The Yardbirds In May 1963, Topham and his friend at secondary school,
Chris Dreja, visited the Railway Hotel in
Norbiton. The hotel's entertainment featured
traditional jazz music in the upstairs lounge, and allowed budding musicians to play during the breaks. There, Dreja and Topham met singer and harmonica player
Keith Relf, bassist
Paul Samwell-Smith, and drummer
Jim McCarty and decided to form The Yardbirds, with Topham as
lead guitarist. Two weeks later, they played their first gig at the
Eel Pie Island, supporting the
Cyril Davies All-Stars. Two months after the formation of the Yardbirds,
Giorgio Gomelsky offered them the residency at the
Crawdaddy Club and became their manager. As the Yardbirds had to turn professional, Topham faced parental disapproval coupled with the anxiety of abandoning his art studies. He could not devote himself to the Yardbirds full-time and he left. His replacement was a fellow art student from the same secondary school,
Eric Clapton. Topham recalled, "I was only 15 then, three or four years younger than the rest, and there was no way my parents would let me go out five or six nights a week to play music, even though I was already bringing home double what my father was earning. I was going on to
Epsom Art School and they wanted me to take it seriously. Eric Clapton was the obvious person to replace me. Later on, I didn't regret leaving because they'd moved away from the blues music that I was interested in. Even if I'd stayed with them to become professional, I think I would have left later for the same reasons Eric left."
Post-Yardbirds Topham went on to art college, where he formed bands with his friend
Duster Bennett. He joined Winston G and the Wicked (later renamed The Fox), playing alongside
Marc Bolan. After a final gig with Winston G at London's
Roundhouse, Topham revived his association with Bennett, recording a live album with him. This led to an introduction to
Mike Vernon and his
Blue Horizon label. Topham became a
session musician for Blue Horizon, playing with
Peter Green and
Christine McVie. Topham recorded a solo
album for Blue Horizon,
Ascension Heights. While Bennett was touring with
John Mayall in 1970, Topham fell seriously ill and had to abandon the
music industry again. Topham joined the spiritual movement
Subud, in which he participated for the rest of his life, taking first the name Rashid and then Sanderson. Upon his recovery two years later, he entered the fine-arts business, but a chance meeting with Jim McCarty led Topham to return to the blues in 1988. The Topham-McCarty Band was formed and played for two years until Topham decided in July 1990 to pursue
country blues. As a
session musician he played 12-string guitar on "Broken Waltz Time" on the
Bill Morrissey album,
Night Train (Philo Records). Later, Topham and Jim McCarty teamed up again to contribute the track "Drifting" for the double album
Rattlesnake Guitar: The Music of Peter Green. In the 2000s, Topham guested with the latest edition of The Yardbirds under the co-leadership of McCarty and Dreja, and performed with
John Idan in sporadic concerts of his own. He also played alongside eminent
boogie-woogie pianist
Bob Hall. He officially became a member of The Yardbirds again in 2013, replacing Dreja, who was forced to leave the band for medical reasons. In May 2015, Topham left The Yardbirds and was replaced by
Johnny A. == Death ==