About Me
Well, I was born in Peckham, south east London in 1962, a good day I've always thought. My family moved out to Suburbia when I was two years old and I figured it would be best if I went with them as well because my singing career wasn't paying much at that point (it still isn't) and thats where I grew up. My first 7 inch single was bought from a shop on Blackfen road. If I remember right, I had enough money for one and it was a toss up between Seasons In The Sun by Terry Jacks and Emma by Hot Chocolate, Emma won the day and I've still got it somewhere, it was, still is a good tune. My sister Jane was a couple of years older than me and listening to T-Rex, David Bowie, Reg Dwight and deep in love with Mark Bolan, my mum was filling the house with Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis, Niel Diamond and loads the show tunes. The one that really grabbed me though, was Bowie. My sister had Pinups, Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory which I would sneak out of her room whenever I could, often at the cost of a beating when caught, but I loved listening to Bowie, even though I didn't understand half the lyrics untill I was older, he dominated my listening for most of my early teens. Saturday jobs soon meant I had my own copy of Pinups and Hunky Dory, followed by everything else he had released and every new release that came out untill about 1980 with Scary Monsters. By this time I had missed Punk boat but my tastes had broadened. Soul and Jazz funk dominated the clubs and Reggie was big too. I was listening to Bob Marley, early Trojan stuff and UB40 done a lot of great 12" dub joints, there was second generation Ska from The Specials, Madnsess and The Selecter.
Sorry, I think I'm going on a bit too much here, suddenly I'm writing a book. Ok, about four years ago I started learning guitar again after giving up the first time I tried. I'd been listening to some later Johnny Cash tunes and wanted to play some of them. For the last year or so I've been playing at some open mic nights around London and I've done a couple of gigs at the Twelve Bar Club in Denmark Street (tin pan alley) London. I'm only doing covers as I don't have an urge (or ability) to write anything as yet, I just enjoy playing and singing. My repotoire includes a few Johnny Cash numbers, some earlier Bowie tunes, a bit of Paul Weller and some other stuff I like. I've put a Bob Marley cover on my page, hope that's OK. I hope to put a couple more on very soon and hope anyone listening to them enjoys them. Take care all, cheers, Bill.
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