Between 1961 and 1967, the accommodation above 304 Holloway Road was rented out by a fellow named Joe Meek.
Born in Newent in Gloucestershire’s Forest of Dean in 1929, Joe Meek arrived in London in 1954 after landing a job as a sound engineer for Stones, a popular radio and record shop on the Edgware Road. Joe progressed to a new job, becoming a producer at Lansdowne Recording Studios, moments away from his then home in Notting Hill.
Quite soon, Joe became tired of working within a large organisation and decided to go solo as an independent record producer and moved into 304 Holloway Road where he set about creating a makeshift but innovative studio, which became RGM Records. Here in August 1962 he wrote, recorded with his backing band The Tornados, and produced Telstar – an instrumental track that celebrated the success of the radical new communications satellite (launched in July 1962) – which became the first single by a British group to hit number one in the United States.
Following this massive achievement, unfortunately, his life became a nightmare and ended tragically here, in 1967, when he was only 37 years old.
Address: 304 Holloway Rd, London N7
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