John Lawton .....vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica.
(born July 11, 1946, UK)
John began his musical career in North Shields, UK, in the early '60s with
"The Deans", a bunch of "kids" who decided at random that John should be "singer". He then moved on to "West One" and later "Stonewall", which included John Miles, Vic Malcolm (later Geordie) and Paul Thompson (later Roxy Music)
After "Stonewall" finished their stint at the "Top Ten Club" in Hamburg in '69, John decided to stay in Germany, after having been offered the "job" as singer with legendary German rock cult band "Lucifer's Friend.
He also joined the Les Humphries Singers, in the early '70s, (which included the Eurovision Song Contest in '75)
The ex - Uriah Heep front man and vocalist with Lucifer's Friend
( '69-'76 & '79 -'95) with whom he recorded 9 studio albums, has built a reputation on his powerful vocals and charismatic personality and is regarded as one of the best singers around.In '76 John joins Uriah Heep as their frontman, recording the albums : "Innocent Victim","Firefly", "Fallen Angel" and "Live '79" touring Europe and the USA until Sept. '79. During his longstanding career John has worked with some big names of rock, on various projects, including Roger Glover's "Butterfly Ball" live in the Royal Albert Hall in '75, feat. David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Ian Gillan and Twiggy.
He sang on Eddie Hardin's "Wizard's Convention ll" with Chris Farlowe, Dennie Lane, Paul Jones and Tony Ashton. John had the privilege to have worked with some of the finest record producers, including Tony Clarke (Moody Blues) Jimmy Miller (Rolling Stones) Harold Faltermayer (Pet Shop Boys), who produced the titles John sang on the Lenny McDowell Project "Lost Paradise" and of course German top producer Robert Papst,
of Munich based "Scoreworx"Lawton sang with German rockband "Rebel" later known as "Zar" on three albums, during the late '80's/'90s including their hit singles "Line of Fire" & "Eagles Flight", moving onto Volker Barber's classical project "Excalibur" John also sang on several German commercials, including the "Colgate Gel" TV spots, the "Peter Stuyvesant Travel" spots, the Stuyvesant single "Come Together" and a stint for Harley Davidson Motorbikes. John formed GunHill, now known as JLB John Lawton Band, in Jan. of '94. touring the Uk and Europe... In '95 he briefly re-joined Uriah Heep, for 2 weeks, on their tour of South Africa with Deep Purple, filling in for their singer Bernie, who was suffering from voice problems at the time. Inspired by German top producer Robert Papst and his ass. Reinhold Hoffman, John re-recorded one of the Les Humphries Singer's favourites, the big '70 s hit "Mama Loo", in January '98. In August , 2000, his solo CD "Still Paying My Dues.." produced by German producer Robert Papst, is released in Europe , UK and Scandinavia, by "Hypertension Music" Hamburg and distributed through "EDEL" Germany.This album has been hailed as the "best work" John has ever done....... During the 4th Uriah Heep Annual Convention in London, May 2000, plans were made for a one-off concert by the so-called "Hensley/Lawton Band". John was joined by former Heep keyboarder Ken Hensley, for the first time 21 years after John's departure from Heep in 1979! With them were Paul Newton (Heep's original bassist), and 2 members of John's band, Reuben Kane on lead guitar and Justin Shefford on drums. They played a collection of old Heep classics and some of Ken & John’s solo songs to an amazed audience, and the concert was recorded for a CD release "The Return" In 2001 John teams up with Ken Hensley to form the Hensley Lawton Band. After extensive touring, during spring and summer of 2001, culminating with a concert in Hamburg, Germany, featuring a full orchestra and a new rendition of Heep's old classic "Salisbury, both Ken and John return to their respective "solo" careers. The John Lawton Band "JLB" is taken on by Classick Rock Productions in 2001 to record the acoustic CD "Steppin It Up " which features John & Steve Dunning. "One More Night" Live at the Mean Fiddler, CD & DVD, is recorded in 2002, which is followed in 2003 by JLB's "Sting In The Tale" CD, an original studio rockalbum. Later that year followes another Live CD & DVD "Shakin' The Tale".. JLB have been touring extensively with their last gig in Hamburg , Sept 2004, when John decided to take an indefinite break !In May 2006 John joined forces with Dutch guitarist Jan Dumee (ex-Focus) to form the On The Rocks Project.
On The Rocks also feature Brazilian musicians Ney Conceião on bass, Xande Figueiredo on drums and Marvio Ciribelli on keyboards.
John and Jan are currently working on the recording for an upcoming album to be released by the end of 2007.
Websites:
http://www.johnlawtonmusic.com
http://www.johnlawton.org
http://www.otr-band.co.uk
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* John Lawton & Circle of Hands *
* latest news* Lee Kerslake will be attending too !!
13. Oct. in Langbroek, Holland
very few tickets left - book now
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John Lawton & Alan Keetley invite you to
Heepvention 08 in southern Spain