John visited his first gig in the spring of 1970 aged 16, and immediately decided that being in a group looked like the most interesting career choice on offer. Undaunted by the fact that he couldn’t play any kind of instrument or sing, he decided the next best thing was to be a roadie. This was absolutely the right place at the right time, and by enthusiastically ligging into countless gigs he learned some basic skills and watched the rapid advances in PA systems. With “no knowledge of any kind relating to companies or business,” he started a company at 20 and embarked on the journey of a lifetime. He calls it “luck, lunacy and getting good advice,” but his fledgling operation grew into a very large and successful audio company – one of Europe’s flagship industry successes. In 2018 he sold the company, now known as SSE Audio Group, to Solotech, and claims that three years later he retired from active involvement. Yeah, right.