Alan Murphy was one of Britain's best-loved session guitarists throughout the 70s and 80s. Famed for his work on Kate Bush's Never for Ever, The Dreaming and Hounds of Love, Murphy went on to record with Go West on their self-titled 1985 debut LP also performing with Joan Armatrading, Mike and the Mechanics and Scritti Politti but to name a few.

Murphy's reputation as the most accomplished of guitarists landed him an invitation to join Level 42, after the departure of Boon Gould, where he allegedly laid down all the guitar parts for the 1988 album Staring at the Sun in just one day.

Along with a live album from Wembley Arena a year later, this was to be amongst his final recordings. Weakened by the AIDS virus he tried so fearlessly to conceal from his colleagues and bandmates, Murphy passed away due to Pneumonia in 1989 at Westminster City Hospital, a stone throw from Westminster School, where he was educated.

In any short breaks from performing and recording with Bush, Murphy would indulge in cover versions in his local pub for relaxation. Along with Felix Krish on bass, Tony Beard on drums and Richard Cottle on keyboards, Murphy formed the Stapleton Allstars at the Cricketers, near the Oval cricket ground in London. Such was the musical accomplishment of each of the members of the group, that it was not long before they composed an album worth of Fusion material of their own. Lo and behold, SFX was born.