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Justin is also an accomplished composer & arranger - his greatest achievement being the collation of a Soul/Funk show, arranged for an 18-piece band (rhythm, horn & string sections) with a 20-piece choir (SATB). Justin not only arranged & scored the entire show, but also fronted the band, vocally & musically. Justin has also been able to use his vocal, composition & arranging talent for the Lords' work, having been brought up a NEW APOSTOLIC christian, arranging for the churches' choirs & orchestras in Australia & the UK. For the past 8 years Justin has been performing/arranging in covers bands in Brisbane, Australia. One of his ultimate ambitions is to perform & market his original material in the UK and Europe, hence his relocation to London, England in October 2006! Justin has been performing with the Big Girls Blues Band since November 2006 - & he loves every minute of it!!!! Visit my website http://www.j-funk.biz
When I was 14, I went to see a clairvoyant. As soon as I walked into the room she said "you are the one that loves music". This was very true. I was one of those children who would wait for the Sunday Top 40 to come on with my tape (that had been used to record on many times) and my fingers on the play - record - pause buttons. I would listen to the pirate stations (not that many in Derby) and although very unclear I could hear the music through the interference! My whole family loves music and my sisters and I would often sing and dance. My mum and dad are huge reggae fans and this is where I get my love of the great music from. As I am getting older, my taste is getting more sophisticated. No more Top 40! When the clairvoyant told me about my future, she said I would meet a guy on a dancefloor, which I did (it ended after 4 years), she said I would go to America, which I have done several times and she said I would be in a group/band and that the group/band would not be successful, but I would be. I believe the unsuccessful group/band was with my sisters. We used to sing and do the dance routines to 5 Star (a great 80s group for you youngsters out there) in a Derby Nightclub [shame]. I got out of Derby to find my future [husband] in London. I worked for Roger (guitarist in the band) who asked if I wanted to do some backing singing for the band back in 1998. I jumped at the chance as I had heard the band before and really enjoyed what they did. Over the years since I have been with the band, I have seen some great performers come and go and have played in some great places - Dorset, Islington, Amsterdam and many more places. I truly enjoy being in the band as I am learning so much and getting better and better (so people tell me). The Big Girls Blues Band consists of some extremely talented guys and I am honoured to be singing alongside them.
I started my musical career at boarding school in Winchester where we had one old radio in the common room. There was a strange fellow student called Paul who was completely disinterested in the normal activities of popping acne spots, studying "Health and Efficiency", sport, climbing trees to drop things on people, shouting obscenities at schoolgirls, smoking behind the bike sheds; instead he would tune in to Voice of America on crackly short wave and listen to Willis Conover in Washington playing Duke Ellington "Take the "A" train" and other jazzy stuff. It was one short step from there to tuning in to Radio Luxembourg playing 30 secs of Little Richard, Jerry Lee, Larry Williams and the Teddy Bears. One defining evening they played Buddy Holly "That'll be the day". When I heard that dried up Lubbock Texas sound of Buddy's Fender on the intro I was hooked for life , there was no going back. Rock n Roll took control of my soul. English radio was playing songs from the musicals - whip crack away - whip crack away;I hated it. Air guitar was not for me ;I needed the real thing. My father made me a couple of hollow body guitars. I listened to the intro to That'll Be The Day 27 times in a row until I could play it note perfect. I wondered at the magic sounds of Scotty Moore on the Elvis records and James Burton on Ricky Nelson's.On one of the guitars I strapped a makeshift "microphone" from a set of ex army headphones. I plugged into an old school PA system and I was rocking. I played in the school skiffle group emulating a new hero, Lonnie Donegan. There was something bluesy about him which I liked. We played Streamline Train , Grand Coulee Dam and Frankie and Johnnie. There was another bloke called Johnny Gill whose Dad owned a pub in Hartley Wintney. He told us about unknowns like Roy Orbison "Ooby Dooby" and played us "Sea of Love" by Phil Phillips with Cookie and the Cupcakes. Someone told me there was a blues singer called Muddy Waters playing at the Beaulieu Jazz Festival. Me and a mate called Roger Coombs hitched a lift and listened to the majesty of Muddy playing his Telecaster on "Cant be satisfied", "Still a Fool" and "Mojo" in awe. I went briefly to Nottingham University where I played in a 3 piece band in miners clubs in Mansfield and other scenic spots. We were Dennis and the Deadmen. Sometimes we wore T shirts with skeletons on them; sometimes we didn't. I still had dad's guitar but now the headphone was replaced with a proper screw-on pick up with a volume control - wow! We played Brenda Lee and Eddie Cochran songs. We got lucky with some blondes who hung around the stage. I was picked up by a German air hostess who introduced me to a number of - er - interesting things including Ray Charles. We tried to play "Night time is the Right Time" but it wasn’t very good. We didn’t have a bass player. The band folded when Little Mo the drummer had a breakdownette and wouldn't come out from the cupboard under the stairs. It was my first experience of the strangeness that can overcome people in bands - particularly drummers oh and sax players - read on... I returned to London where the Stones were playing Eel Pie and Manor House and the Yardbirds were at Crawdaddy. I met Sonny Boy Williamson having a piss in a pub in Richmond. He wore a bowler hat;cool.Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies were doing their Chicago thing at the Marquee. I joined the Mugwumps having bought a Harmony semi acoustic and borrowed a Vox AC30. The Mugwumps played Jimmy Reed, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. We had a truly sleepless time but the pills did work. We went to the Flamingo and Klooks Kleek. Our hair was long and our clothes were filthy. We followed Georgie Fame, Zoot Money and Eric Clapton everywhere. I heard Steve Cropper growl the riff in Green Onions on his Telecaster and I marvelled - so simple but oh so good. Thinking I might turn into Sonny - or Cher - I got a job with a mate called Mike playing in a bar in Sitges, Spain. We sang and played to the tourists and we got free food. I wondered if I might be a professional - and I wondered and I wondered..however Mike went off with a 16 year old from St Albans so.... In search of more sunshine, a wash and an audience that wasn't in a coma I went to Australia for £10. I took my Harmony semi and a Harmony Sovereign Jumbo. The music scene down under was in a time warp about 5 years behind the Northern Hemisphere. I played Puff the Magic Dragon in a folk duo, I joined a band that only played Beatle songs. I was offered a job in a Shadows band but couldn't work out the dance steps. I played in a wedding band in Bondi where the girl bass player wore a grass skirt and sang "Blame it on the Bossa Nova" and "These boots are made for walking" dung dung dung dung dung dung..... I had travelled 12000 miles but musically I was going nowhere. What had happened to the cravings for the sound of a bent G string and the thrash of the Chuck Berry 9ths? Or come to that a Vibrolux turned up to 10? One day I answered an ad for a guitarist to form a band. I practiced FBI and Day Tripper ready for the usual boring routine. I never played them again - ever. I was asked if I knew Big Boss Man, Little Queenie and Cops and Robbers. My life changed again - this time big BIG time. With Rod Coe, George Rhodes, Johnny Green, (sometimes)John Lewis and Danny Cox I formed the Lost Souls. We played Suzie Wongs in Sydney, the personnel changed a bit from time to time. We got Ed the piss artist drummer – who contacted me in January 2008 from Noosa to say he was still Ed the flavee doo vox drummer but no longer the piss artist – well done Ed, Tony Luckhurst the drummer from Kogarah and Keith Jackman the crazy drummer from York with his cymbals way up high and a shagging wagon with an oil leak and an old mattress in the back.We played Long Johns in the Cross, we played Here on the North Shore, we played the Gilgandra Recovery Ball at the local airfield, we played Melbourne, Canberra, Orange, Newcastle, Wollongong, Bondi Royal - anywhere and we rocked. I bought a Gibson or two including a 3 pick up 1958 Black Beauty Les Paul. I bought records and more records from a second hand store called Ashwoods where I met a youthful Phil Punch (who now owns Electric Cave Studios in Sydney where he drools over his microphone collection –so? Some people collect stamps…..) and his even more youthful brother Mark - later to become No 1 session guitarist in Oz.. I soon got a soulful setlist going with Bobby Bland, Freddie Scott, Oscar Toney Jr, Sam and Dave, Joe Tex,Otis, Buddy Miles, Charles Lloyd, Ray Charles, Roland Kirk numbers.We made some records, appeared on TV, radio, added a horn section including Larry from Canada who didn’t need to rehearse but shagged anything that moved and Alan Blakers whose personal marijuana plantation on the North Shore of Sydney harbour required constant rescue from the bush fires. Alan walked amongst the crowd at the Rex Hotel in Canberra on one memorable gig playing his horn, dispensing religious advice and all the time dancing like a demon. Audience participation in spades. We got Mal