Biography | A Chance Meeting

The year was 1975 and Berry was living in Devon, delivering animal feed to farms. His brother repaired country cottages, and was on one fateful day repairing a house owned by keyboardist Rick Wakeman of Yes.

"My brother managed to forget something, luckily for me, and I ‘had’ to take it to him," Berry says. "Standing there, I struck up a conversation with Rick. Next thing you know he was asking me if I’d join him for a pint and like all good Englishmen, I of course took him up on it."

They proceeded to get "extremely drunk" and three days alter, Wakeman asked Berry to go to London and help set up a show (Berry played a little drums as a teen). After that, Berry was asked to go to America.

Thus began Berry’s career. As drum and percussion technician for the Rick Wakeman and the English Rock Ensemble" tour, he traveled throughout both North and South America. When he finally returned to England there was no turning back. "I really wanted to do this for a living," he says.