Garry Cosgrove (drums)

Garry was born in a small mining town called Ashington in 1949 and, as he grew up, he was introduced to music by his father, who loved jazz and pop music. Garry remembers his dad having records by Little Richard and Duane Eddy and there was always music being played on the radio. When Garry was around 10, at the encouragement of his dad, he began to learn the clarinet. In 1963 the family moved to a nearby town called Whitley Bay. Garry was still playing the clarinet, but in 1963 the country was being swept by Beatlemania and once Garry saw Ringo Starr on TV that was it! The clarinet was out and the drums were in!

At his new school Garry met first Dave O'Donnell, then Steve May and by the end of 1963 they got together in a group playing instrumental music, because none of them thought they could sing! By 1964 they had met up with vocalist Johnny Claydon and bassist Robbie Robinson – The Gravel Camp were formed. The group was active between early 1965 and that summer when the boys in the band went their separate ways. Garry continued to play the drums for various bands in the north east and then later in the London area in the early 70's. He moved back to the north in 1973 and formed a band with Dave O'Donnell and subsequently played in other bands, until he once again moved to London in the late 70's. While pursuing a career in sales and management Garry continued to play music with various bands. The music was generally rock, pop and R’n’B and he played with musicians, who are still friends today.

Garry didn't play drums for almost 11 years between 1986 and 1997, when his then wife bought him a set of drums as a gift and he started playing again. Garry still has that kit along with another kit in St. Kitts, where he now lives and still plays!

The Gravel Camp 2000

In 2000 Dave O'Donnell was visiting the north east to see his son, who was studying in the area. At that same time he and Garry were able to meet up with Steve, who now lived in Canada and was in England visiting his daughters. They got together to enjoy each others company and to reminisce about their time together in The Gravel Camp. While they were in England they were able to re-record the song they had done back in 1965. It was great to play together again and the new version of the song came out just fine! Once again, Dave and Steve went back to their working lives and The Gravel Camp was no more....again!

The Gravel Camp 2015 to present

Garry had moved to the Caribbean for work in 2007 and continued to play the drums. In 2015 he was living in St Martin and met an English guitarist called Lee Hardesty. Together they played regularly at a local bar called Lagoonies. One day while out for a drive, Garry was thinking about his days in various bands over the years and the beginning of a song came into his mind. This song was very much rooted in the old R’n’B days and as more words came, Garry drove home quickly to write them down before he forgot them! He showed the words to Lee and they went into a local recording studio called Giant and recorded the song between them. Garry then decided to make a video for the song and, in tribute to the style of the song and its inspiration, he decided to record it under the name The Gravel Camp. Over the next four years Garry wrote three more songs and recorded them along with other songs, until he had enough for an album release. Once again all of these songs were recorded as The Gravel Camp. The albumcalled ...finally! was released in 2020.

Garry's next Gravel Camp project is to record an album of songs that the original group used to play back in '65. These songs will all be covers of songs by artists, who inspired them back then such as Jimmy Reed, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. Garry hopes to have it finished by the end of 2021. The Gravel Camp lives on!

Garry recording Isn’t it a shame, 2016

Garry with Lee Hardesty on guitar at Lagoonies, 2017