Alger on electric bass and Barry Kelly on keyboards. Sammy from Ireland who played a mean Stratocaster came and went and we changed our name to This Hallelujah Chorus and eventually to the Chorus. We had Darren who waved his arms about and got us into the semi finals of Hoadleys battle of the Sounds, Ted who was small and fidgety and Marc Leon - with the beautiful non smiling wife - on vocals. Eventually we got the wonderful Janis of the Southern Hemisphere, Alison MacCallum - sing that "Organ Grinder Blues" Ali - and the equally wonderful unidexter Edwin Maynes from Clunes near Byron Bay both on vocals. To hear them wail Bunny Sigler's "There's no love left in this old heart of mine" at the end of the night sent shivers down the spine of anyone with a hole in her /his soul. We even got Graham Starkey the 17 year old boy genius from Sutherland on sax and flute - although his mother said he was too young to play in a band - or to spend the intervals in Keith's shagging wagon. Graham was anxious to please however and was soon playing his flute a la Kirk and cramming two saxes in his mouth at the same time. We rocked till the early hours and ended up on the beach at Bondi at 3 am with some suitable refreshment and I'm not talking vanilla malted. We hung out with Jeff St John, Max Merritt, Chain and Phil Manning We met the famous, the foul, the filthy and the fearsome and we had FUN. Like all good bands there were tensions and musical changes drifting into the Southern air from San Francisco. We were not interested in playing the Grateful Dead or Buffalo Springfield so I decided to head back to England to breed children and qualify as a lawyer. I packed up the record collection and the Black Beauty and when the children arrived I sold the Black Beauty to the guitar player in the Nassau Playboy club to pay for the central heating. Occasionally I dreamed of the days gigging till 3am and hanging out and talking trash but my playing was restricted to late night strumming along to BB King on an old acoustic. One day I found I had an entry in the Australian Book of Rock - Fame at last.... Years passed by until a nice man said "why don’t you play in the parents school band?". Why not ? I bought a Japanese Tele and a Roland amp and played a few Eagles songs and a bit of Dylan. It felt good but not good enough. I craved Delbert, Robert Cray, James Brown . I took control of the set list again. We got some gigs at weddings and pubs and places. Pretty soon we were playing John Hiatt, Aretha, and Booker T. We were the Rhythm Method, we became something else and the Zen Mechanix and eventually we metamorphosed into the Big Girls Blues Band. I bought some more Teles, a few Strats, A Breedlove electro-acoustic, an Epiphone, some Fender Amps, a few Peavey Classic 30s with some mods carried out by John in Islington. I kept searching for the sound, the holy grail of sounds, that Memphis Stax/Hi Studios/Muscle Shoals/Teenie Hodges/Reggie Young/ Eddie Hinton/Steve Cropper thing. The 50th Anniversary Strat helped a lot particularly when I plugged it into a Fender Blues Jr. I decided to take piano lessons first from Marc Hadley - plays a hot sax does Marc - and now from the truly lovely and very patient Georgie in Stokey.. Makes a mean cup of tea too. Thanks Georgie..keep up the good work and I will continue to work on the Buddhist ethic in case it helps with the blues piano - anything is worth a try.. I got lucky with the other band members, the truly amazing Dek on bass - "you hum it man and I will play it - I don't care what the sheet music says that’s a crumpled and severely degraded 19th he's playing... " - Tony the Golders Green giant of the wah wah and bad jokes with a volume control that starts at 9 1/2, and some lady singers not forgetting Alex from East Enders and Johnnie from Detroit. Barry on funky horns came and stayed and drummers came and went. Tom was good - even though he also played in an ear splitting threesome and was obsessed with Jethro Tull - particularly when we finally taught him the Texas shuffle. Alistair does the drumming business now and he is so good, locked into a groove with Dek . Mike Gaffey stands in from time to time on drums and he is rock solid with a Memphis sound via Walthamstow. Thanks Mike. The vocals never sounded quite right, but we kept searching and now at last we have one hell of a funk machine with the arrival of the young and totally talented Justin from Oz and smooth and sexy Adeola both on vocals. We also have Def the crazy (only?) Johnny Winter fan from Switzerland who mixes the sound and plugs cables here and there and gets it all to work. This is the best band I have ever been in ever - thanks everyone for letting me play with you. We have gigs, gigs and more gigs, and we play the soulful funky blues and the bluesy funky soul and my ambition now is to just play that waist high thing until the day I die. But until then come and listen to us - you won't be disappointed. But watch out for my cowbell….
