Biog

Piano

I started playing piano at the age of about 6 (back in 1975), and was classically trained until the age of 16, eventually reaching grade 7.

Classical training meant learning from music sheet music (and I am a fairly competent reader as a result), I quickly discovered the exciting ability to play 'by ear', copying a piece of music just by hearing it, and began to develop these abilities, particularly focusing on the areas of improvisation and composition. Years later I was introduced by a musician friend to the realm of jazz and have enthusastically studied jazz theory and techniques ever since, listening to a wide variety of jazz music, taking opportunities to play with other jazz musicians when possible, and building up a repertoire of jazz standards to add to the growing list of pop songs and music from other genres.

With 49 years of experience behind me, I have refined this ability to effectively copy and interpret almost any popular song, from simple ones to very challenging classics such as Queen's Bohemium Rhapsody, reproducing them on the piano in a unique and highly original style. But besides performing other people's music, I have composed original music and collaborated with numerous lyric writers to provide the music for their songs.

I believe I bring something very different which has to be heard to be appreciated: an original and highly refreshing approach to wedding and cocktail-bar style piano playing, where familiar tunes from well known songs, slow and fast, are interpreted and performed in a highly original way, taking the listener on a continuous, magical and unpredictable journey through many genres and eras, all seamlessly linked together.

Over the years I have learnt to play in a wide range of styles, including classical, jazz, blues, rock, gospel, folk, contemporary, and popular, and built up a very large and constantly growing repertoire comprising hundreds of titles of many genres, and ranging from many decades ago to recent years. Download instrumental repertoire.

Besides playing in weddings, I have performed as a pianist or singer in a variety of different environments: pubs, piano bars, hotels, restaurants, theatre stage shows, pop/jazz/gospel bands, and recording studios, and I am the keyboardist in 'The Beautiful Couch', one of the UK's leading Beautiful South/Housemartin tribute bands, and very recently a new tribute band called Amy's Winehouse Band.

Singing and acoustic guitar

I started learning a few chords on the acoustic guitar back in my teens, but only started gaining real experience as a singer and guitarist in 1996 when I firmly decided I wanted to become a 'vocal entertainer'. This began with a quest to build up a repertoire of memorised guitar-based cover songs, a great way of expanding the chord vocabulary and developing vocal skills.

What particularly appealed to me about the acoustic guitar, besides its fantastic sound and flexibility, was its portability (unlike a piano!), and I spent many summer hours sitting in a local park practising, either alone or playing along with other musicians.

As well as learning chords, I also concentrated on 'lead-playing', learning scales and improvisation, becoming a competent improvising melody player, and gaining an ability to get by on bass guitar as an added bonus.

To gain experience performing to an audience, I started going to open mic sessions, and for 5 years joined a lively and well-established Hull-based 'Irish' band called 'Punch the Horse', great fun and a great way of building up confidence, stage presence and improving guitar skills.

Twenty years on, I have learnt to sing over 250 songs (plus Christmas songs!), most of which are fully memorised, using acoustic guitar or piano as an accompanying instrument. For the odd song such as American Pie, I use both instruments, switching between them half way through the song for added effect! Having performed on hundreds of occasions now to many types of audience in venues including pubs, hotels, restaurants, village halls, marquees, stately homes, gardens, large stages and festivals, I am quite used to entertaining for 3 or more hours without breaks and catering to very different tastes. Download vocal song list.