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JohnFrom a very early age John had aspirations of being a drummer until one day his father came home from work with a battered old acoustic guitar. The nine year old was soon hooked and after many weeks of very tender finger tips soon mastered his own rendition of the James Bond theme.
The very young John soon picked up on Hank Marvin, then got into early Eric Clapton (John Mayalls Blues Breakers) then watching TOTP's one night was blown away by the style of a unknown guitarist....Jimmi Hendrix, probably the biggest influence in Johns life as a guitarist.
At the age of eleven John and school friend, John Mowatt, had their first public appearance at the local British Legion Club where they entered a talent contest performing The Small Faces "Sha La La La La La Lee" winning the heat but alas, went no further.
John's first full band was at the age of thirteen featuring a very young drummer Graham Smith (St Cecelia - Leap up and down with your knickers in the air) performing in schools and youth clubs. By this time John was becoming a very well respected self taught guitarist /backing vocalist in his area and was always in demand, playing and depping in numerous local bands, very often John being the only schoolboy in the band. At the age of eighteen he was invited over to West Germany and for six months played in
American Army and USAF bases, this was the start of his professional career.
When the band returned home from Germany, he later auditioned for Marty Wilde whom he
toured with for two years. He then moved to London after being spotted by a drummer whose
friend had a successful Country & Western band where John developed another style of guitar
playing.
Another successful audition located him in a band where the lead singer/Bass player was Ace Kefford (Bass player from The Move). The band was together for about two years, giving John plenty of experience, skill and knowledge in showbiz and recording. Ace has recently released a new CD
(Ace The Face) featuring unreleased material from "Rockstar" giving credit to John and the
rest of the lads from the band.
Link here to Ace Kefford.
John's contribution to "Without a Doubt" is the most productive/creative part of the Duo.
With his multi talents as a musician this enables "Without a Doubt" to digress from the usual
Duo Karaoke/Purchased backing tracks.
John records all of "Without a Doubt's" tracks in his
home studio using a Fostex VF160 16 track hard disc multi tracker, thus allowing John and Helen
to record their own backing vocals, guitars, keyboards etc, leaving scope for John to play
his guitars LIVE in the style he is noted for....