Guy Barker
Guy Barker and Jean Toussaint in 2007
Background information
Born	(1957-12-26) 26 December 1957 (age 54) Chiswick, London United Kingdom
Occupations	Musician, Composer, Bandleader
Instruments	Trumpet
Years active	1975–present
Labels	Jazz, Jazz fusion, pop, rock
Associated acts	Clark Tracey

Guy Barker (born 26 December 1957) is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a year had joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. After lessons from Clark Terry in 1975, Barker went on in the 1980s to play with John Dankworth, Gil Evans (with whose orchestra he toured and recorded in 1983), Lena Horne and Bobby Watson.

Barker was a member of Clark Tracey's quintet from 1984 to 1992, and continues to play with Tracey, as well as with Tracey's father Stan. As a sideman he has played with many major musicians and groups, including Ornette Coleman, Carla Bley, Georgie Fame, James Carter, Mike Westbrook, Frank Sinatra, Colin Towns, Natalie Merchant, ABC, The The, Erasure, Chris Botti, Wham!, Kajagoogoo, The Housemartins, Matt Bianco, Alphaville, The Moody Blues, Sting, Bucks Fizz, Mike Oldfield, Cleo Laine, Acoustic Alchemy, and XTC.

Previously, his own band has featured an international mix of musicians – Perico Sambeat (alto saxophone; Spain), Bernardo Sassetti (piano; Portugal), Geoff Gascoyne (bass, United Kingdom), and Gene Calderazzo (drums; United States)

More recently he has toured the Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra – a 15 piece big band featuring Rosario Giuliani (alto saxophone; Italy) and Per Johansson (tenor saxophone; Sweden) - performing DZF, a reworking of Mozart's Magic Flute with Michael Brandon narrating the story as a Raymond Chandler style pulp fiction novel, retold by Robert Ryan

Guy Barker was Musical Director / Arranger for the opening gala concert "Jazz Voice : Celebrating a century of song" at the London Jazz Festival in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. He was also Musical Director / Arranger on a number of BBC Radio 2 Friday night is music night shows featuring the Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra with the BBC Concert Orchestra, celebrating the music of Billie Holiday^[1] / Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn^[2] / Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield^[3] / Jazz Royalty to celebrate the Wedding of William and Kate^[4]

Discography[link]

• 1991: Isn't It?
• 1994: Into the Blue
• 1998: What Love Is
• 1999: The Talented Mr Ripley — Soundtrack
• 2000: Timeswing
• 2001: Soundtrack
• 2007: The Amadeus Project

References[link]

External links[link]

• Guy Barker at Allmusic
• Guy Barker discography at Discogs
• Guy Barker at the Internet Movie Database
• Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, & Brian Priestley. Jazz: The Rough Guide. ISBN 1-85828-528-3
• Richard Cook & Brian Morton. The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD 6th edition. ISBN 0-14-051521-6

Paloma Faith
Faith performing in November 2010
Background information
Birth name	Paloma Faith Blomfield
Born	(1985-07-21) 21 July 1985 (age 26)[1][2] Hackney, London, UK
Genres	Soul, pop, jazz
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Epic Records, RCA Records
Website	palomafaith.com

Paloma Faith (born Paloma Faith Blomfield; 21 July 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. In 2009, she released her debut single "Stone Cold Sober" and her debut album, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?, which was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. Her album stayed within the top 40 album charts for over forty weeks. The album spawned five singles: "Stone Cold Sober", "New York", title track "Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?", "Upside Down" and "Smoke & Mirrors". Faith also recorded the theme song to the 2010 British film 4.3.2.1 and appeared on the charity record "I Put a Spell on You". Faith made her feature film debut in the 2007 remake of St Trinian's. She has since appeared in two more feature films, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and Dread. In March 2010, Faith revealed that she was working on a second album. Almost two years later, Faith announced that her second album would be called Fall to Grace and that it would be released on 28 May 2012. The album was preceded by the single "Picking Up the Pieces", which became Faith's highest charting single to date.

