ON THE BEAT: An Evening With Status Quo’s John Coghlan, The Stables, Milton Keynes
An Evening with Status Quo’s John Coghlan, The Stables, 28th August 2026 event flyer
A Friday night with a difference, spent with Status Quo royalty, drummer John Coghlan, who was an integral part of the backbeat of the rockers from 1962 through to 1981.
John was joined by wife Gillie, as special guest (she also acts as his Manager), for an evening of recollections of his life and career in the music business.
The Stables, Milton Keynes
The Stables, Wavendon, Milton Keynes (Images: Damien Wilkinson)
The one-off event was hosted at The Stables, Wavendon on the outskirts of Milton Keynes.
The venue was set up by esteemed jazz composer and musician, Johnny Dankworth and his wife, jazz singer, Cleo Laine in 1970 and is a popular location for gigs and comedy events and the like, set in what was the former stables area within the grounds of their house.
John and Gillie Coghlan
John and Gillie have been a couple since the mid-70s, meaning they were together throughout most of John’s exciting but turbulent time making music during the 70s, when the Frantic Four were in their heyday.
Straight From The Horse’s Mouth
Part 1: A Journey From The Ballroom To The Glasgow Apollo
John entered to a rapturous ovation from the eager audience, taking a seat on the sofa one side of the Studio 2 stage, ready to share his recollections.
With the intimate chat hosted by Dave Sweetmore, who is a DJ, BBC broadcaster, presenter and notable go-to “An Evening With…” organiser, we were taken back to John’s childhood. Born in 1946, he grew up near Crystal Palace, and he recounted stories of his life back then—attending football matches (“I hated it”), various jobs (surprisingly including a role as a shop window dresser!), his parent’s ballroom dancing passion, which led him to identify with the drummers in the house band, stimulating a desire to pick up the drumsticks, and his role in the Royal Air Force Air Cadets.
John Coghlan recounts his life in music, The Stables, 28th August 2026 (Image: Damien Wilkinson)
Fate shuffled its deck of cards and we were whisked back to the early 60s when Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster entered John’s life. As they formed friendships and began to play music together, under a number of different aliases (The Spectres being a mainstay), it wasn’t long before Rick Parfitt also came onto the scene—the boys witnessing him playing at Butlins for cabaret band The Highlights with sisters Jean and Gloria Harrison, and recruiting him to the band in 1967, with the help of manager Pat Barlow.
Finally settling on the name Status Quo (“we were that fed up of changing names, we just thought ‘why not’ at this stage”), they were joined by keyboard player, Roy Lynes, as they released debut single, “Pictures of Matchstick Men” and the start of countless Top of the Pops appearances.
This was the Swinging 60s and John and the lads embraced the scene fully—chiffon shirts and velvet pants being almost obligatory stage wear back then.
As the end of the 60s approached, Quo found themselves ditching the outfits (and Lynes), growing their hair, setting their musical compass to a more rock and rhythm and blues direction, as album Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon, established the blueprint for the massive success of the 70s.
We touched upon Quo’s penchant for nicknames—‘Mad Turk’ and ‘Spud’ being Parfitt’s nomenclature for Coghlan and the affectionate ‘Nuff’ branding of Lancaster.
Bob Young, originally roadie for the band, and later songwriter, harmonica player and valued member of the wider enclave (the unofficial ‘fifth member’), came up numerous times during John’s anecdotes and it was refreshing to hear the high esteem John holds him in.
John then outlined the meteoric rise of Quo in the 70s, which also coincided with meeting Gillie around 1974. With a family background in the music industry and working in music agencies, Gillie was the perfect foil to John’s nomadic rock and roll lifestyle and has been with him ever since.
Gillie joined the stage, adding some panache and colour to a number of John’s recollections as we neared the interval.
John and Gillie Coghlan chat about their life in music, The Stables, 28th August 2026 (Image: Kieran Wilkinson)
The 1976 Live! double album, widely regarded as one of the best ever live albums, recorded at the Glasgow Apollo (“We genuinely feared the bouncing balcony would collapse”) was given an appropriate amount of airtime and affection.
Momentously leaving Quo in 1981 after 14 studio albums and the Live! LP (“It had become a constant tour-album-tour cycle—we just needed a six month break really”), this pivotal life changing event set the scene for part two of the evening.
Not before, however, the tale of John and Gillie’s wedding night—actor and friend, Geoffrey Hughes (‘Eddie Yates’ in Coronation Street) carrying an overly alcohol imbibed Spud back to his room where Gillie waited! John, perhaps fortunately, has no recollection of this!!
