The Wurzels - Past Members

Past Members

Over the years many Wurzels have come and gone since Adge Cutler first formed the group to accompany him in singing his scrumpy laden ditties.

The original Wurzels line-up to accompany Adge recorded their first album (“Adge Cutler and the Wurzels”) in 1966 and consisted of Brian Walker, Reg Quantrill, John Macey and Reg Chant.

Brian Walker left in 1967, soon after the band's first album was released. Their next offering “Adge Cutler and the Wurzels’ Family Album”, was recorded with the remaining members – Reg Quantrill, John Macey and Reg Chant.

1967 saw a year of several changes – Reg Chant left the group, soon followed by John Macey. But their places were quickly filled by Henry Davies and Tommy Banner.

The group's third album “Cutler of the West’ was released in 1968 with a line-up featuring Adge Cutler, Henry Davies, Tommy Banner and Reg Quantrill. Shortly afterwards they were joined by Melt Kingston for a short period whilst Henry Davies went to work on other projects. Melt left when Henry returned at the end of the year.

Early in 1969, Henry Davies left the group permanently and was replaced by Tony Baylis, just in time for the band's fourth album release “Carry On Cutler”, the line-up now being Adge Cutler, Tommy Banner, Tony Baylis and Reg Quantrill.

By 1974, Reg Quantrill had been replaced by Pete Budd (born Peter Budd, 18 July 1940, in Brislington, Bristol), but following the death of Adge Cutler the Wurzels were left to continue on their own – the future chart topping trio consisting of Tommy Banner, Pete Budd and Tony Baylis.

The Wurzels obtained their first permanent drummer, John Morgan (born 21 April 1941, in Lydney, Forest of Dean), in 1981 and the line-up then remained unchanged until Tony Baylis left in 1983. Just before he left Jai Howe played with the group for a short period, with Terry Pascoe also augmenting the line-up.

Early in 1984, Jai Howe and Terry Pascoe left the band and were replaced by Mike Gwilliam. For the next nine years ‘The Wurzels’ consisted of Pete Budd, Tommy Banner, John Morgan and Mike Gwilliam.

In 1995 Mike Gwilliam left and was replaced by Dave Wintour. This remained the shape of the band until 2002 when Dave was replaced by Jai Howe (who had played with the band in the early 1980s).

A temporary change in line-up occurred in November 2005 when long-term Wurzel Tommy Banner had to step away from performing whilst undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. His place was taken on by the band's production and sound engineer, Louie Nicastro, until Banner's health was restored and he was able to return to the fold in the spring of 2006.

The death of Jai Howe in 2007 left the band one man down — this led to Sedge Moore being recruited to give the current ‘farmyard four’ line-up of Pete Budd, Tommy Banner, John Morgan and Sedge Moore.