Post by Slinger on Aug 17, 2022 16:14:38 GMT
If nobody minds, I'll use this bit of the forum to post some "histories" of my favourite British guitarists, which I originally wrote for Facebook. Don't panic, I'll drip-feed them, not carpet bomb you. 
I'll also try to update them where possible.
Clem Clempson
I'll also try to update them where possible.
Clem Clempson
David "Clem" Clempson was born in Tamworth, Staffordshire. His career in music began at the age of 4 when given a toy piano, and he surprised everyone with his natural ability to play popular tunes “by ear”. So it was decided that he should be sent for lessons to a local piano teacher named Kitty King; and so began a regime of weekly lessons and daily practice, which to Clem’s annoyance took up time from his real passion – playing football! Clem’s true aim in life was to play at number 8 for West Bromwich Albion. (Somebody's got to I suppose).
In spite of making excellent progress on the Royal School of Music piano course, Clem only began to develop a serious interest in music upon being taken to see “Rock Around The Clock” on its UK release in the late 50s, at which point a fascination with the electric guitar began to take hold.
As with so many young lads at the time this interest was further stoked at the beginning of the 60s by the records and TV appearances of The Shadows, featuring the first British guitar hero, who else but the ubiquitous Hank Marvin?
At this point, Clem’s fascination with the guitar began to turn into an obsessive desire to learn to play, but unfortunately, this was deemed to be detrimental to whatever future Ms Kitty King had in mind for Clem as a musician, and the acquisition of a guitar was strictly forbidden!
However Clem was not to be denied for too long, and by 1963 he’d managed to save the £5 needed for the purchase of his first guitar, an almost unplayable acoustic. An electric guitar was beyond his means at this stage, a minor setback overcome by fitting a £2 electric pick-up and covering the soundhole with a piece of plastic cunningly shaped to resemble the scratchplate of Hank Marvin’s Fender Stratocaster!
So now a band was required, and best mates at Atherstone Grammar School Kevin Day and Karl Robinson were recruited on bass and rhythm guitar respectively, along with Billy Saunders on drums and David Cotton on vocals. The Vipers were born, and Clem’s career as a guitarist was off the ground, the band proving very popular on the local working men’s club circuit, performing chart hits of the period.
However, things were about to be shaken up considerably by the release in 1966 of the classic “Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton” LP. Eric’s ferocious soloing, particularly on the slow blues “Have You Heard”, was a revelation. Although this wasn’t Clem’s first exposure to the blues, having heard tracks by Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, John Lee Hooker and more, the power of Eric’s approach to playing this music instantly touched a nerve and set Clem off on a mission to play the blues!
When this legendary album was followed very quickly by the first albums from Cream and Jimi Hendrix., which took the blues genre a step further, Clem knew that playing chart hits in working men’s clubs couldn’t satisfy his musical inclinations.
He began his career in earnest in the late 1960s with the power trio, Bakerloo (originally The Bakerloo Blues Line), playing blues-rock, which is where I first came across his playing. They released one album and a single, both produced by the legendary Gus Dudgeon, for the UK Harvest label. The band appeared as the support act for Led Zeppelin's debut at the Marquee Club on 18 October 1968.
This track was on a sampler album and was my introduction
to Clem's playing. I became an instant fan.
The two mainstays of the trio, Clem and Terry Poole, worked with several drummers, including John "Poli" Palmer (Family) and John Hinch (Judas Priest), before settling with Keith Baker, who went on to join Uriah Heep and was a founder-member of Supertramp.
While reviews for the debut LP were favourable, the group itself was in disarray at the end of 1969. By the time the record was released, the Clempson-Poole-Baker lineup had decided to go their separate ways. Clempson initially sought to form a new blues-rock power trio, one that reportedly included drummer Cozy Powell, and Poole and Baker also moved on, forming May Blitz.
In 1969, Clempson joined Colosseum, until they disbanded in 1971, and appears on my personal favourite live album of all time, Colosseum Live.
After Colosseum's split, he went on to join Humble Pie in 1972, after an invitation from Steve Marriott, replacing Peter Frampton. When the band split in 1975 he and Greg Ridley joined drummer Cozy Powell to form Strange Brew. During this period, Clempson auditioned for Deep Purple but lost to Tommy Bolin.
Although he played in Marriott's All-Stars, he opted not to join the reformed Humble Pie in 1980 in favour of joining Jack Bruce "& Friends," instead.