Early life[link]

Faith was born in Hackney, London to a Spanish father and an English mother who split up when Faith was two years old.^[1] Faith was raised by her mother in Stoke Newington.^[3] As a child, Faith was encouraged to dance by her mother and she took weekly ballet classes in Dalston.^[1] After completing her A-Levels, Faith went on to study for a degree in contemporary dance at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance,^[4] which Faith describes as "the worst experience of [her] life".^[1] Faith then went on to study for an MA in theatre directing at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design,^[5] funding her studies by working various part-time jobs, which included; a sales assistant at Agent Provocateur, a singer in a burlesque cabaret, a life model and a magician's assistant.^[3][5]

Music career[link]

2007–08: Career beginnings[link]

Faith's first foray into music began when she mimicked famous soul and jazz singers including Etta James and Billie Holiday, whom she admired and cites as influences for her own work.^[3][6] Faith met her managers Jamie Binns and Christian Wåhlberg of Lateral Management in 2007.^[7] Binns had been tipped off by the producer Peanut, a client who had recently worked with Faith in his studio and been suitably impressed.^[8] He met up with Faith shortly afterwards and was "completely blown away", later saying: "I wasn't sure what this girl was going to do – she was an actress and a singer – but there was just something about her in that artistic realness that when I came out of the meeting I called Christian and said, 'We have to do something with this girl!'"^[8] Although Faith had been looking for a manager, she was still wary about entering into a formal agreement with Binns and Wåhlberg. She instead wanted to build their relationship before any contracts were signed. The managers spent six months to a year helping Faith with the A&R process, setting up sessions, and guiding and advising her before Faith was officially signed to Lateral Management.^[8]

During her time at college, Faith worked in a pub where the manager asked her to front his band, which they later called 'Paloma and the Penetrators'.^[1] During a performance with the band at a cabaret show, Faith was scouted by an A&R man from Epic Records, who invited Faith to sing for the manager of the label.^[1] Twenty minutes into the audition, Faith asked the manager to turn his phone off and when he refused, she walked out.^[1] Epic A&R Joanna Charrington told HitQuarters "When she played a showcase for us it was clear that she was a star but the material was a bit generic. She didn't have the hit songs."^[7] Not being one hundred percent convinced the label executives decided to wait. During this time Charrington regularly checked Faith's MySpace page "to see if she had something that had a special direction or sound."^[7] After several months her attention was eventually piqued by "Broken Doll", which she thought was a well-crafted song with a "fantastic chorus and brilliant lyrics."^[7] Charrington told Epic managing director Nick Raphael "I think we should get this girl back in. She sounds like she is getting it now. We can help her get the songs."^[7] Faith revealed in an interview that the manager called her and offered her a contract saying he had seen many acts since and none had been as memorable as her.^[1] Faith turned down an opportunity to join Amy Winehouse's band and she began to write and perform her own songs.^[9]

Faith's first recognised work was the song "It's Christmas (And I Hate You)", which she recorded as a duet with singer-songwriter, Josh Weller in 2008.^[10] Faith's music is influenced by soul and jazz and her singing style has been compared favourably to those of Amy Winehouse and Duffy.^[11][12]

[edit] 2009–10: Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?

Faith released her debut single, "Stone Cold Sober", in mid-2009 and it reached Number 17 on the UK Singles Chart.^[13] Faith's second single, "New York" was released in September 2009.^[14] The song made its peak position in early October, peaking at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart.^[15] Faith then released her debut album, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?, on 28 September 2009.^[16] Faith wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album in the UK, Sweden and America and recorded it entirely in London.^[17] It debuted at number 14 on the UK Albums Chart and later peaked at number 9, it remained in the chart for sixteen weeks.^[18] The album became BBC Radio 2's 'Album of the Week' from the 19 September 2009.^[16] In the same year, Faith appeared as a guest vocalist on Basement Jaxx's Scars album and on American hip-hop artist MF Doom's album, Born Like This.^[19][20] Faith released her third single, the album's title track, "Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?" on 21 December 2009.^[21] The song did not perform as well as Faith's previous singles and failed to reach the top twenty. It peaked at number 64 in January 2010.^[22] In March 2010, Faith released her fourth single, "Upside Down", which peaked at Number 55 in the UK. To promote the album, Faith went on her first tour, featuring dates in the UK, Germany and France.^[23]

