Gus and Sheila, two people as one. You could never think for more than a few minutes about one without the other. They were inseparable. In a way it is a blessing that they are still together, because I think that one could not have gone on in life without the other.My first memory of Gus is hearing the rough mixes of the Elton John album; the brilliance of the piano sound, the "in your face" clarity of the vocal, the gut of the bows on the violins and cellos (on Paul Buckmaster's arrangements) and the haunting guitar parts. Then the drums, oh my word, for the first time I heard separate drums, not just the bass drum and snare; hearing the whole kit changed forever how I listen to music.
Working in the studio with Gus was a totally unforgettable experience. I think back to the first session. I was so nervous because I felt I had to live up to great drummers like Popey, [Dave] Mattacks and Barry Morgan, but Gus always made me feel comfortable, part of the canvas he was painting. The very best times were when we went away to record. We were a family on an adventure together, so much on the same wave length. This will always be the way I prefer to make records. Gus and I would go in the studio a couple of days beforehand to get the drum sound. This would sometimes take hours on end, I would bash away and it was very tedious at times, but it worked. People often ask me about my drum sound and where it came from; I tell them Gus, my mentor in the studio, invented it. Gus always brought the best out of us all. He allowed us to experiment, not worrying about how much time it took and at the same time he never would tell each of us how to play.
The beauty of the records with Gus was that we were all there together when the songs were created and we knew what and how we would play them. There were no demos, no click tracks, just the songs written and recorded in one fell swoop. Gus is the only person I know who had the guts to tell Elton not to play the piano on the backtrack of "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", and it worked.
There are so many great stories about our times together in the studio, whether it was 2:00 am in the morning or 2:00 pm in the afternoon, Gus would always be painting this musical picture. One memory in particular I have is all of us stomping on a piece of wood board at the Chateau first thing in the morning to get a certain sound he wanted for "Bennie and the Jets". Then there was the time when he was miking "All the Young Girls Love Alice" and he had Steve Brown call me at my farm to tell me Gus needed a car sound for the middle bit. I was asked to get in my Mini Cooper with a cassette recorder and tape the microphone to the exhaust pipe and roar up and down the country roads, that a cab would be around to pick up the tape later. Gus held Davey in the highest order; he said there was no one that could double track an acoustic the same way ever. Gus made Elton and Bernie's magic absolutely soar.
The most recent time Gus and I spoke at length was at Dee Murray's memorial. Gus went to Nashville and stayed at my home. He loved Dee and the way he played and we discussed how it would be to work together again. We agreed that doing this was something we both wanted badly. Just recently I was told that there was talk about the possibility of Gus' involvement on a live project with us later in the year. I know in my heart that it would have been phenomenal. Without both Gus Dudgeon and Dee Murray, it will not be same, but they are forever there in spirit and in our hearts.
On a lighter note, I would like to mention the clothes. Both Gus and Sheila had pretty flamboyant taste. Gus' (God bless him) clothes should be in the Fashion Faux Pas Hall of Fame. His jeans were always pressed and starched; he could have worked at the Wonderloaf bread factory slicing the loaves using the creases in his jeans.
I was extremely devastated to hear of Gus and Sheila's passing. I thank Stuart "Shwepp" Epps for being so strong in breaking the news to me and doing what he does best, jumping in there and taking such excellent care of everything and everybody. I thank Sheila for the love and enjoyment she gave us.
Gus, thank you forever for giving us some of the greatest moments in time.
—Nigel Olsson
("Groidle" or "Nygroid" as Gus would call me.)