The musician Adrian Gurvitz, born in London in 1949, is a singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. His early bands the Gun, Three Man Army and the Baker Gurvitz Army (with Cream drummer Ginger Baker) were major influences in British hard rock and he was once placed at No. 9 in Melody Maker’s list of “Best Guitarists in the World”
Gurvitz bought and lived in Moss’s Farm in the 1970s, with a life style appropriate to a rock star of the time. He and Ginger Baker would use one of the barns as a recording studio.
Brian Gypps, who spent much of his early life at Moss’s Farm, recalls looking after Gurvitz’s car during his Hempstead days. It was a Pontiac Transam, which must have been an interesting drive when negotiating the track from the farmhouse to the junction with house to Anso Road.
When Gurvitz put the house on the market in 1978 prior to going to the US, Terry and Anita Rodgers bought it. Anita recalls that the purchase – during the years of gazumping – was a ‘difficult’ one. Terry and Guvitz had a stand-off in the Plough one night. Terry, who is not a tall man and Gurvitz, who stood at least 6 ft 3 inches even without the massive curly hair and the four inch platform heels, must have made a comical sight.
Life in the early years was scarcely easier. The house was furnished in psychedelic orange and purple: one of the first things Terry and Anita did was to brick over a wall that was covered in giant palm tree murals. Interesting magazines were found stuffed behind radiators and in the loft. There were also visits from bailiffs and the drugs squad to contend with, as well as a succession of telephone calls from young women. If Anita was the one to pick up the phone, she often received a volley of abuse from the caller, who assumed that she was the latest to replace them in the star’s affections.
The last time Terry and Anita saw Gurvitz was several years after the sale. He dropped in one day with a female companion, each dressed in floor length fur coats, and announced that he wanted to buy back the house as a weekend retreat. Terry’s response is not recorded.
