Don Partridge

 ( 1941 Births ) 

Intending a farewell to his street musician friends, he hired the Royal Albert Hall in January 1969 and put on a "Buskers Concert" before an audience of 3,700, featuring buskers (including Dave Brock, later of Hawkwind), Time (USA), 7 February 1969, p. 44 who would all share the profits equally. A concert album, The Buskers, was released in 1969, and Partridge's single "Breakfast on Pluto" reached No. 26 on the UK chart. Partridge later assembled a Buskers' Tour, including Dave Brock and guitarist Gordon Giltrap, which travelled to concert venues around the UK in an old London Transport red double-decker bus, delivering buskers concerts at ten different venues, including sell-outs in Oxford and Newcastle – until the bus finally died on the M6 near Preston, and the buskers had to hitch-hike to reach the next concert venue in Glasgow. In July 1969, Partridge starred with Love Affair, Status Quo, Alan Price, Yes, Grapefruit and Jimmy James & The Vagabonds in an Oxfam charity concert held at Wembley Stadium. He also journeyed to the US to promote the Tom Courtenay movie Otley, which featured his song "Homeless Bones" as the opening theme.

By autumn 1969, together with Gordon Giltrap and other members, he had founded the group Accolade. This was an acoustic music band, who developed a style of folk music/jazz fusion. They recorded two albums (the second after Giltrap had left) and one single, before finally splitting up in 1971., accessed 5 January 2010. Partridge returned to busking and, after journeying throughout England and Wales in a gypsy caravan, later moved to Sweden where, in 1974, he recorded the album Don Partridge and Friends. Don Partridge and Friends album cover at Pete Atkin website. He continued to write music based on his relationships, travels and experiences, then formed a new group in Sweden called Slim Volume which toured the country giving concerts based on original songs.

In 1976, he travelled as a busker throughout Canada, and played at the Montreal Olympic Games. He later toured much of Western Europe busking, spending prolonged periods in Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Munich and Amsterdam before returning to Sweden. In 1982, the album Street Harvest was recorded and released in Stockholm, based mainly on his own compositions with acoustic guitar arrangements.Europa Film Records ELP 5004, produced by Dave Medlock Don later returned to England, living first in Barwell, Leicestershire then on a canal barge in Barrow Upon Soar, followed by Brixham, Devon, before finally settling in Seaford, Sussex, in 1990.

In 2001, he recorded the album The Highwayman, with accompaniment by Herbie Flowers, Nick Pynn and Richard Durrant.Longman Records 033CD (2001) The album contained song inspired by Partridge's experiences of life on the road, including the autobiographical song "The Night I Met Elton John" and a treatment of Alfred Noyes’ poem "The Highwayman". Longman Records shop website , accessed 5 January 2010. In 2005, Partridge returned to public attention when his song "Breakfast on Pluto" was included in the soundtrack to the film Breakfast on Pluto. Partridge joined indie pop/trip hop duo Lemon Jelly on tour in the UK the same year. He also made two appearances on the BBC Television comedy music quiz show, Never Mind The Buzzcocks.