Malcolm began learning the piano at the tender age of seven and within a month thought he was ready for his first gig! Fortunately he turned up on the wrong night for the Cub Scout Gang Show and his dubious version of Chopsticks was never heard. When eleven he entered a national talent competition and came third winning an audition with Hughie Green and Opportunity Knocks. However his version of Abba’s Waterloo did not impress Hughie enough to turn him into Plymouth’s answer to Bobby Crush!

At the age of thirteen Malcolm started playing in the pubs and clubs of Plymouth along with his father who alternated with him on piano and drums. Later they became the resident Saturday night band at The Abbey (Plymouth's oldest pub) now called Kitty O'Hanlons.

On leaving school Malcolm joined Network a Plymouth based show band which featured experienced musician’s like Dave Cause (Medicine Bow) and the great sax player Mike Lee. Midway though a song at his first gig with Network in front of five hundred people Mike shouted across “fancy a solo?”, it was at this point that Malcolm realised he had a lot to learn and spent the next few years serving his musical apprenticeship with the band. During this period Malcolm also played with the acclaimed country and western outfit Medicine Bow. One Saturday afternoon Network was setting up at 'The Tiger' when Mike Lee realised he had forgotten a mains lead for his amp. While returning to the music shop, which he managed, his car collided at high speed with a van and Mike was killed instantly. The Plymouth music scene was never quite the same again as almost every local musician had grown accustomed to Mike’s generous personality or been dazzled by his great sax playing. Renowned mainly for his ability to play jazz he was equally at home blasting out funk or rock and Mike’s playing and fatherly guidance influenced Malcolm permanently. Network was never the same without him and inevitably after another year or so the band called it a day

In 1983 Canyon was probably the most popular band in Plymouth and featured the fine voice of Robbie Heape. Malcolm was asked to take the place of Eddie Hayward who had just left the band and he duly turned up at his first rehearsal with his 250 watt amp. “Everyone ready!” shouted Jimmy Smith from behind his huge Staccato drum kit “1-2-3-4” then the first note of Deep Purple’s Stormbringer hit the back of Malcolm’s head and he nearly fell of his stool! “I’m gonna need some bigger gear” thought Malcolm and he duly acquired Top Rank Suite’s recently decommissioned 1k PA system and this became the back line for his Yamaha CP30 and Roland Jupiter 8.

Malcolm left Canyon at the end of 1984 to join up with Phil Lean, Pete Bennet, Pete Gover and Pete Magowen (that's a lot of Petes!) in a band called First Offence. One of the highlights with the band was sharing the stage with Mercedes one hot summer night in front of 300 people at the Staddy!

In 1986 Malcolm fronted his own band Raiders along with Gary Platts (Karrallon) on guitar and Wendy Warren (Small Talk) and Sonia Banner (Montage) on backing vocals. Raiders was the first Plymouth band to use live backing tracks and one of the first to perform funk/dance tracks as opposed to the rock music that was normally demanded by a Plymouth audience. With a blend of self penned tracks and chart hits the band created a small following but without live drums and bass the band was facing an uphill struggle against traditional tastes and the band folded a year later.

In 1987 Malcolm teamed up again with front man Ted Bartlett (Asgard) to reform a duo version of Network. This proved very successful and together they performed about 400 gigs playing pubs, social clubs and functions. Ted and Malcolm parted company in 1990 and because of the demise of local bands due to vocalists using backing tracks and the new popularity of karaoke he spent the next few years sound engineering for some of the singers he had previously performed on stage with.

Malcolm returned to playing again in 1994 teaming up with another old friend Robbie Heape and together they formed the rock duo Afterglow. Using the same formula that had made Canyon successful ten years earlier they banged out classic tracks like Toto’s Rosanna, John Mile’s Music and John Farnham’s You’re The Voice. Over the next eight years they knocked up about 650 gigs and had some great nights particularly at the Trot Inn, Torpoint where once a month they would turn the small pub into a mini Ark Royal conjuring up memories of Canyon at that great Plymouth venue.

In 1998 Malcolm was invited to join the new revamped Mercedes along with another new boy Dave Holmes on drums. This was a big thrill as he had always been a big fan of the band and for the next two years Malcolm played with both Afterglow and Mercedes until the latter folded in 2000 and he continued with Robbie until 2002 when they went their separate ways.

For the next three years he performed with his duo Vida Loca featuring various female vocalists and then in 2007 he joined the Exeter based function band Soul Agents. Finally in the spring of 2008 he decided to call it a day with a view to retiring from playing altogether. That was until a certain Dave Heap called him and said “what do you think about getting Merc back together again?” There was only one answer... in the words of Peter Frampton…     

“Come on – let’s do it again!”