Following the success of ‘Who Killed Christopher Robin’ Terry teamed up with archivist and researcher Keith Badman to write ‘Good Times Bad Times: The Definitive Diary of The Rolling Stones 1960-1969’. Terry and Keith pieced together the fascinating day by day rise to fame of the world’s greatest rock & roll band, aided by Tom Keylock, the Stones minder and driver throughout the 1960s. Tom’s first hand eyewitness accounts and personal photographs provided an exclusive insight into the band’s secretive inner circle.
Terry and Keith repeated the successful format of the Stones book with ‘Quite Naturally- The Small Faces: A Day-By-Day Guide To The Career Of A Pop Group’, then came the tongue in cheek ‘Empire Made: A Handy Parka Pocket Guide To All Things Mod’. Next up came the highly acclaimed and respected first edition of this book ‘Rock On Wood’, the first official biography of Ronnie Wood published in April 1999. The year 2000 saw the release of his best-selling labour of love ‘Mod – A Very British Phenomenon’ a lush coffee table book covering the roots and continued rise of the most enduring of Britain’s youth movements. 2003 saw the publication of ‘Harmony In My Head’, Terry’s biography of Steve Diggle, the legendary Buzzcocks guitarist which produced Steve’s hilarious firsthand account of the punk revolution of the 1970s and beyond.
Books on British Fashion followed including ‘My Favourite Shirt: A History Of Ben Sherman’,written with fellow author Paolo Hewitt and ‘A Century Celebrated: 100 Years Of Lee Cooper’. There was also the colourful and lavish ‘British Beat’, an encyclopaedic coffee table accompaniment to Omnibus Publishing’s best selling ‘Mod’ and then ‘Sniffin’ Glue – A Return To Year Zero’, written and compiled with the fanzines originators Mark Perry and Danny Baker.
In addition Terry has contributed many articles to most of the major music magazines as well as over a dozen documentary and DVD releases. Other activities include the setting up of London’s first gallery exclusively and solely dedicated to Rock Photography in Waterloo and (until his recent illness) he owned and managed ‘Filthys’, the successful live music venue in Twickenham, South West London. Currently in the pipeline are the forthcoming coffee table and e-book versions of ‘The British Invasion – The Pop Invasion of America’, a re-assessed ‘Who Killed Christopher Robin’ (complete with unseen privately shot video material relating to the guitarist’s mysterious death) and a ninety minute DVD release of the Making The Modern Scene benefit concert for Terry, filmed at the 100 Club in 2009 featuring Clash guitar hero Mick Jones, Sex Pistol Glen Matlock, Buzzcock Steve Diggle and Kink Mick Avory.