Cherry Beat - Characters

Cherry Beat was an English Pop rock band that released music in their original incarnation between 1971 and 1982. They formed in Oxford in early 1971, and were rooted in 1950s rock and roll. Their first album was released in 1971, and was quite successful. Their second album released in 1972 was less successful, mainly due to the band's mixing 1950s rock and roll with more modern music resulting in a more diverse album.

The band were close to splitting after their second album failed to gain the same level of success that their first album had. But their producer and music supervisor at the time, Chudley Maron encouraged the band to stay together and settle on some more original styled rock and roll in order to get back to the top. The band's third album released in 1973 was an instant success. They continued to release music until 1982 when the band split.

The musical quartet consisted of Englishmen Peter McDonald (bass guitar, vocals), Samuel "Sam" Whitby (rhythm guitar, vocals), and Torquil Dohrn (lead guitar, vocals), and American Devon O'Connell (drums, vocals).

Peter McDonald

 * Hair Colour: Blackish Brown
 * Eye Colour: Dark Blue
 * Skin Colour: Light


 * Height: 1.80 metres
 * Heritage: British, Irish
 * Nationality: British

Peter McDonald (born 24th August 1950, Oxford, United Kingdom) is an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist in the 1970s rock and roll band Cherry Beat. He plays a Höfner 500/1 violin bass guitar, like Paul McCartney of The Beatles. He also very much resembles Paul McCartney (and David Catlin-Birch who previously played höfner bass for the Bootleg Beatles) in his facial structure and appearance. His main idol is American recording artist, songwriter and musician Little Richard.

Like all members of Cherry Beat, Peter did like to keep a low dosage of drugs in his life, but he admits to have increased the dosage to help him record certain types of music with certain lyrics, namely "Rainballs" which was inspired by The Beatles' psychedelic songs from their 1966 album Revolver [UK]. Peter was also not against drinking alcohol, or smoking drugs and tobacco.

Sam Whitby

 * Hair Colour: Jet Black
 * Eye Colour: Dark Brown
 * Skin Colour: Light Tan


 * Height: 1.68 metres
 * Heritage: Japanese
 * Nationality: British

Samuel "Sam" Whitby (born 24th November 1951, York, United Kingdom) is an English musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist in the 1970s rock and roll band Cherry Beat. He is notable for being the only member of the group to have Japanese heritage instead of European, but his official nationality is British. His main idol is American guitarist, singer and songwriter Chuck Berry. It is unclear whether any offences committed by Chuck Berry had any negative effects on the influence he had on Sam.

Sam did like to keep a low to medium dosage of drugs in his life, which reportedly have had a more significant effect on him than it had on Peter. Sam technically didn't have to take as many drugs to get the effect he wanted, but he took at least as much anyway. When Sam was younger he was a regular drinker and smoker. His dosage would be reduced over time, as he got older.

Torquil Dohrn

 * Hair Colour: Dark Brown
 * Eye Colour: Brown
 * Skin Colour: Light


 * Height: 1.78 metres
 * Heritage: Irish, French
 * Nationality: British

Torquil Dohrn (born 23rd October 1952, Liverpool, United Kingdom) is an English musician, best known as the lead guitarist in the 1970s rock and roll band Cherry Beat. The band spend the majority of their recording sessions in the Dohrn studio, which belonged to Torquil's grandfather. Torquil came from a wealthy family of musicians. He has French ancestry and can play many instruments including brass and woodwind instruments. His main idol is American muscian, and singer songwriter Buddy Holly.

Out of all the members of the band, Torquil probably took the highest dosage of drugs, although reportedly he didn't drink or smoke as frequently. Fortunately Torquil was a quieter and less aggressive person than his fellow bandmates, and while drugs did seem to make him into a somewhat unconventional sort of person, he didn't seem to be particularly vulnerable to them.

Devon O'Connell

 * Hair Colour: Medium Brown
 * Eye Colour: Hazel
 * Skin Colour: Light


 * Height: 1.76 metres
 * Heritage: American, Irish
 * Nationality: American

Devon O'Connell (born 16th June 1952, New York, United States) is an American drummer, best known as the drummer in the 1970s rock and roll band Cherry Beat. He is notable for being the only American member of the group, although like Peter and Torquil, he had some Irish heritage.

While Devon reportedly took fewer drugs than the others, he was apparently the most aggressive and resentful member of the group. Over time he grew more and more frustrated over the fact that he wasn't given the chance to sing much on the band's records, being limited to just drums and occasionally percussion. The band members grew sympathetic when Devon expressed his outrage, and he was eventually given the chance to contribute lead vocals to at least one song per album.

He also got the chance to contribute more backing vocals on albums, namely on tracks written and/or sung by Torquil. Although it took a while before he developed the independence, Devon would eventually begin contributing his own compositions, but even then he had trouble getting the other band members to record them.

Chudley Maron

 * Hair Colour: Medium Brown
 * Eye Colour: Olive Green
 * Skin Colour: Light


 * Height: 1.72 metres
 * Heritage: British, Dutch
 * Nationality: British

Chudley Maron (born 14th July 1947, London, United Kingdom) is an English producer, musician, songwriter and music supervisor. He is best known as the original producer and music supervisor of the 1970s rock and roll band Cherry Beat.

Recording Sessions

 * Part One - The Band's Formation (7th January - 20th March 1971)
 * Part Two - The Band's First Album (8th May - 15th October 1971)
 * Part Three - The Band's Second Album (25th October 1971 - 13th June 1972)
 * Part Four - The Band's Third Album (16th May 1973 - 4th January 1974)