About

In my fifties, I am regarded as a ‘Generation X’ Singer Songwriter & Guitarist. I was born in Cambridgeshire and was a founder member of originals 4-piece Britpop band, ‘The Sunkings‘ in the 90’s. I’m told my new songs are a blend of Country, Folk Rock & Americana – which feels about right, but it’s just whatever pops out really. It’s safe to say though, that whilst there maybe some up-tempo tunes (still sub 130bpm) I don’t write music to dance to.

Influences

My favourite songwriters, those that orchestrate the soundtrack to my life, are Lennon & McCartney, George Harrison, James Taylor, Don Henley, Glen Frey, Billy Joel, Neil Finn, David Gates, Joni Mitchel and Justin Currie. And whilst I’m steeped in admiration for contemporary artists such as Noah Kahan, Ed Sheeran, Keith Urban, Teddy Swims, Lewis Capaldi, Maren Morris & Taylor Swift, having spent my formative teens & twenties in a touring 50’s & 60’s covers-band, my own creative output is ‘unconsciously imbued with a distinctive retro vibe’ (apparently). I can’t shake it off and actually, I no longer fight it. I Am what I am (blah blah). Oh and it would be remiss of me not to unashamedly state that I sooo love The Beatles (and Elvis) 🙂

Starting Over

I gave up creating music about 20+ years ago following a loss of confidence and the inescapable necessity to engage with grownup responsibilities. As a responsible adult I’d always felt a sense of imposter syndrome in this roll. Then, in the 2nd lockdown, I was invited to join an age-positive songwriters group for the over fifties (did I mention I’m in my fifties?) called ‘Talent Is Timeless’ (TisT).  Set up by then 20-something Saskia Griffiths-Moore, the 9000+ member group has encouraged and inspired me to write and perform again and in doing so the reasons why I did this all those years ago have come flooding back.

My second time around on this musical mystery tour has, to my surprise, seen me win several  song writing competitions. I was also shortlisted for the 2022 Annual Global TisT Song Writing Competition as a co-writer and have performed at several London venues as a consequence of joining TisT.

Today, successful talented artists are usually either social media-savvy young’uns or veterans with gold-plated back catalogues. It’s not usual for a hitherto unknown fifty-something songwriter to find a new audience and success. So, whilst it’s not my first rodeo, I’m happy to try and buck the trend. It’s just the metric that defines ‘success’ may be somewhat different to me now.

My First Release

2024 will be the year I release my debut single as a solo artist. A co-write with Graham Buxton, the song is called ‘Big Boy Now‘ and is about men’s mental wellbeing as we navigate societal expectations and stereotypes and having to “man up” before we’re ready or able. It’s really not as dark as that sounds!  I wasn’t sure which song to lead with, but with the acoustic demo video of said song having received over 15,000 views on the You Pick Acoustic YouTube channel as featured artist of the month for October 22, along with garnering critical acclaim (that means positive btw) and spot-plays on 365 Radio, I was minded to make it my first studio single release.

Demo Videos

My songs cover a fairly wide variety of subjects often inspired by the regular song writing ‘themed’ challenges on Talent Is Timeless. On this website you’ll see links to my acoustic demo videos. Filmed with just guitar & vocals with a webcam and sometimes a green screen, these are typically just simple, raw ‘warts and all‘ demos of songs that I haven’t recorded in the studio yet. Some of which may never be converted to studio versions.

That Syncing Feeling

My plan is to record some of the demos in the studio and submit to music supervisors and publishers for what’s known as ‘syncing‘, in the hope that one or more of my songs may be selected for use in the soundtrack of a film/drama.