Born in South London in 1948, the son of a soldier and piano teacher, it wasn’t until buying his first record 'The Wanderer' by Dion that his love of music first started. his mother
bought him a second hand acoustic guitar and with the help of a friend he learned 'House of the Rising Sun'. In the summer of 1965 he joined up with 3 youngsters from a local youth club and formed his first band 'Noddy and the Plods', who never gigged outside of the garage they practiced in. By Christmas that year he had switched to Bass Guitar and joined a band called The Shapes and in February 1966 played his first ever gig at the Holy Redeemer Hall in Streatham Vale. By October the same year Arthur had moved on to join The Next Collection a top south London band which subsequently changed their name to Second Hand. Their album 'Reality' was released on Polydor records who then went on to include two of their tracks on the 'Deep Overground Pop' album which featured amongst others The Who and Jimi Hendrix. Arthur left the band in 1968 due to musical differences.By this time however, listening to Bob Dylan and his contempories, he started his journey once again into acoustic music, playing bass for an acoustic band in folk clubs in south London. On one occasion the rest of the band failed to show and Ivan St Clair, who ran the club, asked him to do a floor spot. 'The only song I remember playing was, Lilly of the West' he recalls. Taking a break from the folk scene he carried on playing bass with fellow musicians Ron Kavana and Keith Chilvers in top London Bluegrass band Panama Red. By the end of 1977 Panama Red had split up. Now living in Clerkenwell, Arthur started to write his own songs, Limehouse Lady being an early one from this period.. He then joined a top London Cajun outfit, The Balham Alligators also playing bass with Doctor John on occasions.Having to leave the Alligators and his native London (due to family circumstances) he moved to Kent. Eventually becoming dissatisfied with playing bass he once again returned to his acoustic guitar and began writing new songs influenced by the rich experiences he'd had throughout his colourful life. While in Canterbury, a chance meeting with an old friend Mark Hewins was to give him the inspiration to go it alone as a singer/songwriter and to share his songs, old and new, with a new audience. The last two years have seen him take his unique style from the cafe's of Glastonbury, through to the Wasted festival and to the London Astoria at Christmas 2005, being received warmly wherever he goes.his first cd 'Acoustic Warrior' stands as a testament to 40 years in the music business, starting with 'Born in England', and ending with ' The Isle of Avalon', all twelve beautifully crafted songs on Acoustic Warrior stand out on their own.the cd features mark hewins from bob geldofs band along with lars fredrickson from rancid and bob loveday from van morrisons band the cd is available from www.cadizmusic.co.uk
'belmont avenue'arthurs latest is an amazing mix of acoustic rock n roll;doo wop;blues;jazz and finishing with the nick drake inspired;only yesterday.the album is a heartfelt dedication to the music of Dion Dimucci.arthur was invited backstage to meet Dion after a gig in london.the title track 'belmont avenue'grew out of an earlier work which evolved when arthur visited Belmont in the Bronx while on holiday in new york.a photo of Dion and arthur is included in the artwork on the cd.
the cd also features the bluegrass mandolin of keith chilvers and guitar work of mark hewins
Belmont avenue.its where Brixton meets the Bronx......
Sunlight of the Spirit
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