‘I started playing on the usual ice-cream tubs aged 7 – using my British Rail Young Savers vouchers to go to and from rehearsals in the next town with my first band ‘Jaguar’ – carrying them in my mum’s BEA flight-case all selotaped-on margarine pots and chopsticks! We were billed in the local rag as ‘Cub-Rockers’ when we finally were old enough to rehearse and record (in a proper studio with a Studer 16 Track tape player) at a local youth centre. We managed to persuade a bass player, reggae guitar player and a fresh faced good looking cornet-playing vocalist to front ‘The Jaggs’ to play our own compositions like… The News Playing in a band at school fetes, church bazaars etc is hardly cool by today’s standards when all girls (by 13) are already Kate Nash and boys, Jonny Burrell – but it was great when I was thirteen! By 18 I was in ‘WTL’ (The Wonderful Taste of Lunch) and headlining The Mean Fiddler (the original and best one), Wembley (conference centre!!), The Square in Harlow as well as moonlighting with covers band ‘Emotional Rescue’ – our 2 year Sunday night residency at The Rising Sun was actually sold out each week; highlights included all boys in the band dressing (quite well if I remember) as women and Adrian’s (lead singer) Prince dance moves in Purple tailored suits. When I was 23, still playing 4/5 times a week and recording with various bands, I started a rehearsal studio, sold it when I was 31 and started another when I was 33 which is now my main job –The Grove Music Studios near Ladbroke Grove. I have always enjoyed the classic cool songs that the BGBB play and must admit we play them well and I still thoroughly enjoy playing the margarine tubs; my chop-sticks are a bit warn now but function perfectly!’
Previously worked with Maria Lawson (X Factor finalist); currently working with Xan Blacq (Amy Winehouse), Randolph Matthews (Don Blackman, Michelle Escoffrey), as well as The Bridge band and CK Gospel Choir. 3-Octave vocal range; Mostly involved with Soul, RnB, Pop and Funk music styles; ability to adapt to a range of other genres. Featured vocalist for a variety of artists, as well as for private functions and companies like ITV and Reuters Foundation. Spending time honing my craft, songwriting, sharing my wonderful blessings, & networking... Influences? As a writer - life from my side of the street, from my part of the neighbourhood, from my perspective. As a vocalist - artists like Faith Evans, Roy Ayers, Michael Jackson, Jill Scott, Eric Roberson, Kate Bush, George Benson, Whitney pre-2001, U2, Raphael Saadiq, En Vogue, Maroon 5, Carleen Anderson, George Michael, D'Angelo, Marsha Ambrosius, Ray Charles, Sybil, Omar, Wyclef, Prince, SWV, Kim Burrell, Xan Blacq, Robbie Williams, Les Nubians, Common, RHCP, Donnie Hathaway, Amel Larrieux, Basement Jaxx, Coldplay, Eska Mtungwazi, Wookie, Ty, Beverley Knight... and the list goes on. And on...
Musical background The Classical clarinet gave way to the influence of the great saxophonists such as John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Courtney Pine, David Sanborn, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Fela Kuti and I landed up spending some time at Jazz college. It wasn't long before, soul, blues and Jazz funk started to fill my life and I listened to Al Green, Aretha Franklin, the Groove Hogs, Irma Thomas, Beres Hammond, James Brown, The Jaguars, Maceo parker, Marlena Shaw, Marvin Gaye, The Meters, Olive Morgan, Otis Reading, Prince, Toots & The Maytals, and then playing in Clubs , Pubs, tubs.......
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