Faith performing at the 2010 Lovebox Festival

On 4 November 2009, Faith announced her first headlining tour of the UK and Ireland starting on 17 March 2010.^[5][24] The Times described the tour as being "full of theatrical artifice, but based on the rock-solid foundation of [Faith]'s sensational singing voice and a personality that sparkled like a rough diamond".^[25] Faith performed a live set for the BBC's Radio 2 Introduces... and gave an interview to the station's host, Dermot O'Leary.^[26] Faith also appeared on current events programme This Week discussing her views on the British education system with Michael Portillo. During this month she also appeared as a guest on Never Mind the Buzzcocks,^[27] performed the song "Upside Down" on The Hollyoaks Music Show, and performed her single "New York" on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. She also appeared on the BBC's Later with Jools Holland, recorded on 13 October 2009, and his live Hootenanny on 31 December 2009. Faith performed at numerous festivals throughout that summer, including T4 on the Beach. "Stone Cold Sober" was used as the backing track for a Rimmel commercial starring Lily Cole and the B-side, "I Just Wait", was used in a UK television alcohol awareness advert.^[5][28] Samsung's Corby mobile phone TV commercial featured Faith's "Technicolour" song. Faith became involved in an album artwork competition with BBC Blast in November 2009, in which teenagers won the chance to work alongside leading artists, photographers and music industry professionals to create new publicity artwork for the singer.^[29]

During an interview with Mayer Nissim of Digital Spy in March 2010, Faith revealed that she was working on a second album.^[30], and that if she continued to make losses for her record label they would drop her.^[30] Faith's manager subsequently refuted any suggestion that her contract with the label was under threat, saying that, on the contrary, debut album UK sales of 500,000 without a hit single is an impressive foundation for a long-term career, and Sony are "smart enough" to recognise that and are 110% behind her.^[8] Faith, along with Adam Deacon and Bashy, recorded the theme song to the 2010 British film 4.3.2.1. The track, titled "Keep Moving", was released on 28 May 2010.^[31] In the same month, Faith performed at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival with the The Guy Barker Orchestra. The performance was broadcast on BBC Radio 2.^[32] In June 2010, it was announced that Faith would re-release an updated version of "New York" featuring rapper Ghostface Killah.^[33] The single was released on 1 August 2010.^[33] Faith released a live EP album following an appearance at the 2010 iTunes Festival. The album charted at number 11 on the iTunes top 200 albums.^[34] Faith revealed in a September interview that she would be releasing her new single "Smoke & Mirrors" in October 2010.^[35] The track was the final single from her debut album and its video was uploaded to YouTube.^[35] It peaked at Number 140 on the UK Singles Chart.^[36]

[edit] 2011–present: Fall to Grace

In January 2011, Faith was nominated for "British Female Solo Artist" at the 2011 BRIT Awards.^[37] At the ceremony, Faith performed "Forget You" alongside Cee Lo Green.^[38] Faith appears on the charity single "Hard Times" alongside Plan B and Elton John.^[39] She also recorded the song "Desire" with Graham Coxon and Bill Ryder-Jones for a Converse campaign.^[40] During an interview with Popjustice, Faith revealed her second album would contain more "agony and suffering."^[41] The singer also hoped the album would be done with one producer as she wanted a "solid piece of work."^[41] She explained "I love the beautiful side of things like that Tom Waitsy, Rufus Wainwrighty, Ed Harcourt sort of stuff, and in contrast I like all the OutKast production, Gnarls Barkley and 'Beggin' and all that sort of sound. Contemporary but with a nod to the past. But you never know. You might just meet someone and something else would make sense."^[41] In July 2011, Faith revealed her frustrations about releasing the follow up to Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?. She did not know when the album was going to be completed and said the process was slow.^[42] She told Kristy Kelly of Digital Spy, "The album's not finished yet and I'm not sure when it will be. If I had my way it would be out tomorrow, but there are so many other people involved that nothing happens quickly."^[42] Faith also admitted being signed to a major record label made her feel under pressure to be instantly successful.^[42] On 7 February 2012, a writer for the Gloucestershire Echo reported Faith had been named as Artist in Residence for the 2012 Cheltenham Jazz Festival.^[43]

