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Adrian Kerridge has worked in the recording industry for over 50 years, as an engineer, producer and studio owner. His career stretches from his first studio job with IBC studios, to working with legends such as Joe Meek and Dave Clark to owning Lansdowne and CTS with composer/conductor Johnny Pearson.

He was also responsible for recording UK bands that spearheaded the invasion of the US charts, artists such as Adam Faith, Acker Bilk, Gene Pitney and The Dave Clark Five.

It was his ownership of Lansdowne and CTS with Johnny Pearson that lead to a prodigious output of material from chart successes to advertising jingles as well as numerous TV and film soundtracks. Kerridge has garnered some 300 Platinum, Gold and Silver discs across multiple musical genres.

In 1998 he was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Professional Recording Services in recognition of his lifetimes service to the industry, an awards bestowed on Sir George Martin the previous year.

Early Years

Born in 1938, he lived a mile from Northolt Aerodrome in Harewood Avenue. His father was a member of the Christ Church, Roxeth Hill church choir and often composed choral work on the piano in the front room.It was from his father that the young Kerridge gained a rudimentary knowledge of how to play a piano but more importantly for his later career learned to read music, understand scores. This was put to good practice in his years as a choir boy at Christ Church, Harrow Middlesex. He attended Ealing Grammar from the age of 11 but evenings were spent building amplifiers and tinkering with electronics rather than learning French verbs. This lack of academic application lead him to achieve just one O level pass in woodwork so Kerridge decided to leave school at 15. In 1953 he expanded what had been a Saturday job into a full time occupation as manager of the South Harrow Music shop.

Managing the record shop as well as a course in electrical engineering merely confirm what Kerridge knew already: he wanted to make records. In a bold move he called Alan Stagg, manager of IBC Studios, and talked his way into an interview. Kerridge started work at IBC in May 1954 as a junior recording engineer. He was strongly influenced by the technical staff who worked at IBC. Contemporaries included Jimmy Locke, Eric Tomlinson and Peter Harris. But his main influence was the legendary Joe Meek.

IBC and Joe Meek

As a new engineer he was expected to wear white coats and were general dogsbodies: sweeping studio floors and collecting cigarette butts. However, part of the job was to set up the studio layout and place the microphones.

IBC recorded for Phillips Records, Pye Nixa and Polygon before those companies had their own studios as well as Denis Preston’s Record Supervision Jazz Label.. IBC also recorded artistes for other record labels including Shirley Bassey, Petula Clark, Frankie Vaughan, Sir Harry Seacombe, the Humphrey Littleton Band and Laurie Johnson’s orchestra. It is a little known fact that he recorded Shirley Basseys first single ‘Burn My Candle’.

It was during this time at IBC that Kerridge worked closely with Joe Meek. Kerridge describes him ‘as an enormous but volatile talent’. As his assistant Kerridge spent large amounts of time on the road with Joe recording the shows for Radio Luxemburg –‘he was greatly underestimated by others at IBC as he invented very creative pioneering recording techniques’. Kerridge acknowledges that Joe was ahead of the curve, pushing technical boundaries. Joe Meek is now widely recognised as the father of close microphone placement techniques that is still used today in popular music recordings.

“Joe was a true recording balance engineer and an imaginative artist…Joe made records that sold and that was why he was in so much demand by producers".

National Service

Kerridge’s career at IBC was put on hold in 1957 when he was called up for National Service. He joined the Royal Signals in Catterick, North Yorkshire. The Army offered the opportunity to attend external courses so Kerridge attended one at Newcastle University on microwaves, wave guides and microwave transmissions. For the last six months of National Service he was transferred to the BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) in Smith Square, London. A lot of recording was done at BFBS, including radio dramas for distribution to all overseas forces bases. One such recording session involved a young singer called Matt Monro, and ended with a trip to local pub for a pint. Towards the end of his time at BFBS Denis Preston (IBC) came in to record a production presentation and offered Kerridge a job at his new studio, Lansdowne, in Holland Park, London where Joe Meek was already working. Kerridge joined Lansdowne in 1959.

