Graham Patrick "Kirby" Gregory, often credited simply as Kirby (born 11 March 1953 in Wallingford,

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

, England) is an English musician best known for playing with rock bands

Curved Air Curved Air are an English progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classical, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band is a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and ...

and Stretch. He now works in the field of addictions counselling.

Musical career

Gregory began playing guitar aged seven and moved to London in 1969 with

bass guitarist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low b ...

Steve Emery. They formed a band called Armada, and recruited vocalist

Elmer Gantry ''Elmer Gantry'' is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 that presents aspects of the religious activity of America in fundamentalist and evangelistic circles and the attitudes of the 1920s public toward it. The novel's protagonis ...

before breaking up. In 1972, Gregory joined

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

band

and played on their 1973 album, ''

Air Cut ''Air Cut'' is the fourth studio album by Curved Air and was recorded in 1973, following the departure of three of the band's founding members. Only Sonja Kristina and Mike Wedgwood remained in the band from their previous album and ''Air Cut'' ...

''. He also played on one track on the archival release, '' Lovechild''. After leaving Curved Air, Gregory and Gantry became part of a group of musicians who were assembled by

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epo ...

manager Clifford Davis, with the alleged consent of drummer

Mick Fleetwood Michael John Kells Fleetwood (born 24 June 1947) is a British musician, songwriter and occasional actor. He is best known as the drummer, co-founder, and leader of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood, whose surname was merged with that of t ...

, in order to perform as Fleetwood Mac on a tour of the United States in 1974. Problems between the members of Fleetwood Mac had resulted in them being unable to fulfil their concert obligations. Fleetwood has since denied any role in recruiting the musicians. After it became clear that Fleetwood himself was not going to be involved, audiences quickly realised that this hastily assembled group was not the band they had paid to see, and the tour collapsed after a few weeks. However, Gregory and the other band members stayed together and formed Stretch later that year. Gregory wrote the hit single "Why Did You Do It?" about the bogus Fleetwood Mac episode, for Stretch and it reached No. 16 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in November 1975. Stretch recorded several albums before splitting up in 1979. Gregory recorded a solo album ''Composition'' on the UK Hot Wax Records label (not the US label of the same name) in 1978, and subsequently played on ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist

Danny Kirwan Daniel David Kirwan (13 May 1950 – 8 June 2018) was a British musician whose greatest success came with his role as guitarist, singer and songwriter with the blues rock band Fleetwood Mac between 1968 and 1972. He released three albums as a s ...

's final album ''

Hello There Big Boy! ''Hello There Big Boy!'' is an album by British blues rock musician Danny Kirwan, who was a member of Fleetwood Mac from 1968–72. Released in 1979 on the DJM Records label, this was his last solo album. It was eventually released on CD in Febru ...

'' in 1979. He also took part in a recording session with

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or som ...

vocalist

Phil Lynott Philip Parris Lynott (, ; 20 August 1949 – 4 January 1986) was an Irish singer, bassist, and songwriter. His most commercially successful group was Thin Lizzy, of which he was a founding member, the principal songwriter, lead vocalist and b ...

. Gregory and Gantry re-united briefly in 1982 and recorded material with

Sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketone ...

drummer Mick Tucker and bass player

Nigel Ross-Scott Re-Flex were an English new wave band formed in London in 1981. They are most often recognized for their hit, " The Politics of Dancing", the title track from their debut studio album released in 1983, as well as the singles "Hurt", "Hitline" ...

but nothing was officially released. In 2007, Gregory and Gantry reformed Stretch and toured in support of the greatest hits album, ''Why Did You Do It: The Best of Stretch''. In 2013, Gregory rejoined Curved Air.

Addictions counselling

In 1990, Gregory became involved in addictions counselling and in 1999 he joined

Action on Addiction Action on Addiction is a UK-based charity that works with people affected by drug addiction, drug and alcohol addiction. It works in the areas of research, prevention, treatment, aftercare, as well as professional education and family support.

, a UK-based charity that works with people affected by

drug A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhala ...

and

alcohol addiction Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

. He is currently Director of Client Services at the charity and at its subsidiary The Spider Project, and has spoken at major conferences on addiction. He is also a Cognitive Analytic Psychotherapist and an Association of Cognitive Analytic Therapy Accredited Supervisor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Kirby 1953 births Living people English rock guitarists English blues guitarists English male guitarists Curved Air members Stretch (band) members Musicians from Berkshire