TODAY Alan Ross, the man who once kept Southampton dancers' feet tapping, jiving and waltzing, sits in his Chandler's Ford home and looks back over "a million musical memories''.

Alan was at one time the top-of-the-bill band leader at Southampton's former favourite night spot the Top Rank Suite, where many local people still have fond memories of dancing the night away.

At one time it was THE venue in Southampton, with its large dance floor, revolving stage and balcony, attracting hundreds of people almost every night of the week.

Right at the heart of this success was Alan and his band, the mainstay of the Top Rank Suite, who not only played for dancing but also backed visiting guest singers.

"They were wonderful days and boy did we have some fun,'' said Alan. "Everyone loved the Top Rank, there was nothing else like it then or even these days.

"These days I look back at those times and I have a million musical memories. People came to the Top Rank to have a good night out and we did our best to give them a great time.'' Highly gifted Alan was a band leader who was always thinking up different and unusual ways to make the evening go with a swing. He once even managed to bring a live bull on to the dance floor during one Spanish theme night.

A highly gifted musician, Alan has played the guitar, trumpet, two kinds of saxophone and clarinet during his time in showbusiness.

His talents as a band leader and experience in the dancehall business brought him to Southampton more than 40 years ago when the Top Rank Suite, which once stood in Bannister Road, opened for the first time.

Alan recalls the times when musicians arrived for a show with just their instrument in a carrying case and the music system was a microphone and two speakers.

At the age of 16 Alan left his Nottingham home to begin his showbusiness career, which led him to tour with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Mel Torme, Allan Jones and Bill Haley, with whom he did a 17,000-mile tour of the USA.

Alan is not only remembered for his days at the Top Rank Suite, which lasted for more than four years, but also for the period when he ran the one-time Magnum Club in St Mary's Road.