Lansdowne: Early Years

Lansdowne Recording Studios Ltd was incorporated on 6th June 1958 and was located in the basement of Lansdowne House, an imposing 8 floor former artist’s residence that dated from 1904. Joe Meek found the studio, previously used by an amateur cellist for his own recordings which was then re-fitted to accommodate the new studio technology. Kerridge comments “Preston sought to make Lansdowne the best equipped studio for sound recording in London and Europe. A big ask but it worked. Clients came flooding in to work in this astonishing new studio”.

Lansdowne always followed a policy of keeping constantly up to date: re-equipping technically but also refurbishing and re-decorating. Clients of the studio in those early days included Dave Clark Five, Nina and Frederick, Millie Small, Adam Faith, Claude Francois, Joe Dassain, Les Reed, The Animals, Joe Brown, Gene Pitney, Tommy Steele, Kiki Dee, David Essex, Jose Feliciano, Uriah Heep, Mike Batt, The Seekers, Max Bygraves and many others. Lansdowne had 42 major hits in the UK charts alone over a 10 year period. Artists who recorded there have earned in excess of 300 silver, gold and platinum discs.

Lansdowne and Joe Meek

Kerridge continued to provide Kerridge with his inspiration to be creative in his recordings. However Joe Meeks association with Lansdowne ended abruptly in November 1959. Joe lost his temper during a recording session – with Denis Preston and his artist Kenny Grahams Afro Cuban Band - and walked out of the studio. Kerridge took over the session. The next day Joe Meek was called in to see Denis Preston and was fired on the spot.

As well as the popular music recordings Lansdowne also recorded numerous TV jungles including “Fry’s Turkish Delight”, “All because the lady loves Milk Tray” and “For Mash Get Smash”.

Dave Clark Five

The Dave Clark Five first came to Lansdowne for demo work in 1962. Kerridge liked what they were doing and told them so “I have to studio, you have the group, and I am sure we can create a good sound”. Kerridge and the band worked on creating their signature sound. “Do You Love Me” stayed in the top twenty of the UK charts for 6 weeks and went on to become a multi-million seller in the rest of the world. “Glad All Over” stayed at No. 2 in the UK Charts for all of December 1963. DC5 and Kerridge went on to create other hits such as “Bits and Pieces”, “Anyway you want it”, “Over and Over”. DC5 were inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2008 by Tom Hanks.

Lansdowne: 60’s, 70’s and 80’s

During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s the hits kept on coming, including Jonny Pearson’s hit TV theme tune ‘Sleepy Shores’. In 1979 Denis Preston decided it was time to retire and Kerridge took immediate action. On Valentines’s Day 1980 Kerridge and Jonny Pearson became the new owners of Lansdowne. The record industry was changing and in order to compete Lansdowne looked to identify new areas for expansion. Music to Picture work was the way forward, work picked up, the studios reputation began to spread and by mid 1982 the majority of the work coming in was picture based.

CTS Studios

in 1987 CTS Studios was put up for sale and Kerridge bought it, and set about turning the ailing studios fortunes around. By 1990 the studio was making a profit and Kerridge bought the freehold, prime real estate next to Wembley Stadium. CTS became world renowned as a specialist studio for recording film scores. It was one of the very first studios to fully embrace the digital recording revolution. CTS was responsible for the sound of numerous James Bond Movies as well as Oscar winning films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Shakespeare in Love. Redevelopment of Wembley forced Kerridge to move the business to Watford in 2000, operating a orchestral recording facilities from the Colosseum in Watford. The impressive acoustic ambience made a vital contribution to many recordings, including the award winning score for The Lord of the Rings.

