# Graham Preskett

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British musician and composer

Graham Preskett Born Graham Donald Harry Preskett (1948-12-26) 26 December 1948 (age 77) Genres Film score, rock, pop Occupations Composer, musician Instruments Piano, violin, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, guitar Years active 1970s–present Formerly of Development Website http://www.preskett.com/

Musical artist

**Graham Donald Harry Preskett**[1] (born 26 December 1948)[2] is a British composer and musician who has been active since the early 1970s. He appeared on the [Mott the Hoople](/source/Mott_the_Hoople) albums *[Mott](/source/Mott_(album))* (1973) and *[The Hoople](/source/The_Hoople)* (1974), playing violin on both, and arranging and conducting on the latter.

## Background

In his autobiography *Snakes and Ladders* (2016), [Whitesnake](/source/Whitesnake) guitarist [Micky Moody](/source/Micky_Moody) wrote of their 1978 album *[Snakebite](/source/Snakebite_(album))*:

Also in the line-up was a multi-instrumentalist, who played almost everything, could write, read and arrange music like most of us write, read and arrange our names, and was a charming and funny man to boot.

— Micky Moody, *Snakes and Ladders – My Autobiography: A Rock 'n' Roll Odyssey as Whitesnake's Guitarist*[3]

## Career

Graham Preskett was a member of the group [Development](/source/Development_(band)) that [Colin Young](/source/Colin_Young) had formed after he left [The Foundations](/source/The_Foundations) in late 1970. The group would alternate between the names of The Foundations and Development.[4][5][6]

The 17 January issue *Crónica* ran the group's picture on page 13 when they arrived in Argentina. It also gave the line up as Graham Donald Preskett on violin, Christopher Smith on drums, Roger Cawkwell on saxophone and flute, [Colin Young](/source/Colin_Young) on lead vocals, [Jean Alain Roussel](/source/Jean_Roussel) on organ and piano and [Estephen Bingham](/source/Steve_Bingham_(bassist)) (bass). Also with them was Rodney Harrod the manager, and Philip Peverley. Juan D'Arjenzo appeared to be their technician. It was also made known that the group was changing their name to Development.[7]

## Selected works

Preskett is credited on the following releases:[8]

- *[Mott](/source/Mott_(album))* – Mott the Hoople (1973), violin

- *[The Hoople](/source/The_Hoople)* – Mott the Hoople (1974), arranger, conductor, violin, tubular bells, orchestration

- *[Streets...](/source/Streets...)* – [Ralph McTell](/source/Ralph_McTell) (1975), arranger, string arrangements

- *Afternoon Sunshine* – [Edwin Starr](/source/Edwin_Starr) (1977), fiddle

- *[City to City](/source/City_to_City)* – [Gerry Rafferty](/source/Gerry_Rafferty) (1978), vocals, mandolin, violin, fiddle, keyboards, string arrangements, brass arrangements, string machine

- "[Baker Street](/source/Baker_Street_(song))" – Gerry Rafferty (1978), string arrangements

- *[Snakebite](/source/Snakebite_(album))* – [Whitesnake](/source/Whitesnake) (1978), violin

- "[Try Anything Once](/source/Try_Anything_Once)" – [Alan Parsons](/source/Alan_Parsons) (1993), fiddle, violin, mandolin

- *[Something to Talk About](/source/Something_to_Talk_About_(film))* score (1995; with [Hans Zimmer](/source/Hans_Zimmer)), primary artist, composer[9]

- *[Musical Tour of Scotland](/source/Musical_Tour_of_Scotland)* (1995), arranger, piano, violin, producer

- *[The Da Vinci Code](/source/The_Da_Vinci_Code_(soundtrack))* soundtrack (2006; with Hans Zimmer), arranger, composer

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Graham Preskett"](https://www.discogs.com/artist/324687-Graham-Preskett). *Discogs.com*. Retrieved 2023-03-07.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Graham Donald Harry Preskett"](https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/graham-donald-harry-preskett/1122743366). Retrieved 13 November 2025 – via [Apple Music](/source/Apple_Music).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Moody, Micky (2016-11-03). [*Snakes and Ladders - My Autobiography: A Rock 'n' Roll Odyssey as Whitesnake's Guitarist*](https://books.google.com/books?id=XSa3DwAAQBAJ&dq=graham+preskett&pg=PT170). Bonnier Zaffre. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-78606-348-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-78606-348-9).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** *Crónica*, 3 de Enero de 1971 - [Página 2 *LLEGO “THE FOUNDATIONS” EMBAJADA DE MUSICA “BEAT”*](https://archive.org/details/DiarioCronicaBuenosAires19710103_5/page/n1/mode/2up)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** *Record Mirror*, 21 March 1970 - [Page 14 The frustrations](https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/70/Record-Mirror-1970-03-21-S-OCR.pdf)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** *Disc and Music Echo*, March 4, 1972 - [Page 10 A SOLID FOUNDATION](https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Disc/1972/Disc-1972-03-04-S-OCR.pdf)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** *Crónica*, Domingo 17 de Enero de 1971 - [PAGINA 13, HIPPIES EN FA MAYOR... Los componentes de “The Foundations” se autodefinen como hippies, tienen ideas claras y concretas sobre el amor, los hombres y la sociedad actual. Pero también hacen música, desde beat hasta jazz, con personalidad estilística muy a la europea. Quiénes son y qué piensan](https://archive.org/details/DiarioCronicaBuenosAires19710117_M2S/page/12/mode/2up)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Graham Preskett | Credits"](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/graham-preskett-mn0000858188/credits). *AllMusic*. Retrieved 2023-03-07.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Graham Preskett, Hans Zimmer - Something To Talk About \[Original Motion Picture Score\] Album Reviews, Songs & More"](https://www.allmusic.com/album/something-to-talk-about-original-motion-picture-score--mw0000175712), *AllMusic*, retrieved 2023-03-07

## External links

- Discogs - [Graham Preskett](https://www.discogs.com/artist/324687-Graham-Preskett)

Authority control databases: Artists MusicBrainz

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Graham Preskett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Preskett) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Preskett?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.