Part 2: Life After Quo, the 2012 Reunion
After leaving Quo, John initially withdrew from music completely, spending more time with Gillie and travelling the world.
Soon the music itch became too much and a return to band life occurred—the band Diesel, The Bombers and other projects, saw John dust off the drumsticks once more.
With Quo in tandem going through tumultuous times and the 1984 End Of The Road Tour supposed ‘end’, John conversely remained in a good place.
Sweetmore asked John whether he had ever contemplated a return to Quo back then—interestingly that led the conversation on to 1985’s Live Aid, John admitting he would have loved to take part but ‘I was never asked…”.
Neatly fast forwarding to 2012 and the band’s documentary film from Alan G Parker, Hello Quo, Sweetmore explained that Parker’s overall mission was to triumphantly end the film with the Frantic Four back together in the studio. Sure enough this dream was realised with the band spending time for the first time together for years, at Shepperton Studios (“We started playing and just fell back into the groove”).
This led to two Frantic Four reunion tours across 2013 and 2014. Sweetmore, a big Quo fan himself, captured the exultant mood that swept the Quo army during these times, fulfilling a dream of seeing the original band live, that he had convince himself would never happen.
Could it have gone on further? “Absolutely, yes” according to John but “unfortunately Francis didn’t want this”, lamenting “It was, what it was”.
Staunch friends of Alan and the Lancaster family, John and Gillie spent their winters with them in Australia, and also had regular contact with Rick Parfitt and his clan too.
This was against the backdrop of John’s continued projects (“John Coghlan’s Quo”, “Quo Connection”, “Quo Reimagined” among some of them).
Sweetmore also asked John if he would return to the current Status Quo line-up. After a brief pause for consideration, “Yes, yes, I would”.
Gillie also revealed that Alan’s wife, Dayle, has been carefully and patiently curating a book about Alan’s life and times which promises to be ‘explosive’. Watch this space!
With the sad passing of both Rick in 2016 and Alan in 2021, John misses them both tremendously, but values being part of their wider families which both he and Gillie proudly waxed lyrical about.
The Q&A, An Evening With John Coghlan, The Stables (Images: Damien Wilkinson)
The floor was opened up to Q&A from the audience (via written questions submitted to the fabled “Ask Spud” box) and John and Gillie answered as many of the questions as they could. Questions ranged from what was John’s favourite Quo song (“Down, Down”, “Living On An Island”), which other rock band would he want to play for (Led Zeppelin), who was Ma Kelly (“erm, she probably ran a cafe!”) to asking Gillie what John’s key strengths were ("he makes the best breakfast ever”).
We even got to hear an endearing story of John meeting Buddy Rich, one of his all-time heroes, after a gig in Manchester. As John’s eyes sparkled, he recounted a spellbinding two hours in the company of the iconic Jazz drummer, who had played a show in nearby Preston.
What does life hold for the Coghlans now? “More of the same” answers Gillie, “More travel, music projects and fun”.
On that note, it’s also hoped to take the “An Evening With” format to Ireland in 2027—Cork and Kerry flagged as possible locations—so some more exciting news to keep an eye out for.
Shutting The Stable Door?
John has recently released a book, Spud, documenting his life story to date and, understandably, the evening drew upon many key moments from the insightful book, written by Steven Myatt.
It’s always gratifying to hear recollections going right back to the 60s directly, and, rather appropriately at The Stables, straight from the horse’s mouth.
Like the rest of us, our rock and roll heroes aren’t getting any younger, and it was a privilege to get such a wonderful opportunity to hear John and Gillie talk so passionately about what has been an incredible journey in a multi-million record selling band and beyond.
Never missing a beat it was a sublime and enlightening evening for any Quo or rock music fan.
John Coghlan waxes lyrical at The Stables, 28th August 2026 (Image: Kieran Wilkinson)
John will have an 80th Birthday Celebration on 20th September, 2026 at the Half Moon Putney, with a special live performance alongside tribute band Quo Connection.
Big thanks to John and Gillie for their humour and candid recollections, Dave Sweetmore for hosting and somehow keeping the evening on the straight and narrow, The Stables team and all the other folks that made this such a special and intimate evening.
If you enjoyed this please also see my article on my own musical journey (“JOINING THE DOTS: My Dad’s Musical Maps”) which also references my love of Quo!