On 29 February 2012, Faith revealed her second album would be called Fall to Grace and that it would be released by RCA Records on 28 May 2012.^[44][45] Faith enlisted record producer Nellee Hooper and co-producer Jake Gosling to work with her on the project.^[45][46] Hooper told a writer for NME that he had not really heard of Faith as he was living in Los Angeles when her first album was released. He said Sony and RCA Records contacted him and suggested he meet her.^[46] Of Fall to Grace, Faith said "The new album has taken on a very cinematic mood. I am very excited to introduce my new sound into the world. Working with Nellee Hooper (Björk, Madonna) has been really inspirational."^[44] Faith told Dom Gourlay of Contactmusic.com that Fall to Grace is a personal record about a period of her life. Faith wrote and recorded the album in London.^[46][47] Fall to Grace was be preceded by the single "Picking Up the Pieces" on 20 May.^[44] It debuted at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart, making it Faith's highest charting single to date.^[48][49] On 4 April 2012, Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy reported Faith had joined The Voice UK as one of four guest mentors.^[50] Faith worked with coach Danny O'Donoghue during the battle rounds phase of the competition.^[50] She also performed "Picking Up the Pieces" during the fourth results show.^[51] To promote Fall to Grace, Faith performed "Just Be", a track from the album, on Later... with Jools Holland.^[52]

Acting career[link]

In 2006, Faith made her primetime television acting debut in the series Mayo. The following year she appeared in an episode of the BBC police drama HolbyBlue and made her feature film acting debut as Andrea in St Trinian's.^[28][53] In 2009, Faith appeared in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as Sally, the girlfriend of the Devil (played by Tom Waits).^[28] She also appeared in horror film Dread as Clara Thornhill.^[5] Faith revealed that she was able to attend film auditions during promotion for her debut album, in the hope that she would land a role once all of her album commitments were over.^[6] In August 2010, Faith appeared in Channel 4's series Coming Up.^[54] She also appears in the short film, A Nice Touch with Dougray Scott.^[55] Faith became attached to appear in Wayne Holloway's untitled punk movie in 2012.^[56] Faith will make an appearance as cabaret performer, Georgia, in the BBC drama adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's Blandings.^[40][57] She auditioned for the role and stated "I don't think they even knew I was an actress. I went to an audition and they said that they liked my interpretation of the character and I said, 'I'm just being myself'."^[58]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful? (2009)^[59]
• Fall to Grace (2012)

Singles

• "Stone Cold Sober" (2009)
• "New York" (2009)
• "Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?" (2009)
• "Upside Down" (2010)
• "New York" (feat. Ghostface Killah) (2010)
• "Smoke & Mirrors" (2010)
• "Picking Up the Pieces" (2012)

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paloma Faith

• Official website
• Paloma Faith on Twitter
• Paloma Faith on Facebook
• Paloma Faith discography at Discogs
• Paloma Faith at the Internet Movie Database
• Paloma Faith at Curtis Brown
• Paloma Faith portrait competition at BBC Blast

John Martyn
Martyn onstage at the Cropredy Festival, 11 August 2006
Background information
Born	(1948-09-11)11 September 1948 New Malden, Surrey, England
Died	29 January 2009(2009-01-29) (aged 60) Ireland
Genres	Folk rock, folk jazz
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1965–2009
Labels	Island, WEA
Website	www.johnmartyn.com

John Martyn OBE (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009) was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a 40 year career he released 20 studio albums, working with artists such as Eric Clapton and David Gilmour. He has been described by The Times as "an electrifying guitarist and singer whose music blurred the boundaries between folk, jazz, rock and blues".^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Martyn was born in Beechcroft Avenue, New Malden, Surrey, England.^[2] Martyn's parents, both opera singers, divorced when he was five and he spent his childhood alternating between Scotland and England. Much of this was spent in the care of his grandmother. His strongest ties were in Glasgow, and he attended Shawlands Academy there.^[1]

Late 1960s and collaborations with Beverley Martyn[link]

Mentored by Hamish Imlach, Martyn began his professional musical career when he was 17, playing a blend of blues and folk resulting in a distinctive style which made him a key figure in the British folk scene during the mid-1960s. He signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records in 1967 and released his first album, London Conversation, the following year.

