My Abbey Road Experience

It was the year of 2007 when I made my first trip to London. At the time I was working as a monitor engineer for “mega-superstar” Jennifer Lopez. We were doing one off’s all over the world; New York, Dubai, Los Angeles, Spain, & Maldives. But nothing was as thrilling as the day I got my flight itinerary for this London gig. It turns out, a Russian millionaire by the name of Andrei Melnichenko was planning a surprise party for his wife and since both of them were big fans of Jennifer, it was Andrei’s idea to have her do a private performance for his wife and the small invited guests of about 20 people in his living room! Reports indicate that Andrei paid her 1 million dollars for a 40 min. set. I know, for a fact, he paid her much more and our set was only 30 min. We rehearsed for two days in Los Angeles, as we had to scale down our production. I mean, we had never performed in someone’s living room for christ’s sake!! There was a lot of preparation but in the end we managed to cram 4 dancers, 2 audio engineers (myself included), her manager, Marc, and Jennifer in a small private plane. So, if that wasn’t thrilling enough, my real excitement was that we were arriving a day early and actually had a whole day off in London. Imagine that! I was getting paid to visit my dream city of London, England.
Ever since I was a kid, I have been the biggest Beatles fan! I can’t explain how much their music has been a part of my life. So much that growing up in the 80’s, I was the only kid in El Paso with a moptop hairdo and Beatle boots Jaajaja. It was at that young age that I knew because of them that I wanted to be a musician. I always perceived the Brit’s as very unique and interesting people. I was (and still am) a huge fan of Monty Python’s Flying Circus with their witty humor and off the wall imagination. The "Murder on the Orient Express", series of Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot was so mysterious to me, and of course all of the British groups that had invaded the US during the early 60’s. I never imagined as a kid that I would ever get to visit this great country of Beatleland! Having said that I knew exactly what I wanted to do as soon as I landed at Heathrow Airport, visit Abbey Road! This is the recording studio where the The Beatles had recorded all of their music. Soon after checking into my hotel, I went down to the concierge, picked up a map of the city and began my adventure. Instead of taking a cab to take me straight there, I decided to take the subway or “tube” as they call it in England. I hopped on the Piccadilly Line and headed to the district of St. John’s Wood where Abbey Road is located.
Upon arriving, I was shocked that this great studio was located in a typical neighborhood. It actually looked more like a large house instead of a landmark. Nevertheless, the excitement was overwhelming; I couldn’t believe that I was actually standing in front of this building where the greatest music was ever created. Lucky for me a session was about to start and orchestra members started crowding into the front door of the studio. I was determined to make it inside! I quickly hurdled myself among the crowd of orchestra members and made my way thru security inside the studio as if I was one of them. If you can only imagine how I was feeling at that point! As I wondered thru the halls of Abbey Road I couldn’t help but get a little emotional as I peeped into studio 2 (the original studio where their first songs were recorded). As I stared, I started to imagine the young beatles at work. Not as superstars rather as kids recording their first record. Four lads from Liverpool in white T-shirts and skinny ties unaware of the legacy they were about to become. It was there that I had a beautiful recollection that anything is possible if you BELIEVE. These 4 lads had done it coming from very humble beginnings. They had worked very hard, believed in themselves (when not many people did) their dream had come true and SO HAD MINE! Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine growing up that someday I would get the opportunity to visit this amazing place and look through the same glass windows where John Lennon once sat!! What?? No way! So it doesn’t matter if you’re a kid from El Paso, Liverpool or anywhere else in the universe. What I learned is that we must persevere, believe in ourselves and trust our God because dreams DO come true. I know God listens!

Thanks for reading!



Tommy Mora at Abbey Road Studios London, England UK