John Charles Edward Alder (born 29 November 1944), also known as Twink, is an English drummer, actor, singer, and songwriter who was a central figure in the English psychedelic movement. In 2006, Alder converted to Islam, and changed his name to Mohammed Abdullah. However, he still records under the name Twink. Biography Early life and career Alder was born in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom. Many of his family members were also musicians, including his grandmother, who was a concert pianist and soloist. Alder was interested in music from a young age. His professional career began in 1963 when he played the drums for Dane Stephens and the Deep Beats, a rhythm and blues band from Colchester. In 1964, after performing for a year, the band changed its name to The Fairies. Due to the band's growing popularity, its members began receiving regular gifts from their music fans. Alder, who had long curly hair at the time, regularly received bottles of Twink brand home perm lotion. He eventually adopted 'Twink' as his stage name. Twink later reunited with Dane Stephens and Mick Weaver from The Fairies for two tracks on his 1991 album Odds & Beginnings. The In-Crowd and Tomorrow In 1965, Twink moved to London, living in the Chelsea area. When the Fairies broke up in August 1966, he joined a rhythm and blues/soul music band called the In-Crowd whose previous drummer had left. Other members of the In-Crowd included Steve Howe (guitar; later of Yes fame), singer Keith West, and bassist John 'Junior' Wood. A few months later, the band decided to change their name to Tomorrow. The success of West's solo recording, "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera", resulted in the band's breakup and led to a one-off single by the short-lived band 'Aquarian Age' (Twink & Junior). In his book White Bicycles, Joe Boyd cites a Tomorrow show at the UFO Club in London's Camden borough--and Twink's performance in particular--as the zenith of 60's pop culture. Tomorrow also played with guitarist Jimi Hendrix at UFO. In 1967, Twink completed a recording session with a group called Santa Barbara Machine Head. It featured two former members of the beat group the Birds: Ron Wood (later of 'The Creation', The Faces and The Rolling Stones) and Kim Gardner (later also of 'The Creation' and Ashton, Gardner & Dyke), and keyboardist Jon Lord (later of Deep Purple). Pretty Things