This first album was soon followed by The Tumbler, which was moving towards jazz. By 1970 Martyn had developed a wholly original and idiosyncratic sound: acoustic guitar run through a fuzzbox, phase shifter and Echoplex. This sound was first apparent on Stormbringer! in 1970, which was written and performed by both John and Beverley Martyn, his then wife, who had previously recorded solo as Beverley Kutner and had worked with artists such as Nick Drake and Jimmy Page. Her second album with Martyn was The Road to Ruin, also released in 1970. However, Island Records felt that it would be more successful to market Martyn as a solo act and this was how subsequent albums were produced, although Beverley Martyn continued to make appearances as a background singer as well as continuing as a solo artist herself.^[1]

1970s[link]

	"Eibhli Ghail Chiuin Ni Chearbhail" noicon "Eibhli Ghail Chiuin Ni Chearbhail" (1973), built around a traditional tune, was featured on Inside Out. It typifies Martyn's unique use of the echoplex effect, coupled with a fuzzbox and phase-shifter.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In 1973, Martyn released one of the defining British albums of the 1970s, Solid Air, the title song a tribute to the singer-songwriter Nick Drake, a close friend and label-mate, who died in 1974 from an overdose of antidepressants. In 2009 a double CD Deluxe edition of Solid Air compiled, with John Martyn's blessing, by John Hillarby from the official John Martyn website and with sleeve notes by Record Collector's Daryl Easlea was released featuring unreleased songs and out-takes. On Solid Air, as with the one that preceded it, Bless the Weather, Martyn collaborated with jazz bassist Danny Thompson, with whom he proceeded to have a fruitful musical partnership which continued until his death. He also developed a new, slurred vocal style, the timbre of which resembled a tenor saxophone.

Martyn in 1978

Following the commercial success of Solid Air, Martyn quickly recorded and released the experimental Inside Out, a more difficult album with emphasis placed on feel and improvisation rather than song structure. In 1974, he followed this with Sunday's Child. In September 1975 he released a live album, Live at Leeds—Martyn had been unable to convince Island to release the record, and resorted to selling individually signed copies by mail from home. Live at Leeds features Danny Thompson and drummer John Stevens. In 2010 Universal Music released a 2CD Deluxe version of Live at Leeds researched and compiled by John Hillarby. Whilst researching the release Hillarby discovered that not all of the songs on the original album were from the Leeds concert. After releasing Live at Leeds, Martyn took a sabbatical, including a visit to Jamaica, spending time with famous reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry.

In 1977, he released One World, which led some commentators to describe Martyn as the "Father of Trip-Hop".^[3] It included tracks such as "Small Hours" and "Big Muff", a collaboration with Lee "Scratch" Perry. One World was recorded outside; the album's lush soundscapes are partly the result of microphones picking up ambient sounds, such as geese from a nearby lake.^[4] In 1978 he played guitar on album Harmony of the Spheres by Neil Ardley.

1980s and marriage breakup[link]

Martyn's marriage to Beverley broke down at the end of the 1970s and "John hit the self destruct button" (although other biographers, including The Times obituary writer, attribute the break-up of his marriage to his already being addicted to drink and drugs).^[1] Out of this period, described by Martyn as "a very dark period in my life",^[5] came the album Grace and Danger.

Released in October 1980, the album had been held up for a year by Chris Blackwell. He was a close friend of John and Beverley, and found the album too openly disturbing to release. Only after intense and sustained pressure from Martyn did Blackwell agree to release the album. Commenting on that period, Martyn said, "I was in a dreadful emotional state over that record. I was hardly in control of my own actions. The reason they finally released it was because I freaked: Please get it out! I don't give a damn about how sad it makes you feel—it's what I'm about: the direct communication of emotion. Grace and Danger was very cathartic, and it really hurt."^[5]

In the late 1980s Martyn would cite Grace and Danger as his favourite album, and said that it was "probably the most specific piece of autobiography I've written. Some people keep diaries, I make records."^[5] The album has since become one of his highest-regarded, prompting a deluxe double-disc issue in 2007, containing the original album remastered.

Phil Collins played drums and sang backing vocals on Grace and Danger and subsequently played drums on and produced Martyn's next album, Glorious Fool, in 1981.

Martyn left Island records in 1981, and recorded Glorious Fool and Well Kept Secret for WEA, the label clearly aiming to bring him mainstream success, and achieving his first Top 30 album.^[1] Glorious Fool was a sharp departure from Martyn's 70s sound and at the time was regarded as something of a sell-out by his die-hard fans, but time has revealed it to be a much stronger album than it seemed at the time, with some fine songwriting and vocals. Well Kept Secret (1982) was less successful. Martyn released a live album, Philentropy, in 1983.