MICK Brewer was a familiar face and sound on the music scene in Swindon during the 1960s and 70s.

A guitarist and singer with many local rock and pop bands, he was often on stage in many of the town’s night spots, picture houses and community halls.

Brass Monkey, one of the groups he was in, supported rock star Suzi Quatro at a gig in the Brunel Rooms during the early 1970s.

The father of three, who died last week aged 72, turned professional for a while as a member of the backing band for Johnny Kidd and the Pirates during the 1960s. But life on the road away from his family didn’t appeal.

His wife Diana told the Adver: “He told me he got fed up living out of a suitcase.”

Mick first started playing in a band around 1959, four years before he met the woman who was to become his wife.

He was singing and playing with a group called the Sonics in 1963 when their paths crossed. It was at a skating session at the Locarno where Mick was on stage and he spotted her in the crowd.

“We just happened to get talking,” she said. They got on so well she decided to go out that night with a friend to Wroughton where he was gigging.

It set the pattern for half a century of life together. In fact on February 24 the couple would have celebrated their golden wedding.

“I’ve known him do a gig on a Saturday morning for the pictures, in the afternoon at the Locarno for the skating and in the evening somewhere else. He was always busy,” said Diana.

Although he took a day job as a machine operator, his love of music kept him busy gigging at weekends, not just in Swindon but further afield.

“I was always the one that was always at home running the family, but I did used to go out at weekends with him.”

As their children got older they would go along and watch him play. “We always supported him to do what he loved,” said Diana. “He was easy going, easy to get along with and everyone thought a lot of him.”

When Peru was hit by a massive earthquake in the 1970s a disaster fund was set up and Mick’s band at the time, Persian Wood, played a non-stop pop show in the open air theatre at the Town Gardens.

One of the bands he played in over the years was The Roosters, with Bob O’Dell, Adrian Pickett, Graham Nulty and Jeff McCormick, who formed the support act for The Who in Hereford. They also made some appearances with Alexis Korner’s Blues Band.

Even after he retired from gigging he still loved to play. Diana said: “When he decided to pack it all in he still used to get his guitar out and have a little tinkle in the afternoon. It was still there.”

Mick, a grandfather of 10 and great grandfather of two, had been diagnosed with dementia two weeks before his death. His condition had deteriorated quickly and he collapsed on January 17. Paramedics attempted to help him and the air ambulance was called but their efforts were in vain.

Since his death former band mates and friends in the music world have got in touch with his family and a memorial fund has been set up in his name to donate to Wiltshire Air Ambulance. It can be found online at funeralzone.co.uk/obituaries/41053. A funeral will be held at Kingsdown Crematorium on February 8 at 10.45am.