Awards and Recognitions

• 1998:APRS professional Recording Association Award in recognition of A Lifetime's Service
• 2002: Gold Badge Award, British Academy of Songwriters and Composers

Selected Discography

Below is a list of the single, albums and EPs as well as the artists Adrian Kerridge recorded with and produced

• Eric Burdon And The Animals - The Best Of Eric Burdon And The Animals Vol. II
• Chris Barber's Jazz Band with Ottilie Patterson - Barber In Berlin (Album)
• Acker Bilk/ Terry Lightfoot - Clarinet Jamboree Part One ‎(7", EP)
• Stanley Holloway - Join In The Chorus ‎(LP, Album)
• Don Carlos And His Orchestra - Crazy Latin ‎(LP)
• Ken Colyer's Jazzmen - This Is Jazz - Volume One, Part Two ‎(7", EP)
• The Laurie Johnson Orchestra - A Brass Band Swinging ‎(LP, Album, Mono)
• Chris Barber's Jazz Band With Ottilie Patterson - Chris Barber International - Volume Three: Barber At The London Palladium (Album)
• Acker Bilk - Stranger On The Shore (Album)
• Sunshine - Monty Sunshine's Jazz Band
• This Is Jazz - Volume Two, Part One Ken Colyer's Jazzmen
• Stranger On The Shore (Album)- Acker Bilk With The Leon Young String Chorale
• Your Hits And A Mister (EP)- Acker Bilk
• Easy Living - Archie Semple
• Above The Stars & Other Romantic Fancies - Mr. Acker Bilk Accompanied By The Leon Young String Chorale
• Groover Wailin' ‎(EP)- Al Fairweather & Sandy Brown's All Stars
• Band Of Thieves ‎(7", EP, Mono) - Mr. Acker Bilk And His Paramount Jazz Band
• Swinging The Bard ‎(LP, Album, Promo, Mono) - The Ken Jones Orchestra/ The Elizabethan Consort Of Viols/
• Elaine Delmar/Geoffrey Emmott's Recorder Consort
• High Spirits ‎(LP, Album) - Joe Harriott Quintet
• Mood For Love (Album)- Mr Acker Bilk
• Animalism (Album) - The Animals
• In Paris (Album) - Mr. Alker Bilk With The Leon Young String Chorale
• His Birds & Brass ‎(LP) - Stan Butcher
• Indo-Jazz Suite (Album) - The Joe Harriott Double Quintet
• Paradise Island (Album) - Wout Steenhuis
• Bring A Little Lovin' (Single) - Los Bravos
• Acker in Paris ‎(LP) - Mr. Acker Bilk And The Leon Young String Chorale
• Together! ‎(LP, Album, Mono) - Mr. Acker Bilk & Bent Fabric
• Dusk Fire ‎(LP, Album) - Don Rendell Ian Carr 5tet
• Wout Steenhuis Meets The Kontikis ‎(LP, Album) - Wout Steenhuis Meets The Kontikis
• London Is My Cup Of Tea - Mr. Acker Bilk
• Shanta Quintet For Sitar And Strings/String Quartet No. 5 - John Mayer, Benjamin Frankel, The Lansdowne String Quartet With Diwan Motihar
• Indo-Jazz Fusions (Album) - Joe Harriott/John Mayer Double Quintet
• Dawn (Album) - Nina & Frederik
• Something's Coming (Album) - The Laurie Johnson Orchestra
• The Best Of Eric Burdon And The Animals Vol. II (Comp) - Eric Burdon And The Animals
• Guitars For Girl Friday - Wout Steenhuis
• Tony's Basement ‎(LP, Album) - Tony Coe & The Lansdowne String Quartet
• West Of Windward - The Vic Flick Sound
• Stranger On The Shore ‎(LP, RP) - Acker Bilk .....With The Splendid Assistance Of The Leon Young String Chorale
• Oh Lord, Why Lord ‎(7", Single) - Pop Tops
