Tony Meehan - Death

Death

On 29 November 2005, BBC News quoted Bruce Welch as saying that Meehan had died the previous day, as a result of head injuries, following a fall down the main staircase at his London flat in Maida Vale. Meehan died at St Mary's Hospital South Wharf Road, Paddington, London.

"As the drummer with the Shadows, Tony Meehan helped to lay the foundations for British rock’n’roll, both backing Cliff Richard and on a long string of instrumental hits recorded under the group’s own name. John Lennon once claimed that before Cliff and the Shadows, there had been nothing worth listening to in British music. As the first backing band to emerge as stars in their own right, they were early trailblazers for the beat-group boom that eclipsed them." - Shadows drummer who became an A&R man for Decca - The Times (Obituaries), Nov 30th, 2005.

At his death, Meehan was twice married (divorced once) and is survived by six children.