A flamboyant front man who was one of the pioneers of the British R&B and rock & roll scene in the 1960s, Zoot Money helped pave the way for the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds but only had one major hit with the swaggering, wailing, soul stomp 'Big Time Operator'.

Born into a family of Italian immigrants in Bournemouth, England, George Bruno Money grew up playing the French horn but was transfixed by the birth of rock & roll and the skiffle movement in the 1950s and renamed himself after seeing jazz saxophonist Zoot Sims. Becoming a regular at Soho's basement bars, Money started his Big Roll Band in 1961 with guitarist Roger Collis, pianist Al Kirtley and bassist Mike Montgomery and they later became a house band at the legendary Flamingo Club just as the swinging sixties were fully hitting their peak. Andy Summers also played with the band before later finding international fame with The Police. Money learned his trade and built his reputation as keyboard player with the seminal Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated group before releasing the first Big Roll Band singles 'The Uncle Willie' and 'Good' in 1964.

Their albums 'It Should Have Been Me' and 'Zoot!' perfectly captured the British take on American R&B of the era, but it was only really 'Big Time Operator that crossed over into the mainstream and reached number 25 on the UK charts in 1966. As trends changed the band morphed into the psychedelic, prog-rock act Dantalion's Chariot in 1967 and Money moved to America a year later to play with Eric Burdon and The Animals before releasing his first solo album 'Welcome to My Head' and playing on Peter Green's 'The End of the Game'.

He continued to work on a variety of musical projects in the '70s and '80s including with Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane, Spencer Davis Group and Mick Taylor and featured as an actor in a number of British films and television shows including 'Bergerac', 'Coronation Street' and 'Porridge'. Still performing regularly with The Big Roll Band on the British blues scene, he released a new solo album 'The Book of Life. I've Read It' in 2016 through Treasure Island Records.

Zoot Money's Big Roll Band

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