• Get On Your Knees/Trying So Hard ‎(7", Single) - Canarios
• Phase III (Album) - The Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet
• Blue Acker ‎(LP) - Acker Bilk And The Stan Tracey Big Brass
• Follow (Album) - Nina & Frederik
• Experiments With Pops (Album) - The Gordon Beck Quartet
• These Boots Are Made For Dancin' (Album) - The Amazing Dance Band
• Latin À Lamont ‎(LP, Album) - Duncan Lamont
• That Woman/Adagio Cardinal (The Man I Am Today) ‎(7", Single) - Pop-Tops
• Niño "Child" ‎(7", Single) - Canarios
• Esa Mujer (That Woman)/ Adagio Cardenal (The Man I Am Today) ‎(7", Single) - Pop-Tops
• Why Not! ‎(LP, Album, Mono) - The Johnnie Spence Big Band
• Themes And... (Album) - The Laurie Johnson Orchestra
• Change Is (Album) - The Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet
• Pain/Three-Two-One-Ah! ‎(7", Single) - Canarios
• La Lluvia (Single) - Mike Kennedy
• Scott 4 (Album) - Scott Walker
• Those Who Are About To Die Salute You (Album) - Colosseum
• Alive Alive-O!/José Feliciano In Concert At The London Palladium (Album) - José Feliciano
• Themes And... (Album) - The Laurie Johnson Orchestra
• Volcano (Live) ‎(LP, Album) - Kenny Clarke, Francy Boland And The Band
• The Ballad Style Of Maynard Ferguson - Maynard Ferguson With The Keith Mansfield Orchestra
• Hum Dono (Album) - Joe Harriott & Amancio D'Silva Quartet
• I'll Never Get You ‎(7", Single) - Mike Kennedy
• We Love You Madly - The Stan Tracey Big Brass
• Enigmatico Mike (Album) - Mike Kennedy
• The Latin-American Caper ‎(LP, Album) - Stan Tracey
• This is... ‎(LP) - Roger Whittaker
• Chico ‎(LP) - Chico Arnez And His Cubana Brass
• Sounds Like Soul ‎(LP) - Unknown Artist
• Design (Album) - Design (6)
• Alive In London (Album) - Shelly Manne
• M.F. Horn (Album) - Maynard Ferguson
• Bird In The Park ‎(LP) - Wout Steenhuis
• The Sounds Extravaganza ‎(LP) - Johnny Pearson Orchestra
• Double Dutch ‎(LP) - Wout Steenhuis/Peter Schilperoort & The Roland Shaw Orchestra
• Synthesis ‎(LP, Album) - Laurie Johnson
• M.F. Horn And M.F. Horn Two (Comp, Album) - Maynard Ferguson
• Metropolis (Album) - Mike Westbrook Orchestra
• Conquistadors ‎(LP) - Laurie Johnson
• Wout Steenhuis Meets The Wedgwoods ‎(LP) - Wout Steenhuis And The Wedgwoods
• Reflections ‎(LP) - Amancio D'Silva
• M.F. Horn Two (Album) - Maynard Ferguson
• Sleepy Shores (Album) - Johnny Pearson And His Orchestra
• Synthetizer-Experience (Single) - The Sound Of Criss Cross
• Tomorrow Is So Far Away ‎(LP, Album) - Design (6)
• Synthesizer Experience ‎(LP) - The Sound Of Criss Cross
• Day Of The Fox (Album) - Design (6)
• Night Life In Trinidad ‎(LP) - The Brown Bomber Steel Band And Lord Blackshirt
• 16 Chart Hits Volume 21 ‎(LP) - Unknown Artist
• Misty Sunset ‎(7") - Johnny Pearson & His Orchestra
• If You Leave Me Now ‎(LP,Album) - Johnny Pearson And His Orchestra
• Misty Sunset ‎(LP,Album) - Johnny Pearson Orchestra
• All Creatures Great And Small ‎(LP,Album) - Johnny Pearson & His Orchestra
• All Creatures Great And Small (Single) - Johnny Pearson & His Orchestra
