John Illsley was born in Leicester, England and was the bass player for the British rock band Dire Straits. He was introduced to lead singer and guitarist Mark Knopfler by Mark's brother, David. As well as playing bass guitar on all the Dire Straits recordings, John also contributed vocals to their Communiqué, Making Movies and Brothers in Arms albums.
John has also released two albums of his own, Never Told A Soul in 1984 and Glass in 1988. Mark Knopfler contributed some of the guitar parts on both albums.
When Dire Straits stopped touring in 1993 John was able to concentrate on his other great passion - painting. He currently exhibits his work every year somewhere in the world and so far, twice in London - the last being from 6-21 June 2007 with Nevill Keating Mcllroy in Pickering Place. This year the show featured paintings of Provence as well as guitars, some of which John either owns or would like to own! Last year's show was held in the town hall of Les Baux de Provence and hung for the whole of September as part of the local festival.
John first met Irish rock group Cunla in March 2005 in a pub in Leicestershire and took to the stage for the first time since 1993, joining the band to play a couple of Dire Straits' numbers!
Cunla are Steve O'Keefe on drums, Jason Carroll on bass and Johnny Owens on fiddle and electric guitar. When John first met them they had Greg Pearle as their singer. They are a working band from Mullingar, which is one hour west of Dublin, Ireland.
John was suitably impressed enough to ask the band to come play at a summer party in Hampshire that he was hosting with his wife, Steph. John ended up doing some gigs with them in Ireland and then as part of the Festival des Alpilles, where they played to 1300 people in the Cathedral D'Image in Les Baux de Provence. This was part of the same festival that was hosting John's painting in the town hall that September!
The Provence gig was recorded (John Illsley with Cunla & Greg Pearle - Live in Les Baux de Provence) and is available now on CD and via download.
Available NOW direct from John's website: www.johnillsley.com
Or Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk
Or Townsend Records: www.townsend-records.co.uk
