COMMUNITY which stands out in turning his career around he knew he had made it when he was booked to tour with The Three Degrees. He was 27. By that time he had gradually progressed from playing in bands to an increasing amount of session work and also West End Shows - Evita, Hair, and Joseph. He was also on the books of Music Activity Management which was run by Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine. “I vividly remember getting the call from the agency inviting me to tour with The Three Degrees for three months. I had already got a lot of recording session work in my diary but they said don’t worry we will arrange for a deputy and so there I was on tour with one of the biggest acts in the business and being extremely well paid for it. My abilities as a musician hadn’t changed but people looked at what sort of work you were doing and so this tour saw me suddenly in demand for other similar work.”
Duncan with Elkie Brooks
Duncan KinnellMaster Musician
In 1987 at the age of 40, Duncan Kinnell sold his house in London, boarded his yacht and set sail for the Algarve to settle in Albufeira.
As he says “Success breeds success” but he had concluded that he had become too successful to be able to balance family life with work. Having reached the top of the music profession he was now having to juggle his time between family and a constant series of recording sessions for major pop artists, films and jingles coupled with extensive touring with many of the world’s top entertainers. His family life had become near non-existent so the decision was made to make a complete break and to explore pastures new in the Algarve. Born in London in 1947, he says it was inevitable his career would be in music. “My father was a professional musician. He was primarily a violinist but because he had served in the military he had to learn other instruments and was very accomplished on clarinet and saxophone.” His first instrument was the trumpet. “ I wasn’t very good but I owe a huge amount to my trumpet teacher as he taught me all about harmony and music theory which was a massive help as I progressed to playing the drums, percussion and what became my real specialities - Latin American percussion and vibraphone.” Duncan's precocious talent was recognised and from the age of 16 he was out several nights a week playing in bands. By that time he had gained a huge interest in Latin American music.
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“I would quite often lock myself away in my room - sometimes for 8 hours - discovering and listening to Latin bands who really inspired me to learn as much as I could. Again I have my trumpet teacher to thank as he gave me the skills to analyse and transcribe the percussion parts and jazz solos from recordings and my skillset improved dramatically as a result.” While most professional players would attend one of the established music colleges before embarking on their careers, Duncan instead opted to have private lessons from some of the top professional musicians of the day. The combination of tuition with lots of practice saw him reaching an incredibly high standard at an early age.
After that, the tours kept coming in. The impressive list of major artists with whom he performed reads like a Who's Who. Over a period of six years he toured, off and on, with The Three Degrees, Diana Ross (1976), with Sammy Davis Jnr ( 1976 - 79 ), and Mary Wilson and The Supremes. “I was asked to play for Frank Sinatra but had to decline as I was already contracted to tour with Charles Aznavour.” Other artists include Engelbert Humperdink, Marvin Gaye, Elkie Brooks, Gilbert O’Sullivan and for shorter spells Cliff Richard, Gene Pitney and Anthony Newley at the London Palladium. Making the move to the Algarve was not without its complications as their daughter was 13 at the time but they found a great school and their daughter is fluent in three languages as a result. “We’ve never regretted making the move and being able to see the family nearly every day.” Once they had settled into their first house in Albufeira they decided to go into town to explore the music scene. The very first restaurant they went into had live music and to Duncan’s surprise one of the Band members said, “Are you, Duncan Kinnell?” The band was needing a drummer so immediately Duncan was playing again. The fivepiece band was called Rumours. Duncan with Sammy Davis Jnr.
“Practice was never a chore. I just loved it and so the reward for all the hard work was that from my teens onwards I was always busy.” When Duncan was 17 he found himself playing at a very “ upmarket” venue - the Washington Hotel and Country Club - and it was there he met France, his wife. The aptly named France, who is French, was working as an au pair at the hotel. They have been together ever since and have a son and a daughter. Their son has followed in his father’s footsteps and is a very successful pianist, living and working in Melbourne, Australia. “As my career started to take off, France had to look after nearly all of the family matters.” While Duncan doesn’t remember a specific gig