• 25 Thumping Great Hits (Comp) - The Dave Clark Five
• Night Bird (Album) - Keith Mansfield
• Stranger On The Shore ‎(LP,Album,RE) - Mr. Acker Bilk With The Leon Young String Chorale
• Wotta Lotta Brass ‎(LP) - The London Brass Conference
• Keeping It Loose ‎(LP) - Brian Dee/Trevor Bastow/Jim Lawless
• Singalongamax ‎(LP, Comp) - Max Bygraves
• It's A Colourful World ‎(LP) - The Syd Dale Orchestra
• Tribute To Monk ‎(LP) Album) - Spectrum (37)
• Live At Ronnie Scott's ‎(2xLP, Comp, RE) - The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band
• Dr. Heavy ‎(7") - Dr. Heavy
• Carnival ‎(LP) - Melody Makers (6)
• White Christmas (Single) - Keith Harris And Orville
• The TV Hits Album Two ‎(Cass, Comp) - All Creatures Great And Small Various
• Genesis (Album) - Stan Tracey Orchestra
• Pure Genius ‎(LP) - The David Snell Trio
• Barber In Berlin/Barber At The London Palladium - The Classic Concerts 1959/1961 ‎(2xLP, Album) Chris Barber's Jazz Band with Ottilie Patterson
• We Still Love You Madly ‎(CD, RE) - Stan Tracey And His Orchestra
• Home ‎(CD) - Nick Ingman And Friends
• Boy Child - The Best Of 1967 - 1970 (Comp) Scott Walker
• From One Charlie (Album) - The Charlie Watts Quintet
• Red King, White Knight (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) ‎(CD, Album) - John Scott
• The Old Man's Back Again Scott Walker & The Walker Brothers 1965 - 1993 ‎(CD, Comp)
• Jazz Suite (Inspired By Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood) (Album) - The Stan Tracey Quartet
• Laurie Johnson's London Big Band - Volume One ‎(CD, Album)
• Various - Music For Dancefloors - The Cream Of The KPM Music Green Label Sessions (Comp) 3 versions
• The World Of Barbara Moore - Collection 1966-1981 ‎(2xLP, Comp)Barbara Moore
• The Best Of Amy Grant (The Christmas Collection) ‎(CD,Album,RM) - Amy Grant
• Impressed 2 With Gilles Peterson ‎(CD, Comp) - Metropolis (Part IX) Gilles Peterson
• Phase III/Live ‎(2xCD, Album, RE, Comp) - The Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet
• In For The Kill ‎(CD, Album, RE, RM, Pap) - Hunter (4)
• Morituri Te Salutant ‎(4xCD, Comp + Box) - Tell Me Now Colosseum
• Various - Appointment At Denmark St. ‎(CD, Comp, RM)
• Cecil McCartney - OM ‎(LP, RE, Ltd)
• The Hanged Man ‎(CD, Comp, RM, RP) - Alan Tew
• Metropolis Now/Mix & Match ‎(CD, Comp) - Dick Walter/The Otto Keller Orchestra
• Scott (The Collection 1967-1970) (Album) - Scott Walker
• Stranger On The Shore ‎(LP) - Acker Bilk With The Leon Young String Chorale
• 16 Chart Hits Volume 20 ‎(LP) - Unknown Artist
• Africa South Sings ‎(LP, RE) - The Manhattan Brothers
• Live At Ronnie's; Album 2; Rue Chaptal ‎(LP, Album) - The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band
• Only You ‎(LP, Album) - Mr. Acker Bilk* With The Leon Young String Chorale
• Get On Your Knees/Trying So Hard ‎(7", Single) - Canarios
• Crazy Latin ‎(LP) - Don Carlos Y Su Orquesta
• A Swingin' Chick ‎(7",EP) - Elaine Delmar With Victor Feldman And The Dill Jones Trio
• Moving Shades Of Light ‎(LP) - Jean Bouchety