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Telecomms - Nevada
How it all started... Nevada started life as Telecomms.
A student of Portsmouth Polytechnic College, Mike Devereux,
opened this first shop in Septrember 1969
at 73 Twyford Avenue Portsmouth,
Jenny Devereux joined the company in 1972.
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A word from Mike Devereux
The company started in 1969 and has run to the present day. The premises included the Music shop Telecomms (later Nevada), Wessex Music, Wessex records, Nevada Studios and the many local bands I have been involved with along the way.
I started Telecomms in September 1969 selling electronic components and repairing amplifiers and communications equipment at 73 Twyford Avenue Stamshaw. In 1972 Jenny Devereux joined me and we started to sell Musical instruments. Actually our first Guitars were Fender Strats (now collector's items ). Picture of me in the door of our original shop
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The company grew so fast that by 1976 we had outgrown the premises in Twyford avenue and we moved to what had been an old furniture store at 189 London Road north End. I have some old photos of the very first years that I will send later. At that time we had a staff of just 5 people ( now we employ 32 people ! ). The name Telecomms was becoming less relevant to our core business and also the Post Office had changed their name to British Telecomms so we were getting a lot of confusion and I decided to change the company trading name to NEVADA in 1977.
In 1978 I built an 8 track recording studios above the shop at North End with the help of Roger Kennedy (our engineer) and John Cooper ( existing staff member, later to become an engineer) - photos to follow. The studio became very popular and we soon upgraded to 16 track recording many local bands over the next 7 years. Names I remember include Shy, Caught in the Act, The Pumphouse gang, Bim Verechia, Joe Jackson, Tubeway Army, Chinatown, Flirt, Spitting Image, Teenage film stars and many more.
In 1979 I started Wessex music publishing ( based at the London road premisies, with a group of friends from the music industry including, Pat Phelan and Nik Hugg. We signed a co-publishing deal shortly after our formation with Warner Brothers music . First to be signed was local band Shy, then Caught in the Act and later Bim Verechia.
I also started Wessex records about the same time, this was really a vehicle for local bands to have their records pressed and to protect them with publishing.
In 2004 we moved premises to unit 12 Fitzherbert spur Farlington.
best Regards Mike Devereux
Managing Director Nevada
www.nevada.co.uk
tel: 02392 313095
Unit 1 Fitzherbert Spur, Farlington, Portsmouth, PO6 1TT
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