I was born in the town of Neath, South Wales in 1948. I was given my first guitar by my parents on my 14th birthday. I left school with no qualifications aged 15, and chose to pursue a career in music. In the summer of 1965, aged 16, I joined my first professional group, The Pimples. Later that year, we left Wales for London, and between 1966 and 1967 we secured work as backing group for Engelbert Humperdinck, Don Fardon and Crispian St Peters.

During our time with Engelbert, we changed the group's name to The Humperdincks, at his request. Our drummer left, and was replaced by a friend of Engelbert's, Eric Dillon, who later became the drummer for Noel Redding's group, Fat Mattress.

In 1967, the group split and I joined an Irish showband called The Shannon Showband. The lead guitarist was Eric Bell, who went on to become a founder member of supergroup, Thin Lizzie. The band's drummer was Paddy Greene, who has since made several TV appearances on programmes such as 'The Comedians' and 'The Jim Davidson Show'.

I worked with several groups until 1972, when I began a solo career as a guitarist / vocalist, calling myself Stuart McNiel. I worked the clubs of Wales until retiring in 1993. During the 1970's I also had small acting parts in several television programmes including Dr. Who, The Goodies, Z Cars, It ain't half hot, Mum and the BBC Wales masterpiece, Grand Slam, where I appear in the memorable opening scene

Although I'm longer performing, I'm still involved with music, and these days I write songs. I have my own home recording studio, where all my new songs are recorded.

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