Having seen the rebels and the hoodlums acting up whilst on the streets of his hometown Tottenham and being brought up on the peaceful vibes of the Beatles, Love and Jefferson Airplane, Lester Clayton obviously grew up a little confused!
His active imagination and positive outlook allows him to describe ‘far out’ imagery in such a way that relates to everyday life, telling tales of his life in Tottenham, his times abroad, money problems and other day to day experiences that a learning 20 year old goes through.
Originally a piano player, he started playing guitar when he was 15, writing backing music for a drama project which was eventually performed in a theatre festival In Serbia and Bosnia to raise money for local projects. A few years later Lester started singing, and wrote his first song ‘Line of the Underground’ as a last minute A level project, and from there he hasn’t stopped writing!
Whilst abroad in Uganda in 2005 he wrote ‘’Orange Road’’ about his admiration for the Ugandan people, who through all the hardship they face still smile …
‘Orange Road’ got airplay throughout Africa in 05/06 and can be found on his first EP ‘Mellow Drama’
2007 started off with Lester calling on 2 other local musicians (Mehmet Raif and Steve Straughan) to start performing with him when he was asked to support Just Jack on the first leg of his UK tour. They had 3 weeks to prepare for the gig and since then they havent looked back!
In Their first year, Lester Clayton and his band played over a hundred gigs, including headlining at the Soho Revue Bar 3 times, playing for Leona Lewis at her winners party, amongst many other gigs in Soho, Notting Hill and other areas of London.
In March '07 he headlined at ‘Friday night Live’ at a Fopp CD store, where he released his second EP – ‘Halfway there, but twice as far to go’ which had sold out a month later, and by April he had performed at the widely publicised ‘Camden Crawl.’
Lester has since worked as a session singer/guitarist for other up and coming artists, and featured on ‘’Try me for Size’ the debut album from rapper ‘Pintsize’ (www.myspace.com/pintsizemc)
Lester's ability to tell a story with his songs, his powerful soulful voice, and the fusion of musical genres which his mulitcultural band give him have made him a firm favourite on the acoustic scene in London..
So be sure to keep an ear out for Lester in 2008, he and his band are currently recording a new album, to be released in the Spring. Great things are on the horizon for Lester Clayton!
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------
Aswell as continuous gigging, The Lester Clayton Band also finds time to run two weekly open mic nights to give other acts the chance to get themselves heard!
To book a slot check out -
www.myspace.com/acoustictbirds
www.myspace.com/acousticjollyanglers
---------------------------------------------------
If your interested in booking Lester Clayton for a gig feel free to contact him direct on 07903 871 358 or via email at [email protected]
---------------------------------------------------
