| John has been classically trained on the trombone from the age of eight. His earliest performances were in brass ensembles, classical orchestras and brass bands. At sixteen a chance meeting at the legendary Rum Runner Club in Birmingham, saw John join his first funk band, "Wide Receiver". He went on to become a well known face on the Birmingham music scene in the 80's and 90's, with bands such as "The Hudson Giants", "The Ten Commandments of Harry Lang / Pier 66", "Airphyx", "Wait'n'See", "Kix" and "The Soul Survivors". His first international tour came in 1984, touring the Caribbean and Europe with "Musical Youth". As well as trombone, he has also more recently taken up playing percussion. John has worked with artists such as Musical Youth, Steel Pulse, Grandmaster Flash,Bitty McLean, Wet Wet Wet, UB40, Simply Red,Tom Jones, Will Young and Girls Aloud. John has been a bandmember of Simply Red since their Blue Album in 1998 and has recorded on every album since then. He appeared in the hit single videos "Ain't That A Lotta Love", "Your Perfect Love" and "Oh What A Girl" and also on the DVD's "Simply Red Live in London","Home Live in Sicily" and "Cuba!". John also recorded on Mick Hucknall's first soloproject "Hucknall Tribute to Bobby". John is currently working for the first time as a songwriter, under his own label SOULaw Records, on his own material. |
