Drew Barfield

Drew Barfield is a singer/songwriter of impressive talent, which has been a well-kept secret for as long as he remembers! He has used his writing and vocal strengths to record and perform music in a variety of styles, from glorious pop anthems to heartfelt soul classics.

Drew's early musical apprenticeship started as a soloist in church choirs, and school operas. With his brother Dave he formed a teenage rhythm section, often with hilarious consequences – fellow teenage musician and lifelong friend Joe Jackson details some of the more amusing escapades in his seminal book “A Cure For Gravity.”

During the ‘70s Drew attended Goldsmiths Art College in London and did what all self-respecting and budding artists did – he dropped out to form a band, John Doe. It was in this band that he first teamed up with Gary Sanford (Joe Jackson's future Guitarist) Steve Tatler (Drew's old song writing and later Key's cohort). However, this being less of a band and more of an exercise in hedonism, John Doe was inevitably laid to rest.

In 1979 Drew formed The Keys with Steve Tatler, Ben Grove, and ex-Wings drummer Geoff Britton. They were signed to A&M records and released “The Keys Album” to rapturous reviews but no sales!! Produced by Joe Jackson, it contained the perfect pop songs of “One Good Reason”, “I Don't Wanna Cry “ and “Greasy Money”, all of which were released as singles. When The Keys split in 1983 Drew formed The Big Heat with singer Bill Hurley (The Inmates) and guitarist Chris Parks (Any Trouble). Big Heat's first release was the acclaimed single “Watch Me Catch Fire” (on A&M) which was written by Drew and produced by Elvis Costello. This looked a sure bet for some serious chart action until The Bradford Football Stadium fire, which led BBC producers to drop it from their playlists because of the title! How the Gods conspire against us!!

Drew's next recording was as lead vocalist with JB's All Stars – the JB in this case being John Bradbury, previously of The Specials. Their recordings of the northern soul classics “Backfield in Motion” and “One Minute Every Hour” relied heavily on Drew's vocal and emotional range.

Throughout the ‘80s and early ‘90s Drew wrote songs or lyrics for such diverse artists as Joe Jackson, Level 42 and Cathy Denis. Paul Young and producer Laurie Latham chose “Standing on the Edge” for Paul's “Secrets of Association” album. This was the start of a professional and personal friendship with Paul. Paul went on to record Drew's “War Games” and they collaborated on material for further albums including “The Crossing”. The critically lauded “Paul Young” album featured no less that 6 Barfield/Young tracks, including the singles “Wish You Love” and “Ball and Chain” together with the beautiful “Tularosa”.

During ths period Drew would occasionally do session singing and backing vocals for other artists - one being Joan Armatrading - and he sang both lead and backing vocals on Joe Jackson's album “Blaze of Glory”.

Since 1993 Drew has played in the seriously good time Tex-Mex band Los Pacaminos. The line up also comprises Paul Young, Jamie Moses, Matt Irving, Melvin Duffy, Steve Greatham, Mark Pinder, Jim Russell, David Levy, John Tonks. All these guys are musicians of great pedigree having played with the likes of Brian May (Jamie), Robbie Williams (Melvin) and Squeeze (Matt) – do your own research on the others! Better still, go see them for a fun night out!

Most of Drew's song demos for other artists were recorded using Chris Parks as guitarist/keyboard/engineer. It was Chris' powers of persuasion that has led to the album “Deep Water Terminal” reaching fruition. Together with engineer Kevin Porée, Chris began the slow process of once-weekly sessions at Berry St Studio, EC1, recording Drew's favourite or most personal songs. The only cover song that they recorded is Al Green's “Belle”, included by popular demand for all those who have seen Drew sing it with Los Pacaminos. With Chris' distinctive guitar work as a base, Drew coerced most members of Los Pacaminos and some other unsuspecting talents to help record this album as a homage to old style writing and recording values. We hope you'll agree it's been worth it.