In 1977, Clempson formed the short-lived band, Rough Diamond, with former Uriah Heep singer David Byron.
Soon after the collaboration on Cozy Powell's first solo album, Jack Bruce, one of Clem's heroes, showed up at Clem’s London home and said he was planning a new band, with Billy Cobham on drums and David Sancious on keyboards – would Clem be interested in playing the guitar?!
This was a wonderful opportunity for a return to the kind of music Clem had enjoyed playing with Colosseum, who had included several Jack Bruce compositions in their repertoire.
Clempson also appeared as a guest musician with Roger Daltrey, Tanita Tikaram, Mike and the Mechanics, Rod Argent, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, Aaron Neville, Maxi Priest, Chris Farlowe, Bob Dylan (the disastrous film “Hearts of Fire”), Joshua Kadison, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Kiri Te Kanawa and many others.
His credits extend into scores for many films, most notably Evita, G.I. Jane, Lawn Dogs, and Tomorrow Never Dies. Clempson was also called upon by the Oscar-winning composer Trevor Jones for arrangements for the 1999 romantic comedy film, Notting Hill.
Clem’s proudest achievement in the session world came in 2005 when he worked as a guitarist and an unofficial musical director with one of his biggest influences, and one of the blues genre’s most important musicians, BB King, on tracks for an album commemorating BB’s 80th birthday, “BB King and Friends 80”.
Many top names contributed to the record, and the tracks Clem played on featured BB in vocal duets with Roger Daltrey and Van Morrisson, as a result of which Clem received a phone call from Van’s management inquiring whether the post of musical director for Van Morrisson would be of interest to Clem!
From 2008 to the summer of 2012, he played as a member of the Hamburg Blues Band (HBB).
After HBB he formed his own band, The Clem Clempson Band, which started touring at the end of February 2013 in Braunschweig, Germany. Among others, the band includes Adrian Askew from Hamburg Blues Band and also features the great Chris Farlowe on vocals occasionally.
In 2017, Clempson became a member of a new trio band called JCM. Other members of the band were drummer Jon Hiseman and bass player Mark Clarke. The band recorded an album Heroes in late 2017 and it was released in April 2018.
JCM began a tour in April 2018 but cancelled it when drummer Jon Hiseman was taken seriously ill with a brain tumour. Jon Hiseman died in the early hours of Tuesday, 12th June 2018 in Sutton, England aged 73, leaving his wife, saxophonist and composer Barbara Thompson, his daughter, singer Ana Gracey and his son, financier Marcus Hiseman, along with four grandchildren.
The cause of death was complications of surgery that he underwent in May 2018 to remove the brain tumour.
In 2020 Clem became a part of the reformed Colosseum alongside Mark Clarke, Chris Farlowe, Malcolm Mortimore, Adrian Askew and Kim Nishikawara.
As far as I know, Clem and Mark (Clarke) intend to carry on with the JCM band, with Ralph Salmins on drums, but he is currently a part of the Colosseum “The Return Of A Legend - 2022.” Tour.
Colosseum, with the age-defying Chris Farlow on vocals, from 2009.
In spite of making excellent progress on the Royal School of Music piano course, Clem only began to develop a serious interest in music upon being taken to see “Rock Around The Clock” on its UK release in the late 50s, at which point a fascination with the electric guitar began to take hold.
As with so many young lads at the time this interest was further stoked at the beginning of the 60s by the records and TV appearances of The Shadows, featuring the first British guitar hero, who else but the ubiquitous Hank Marvin?
At this point, Clem’s fascination with the guitar began to turn into an obsessive desire to learn to play, but unfortunately, this was deemed to be detrimental to whatever future Ms Kitty King had in mind for Clem as a musician, and the acquisition of a guitar was strictly forbidden!
However Clem was not to be denied for too long, and by 1963 he’d managed to save the £5 needed for the purchase of his first guitar, an almost unplayable acoustic. An electric guitar was beyond his means at this stage, a minor setback overcome by fitting a £2 electric pick-up and covering the soundhole with a piece of plastic cunningly shaped to resemble the scratchplate of Hank Marvin’s Fender Stratocaster!
So now a band was required, and best mates at Atherstone Grammar School Kevin Day and Karl Robinson were recruited on bass and rhythm guitar respectively, along with Billy Saunders on drums and David Cotton on vocals. The Vipers were born, and Clem’s career as a guitarist was off the ground, the band proving very popular on the local working men’s club circuit, performing chart hits of the period.
However, things were about to be shaken up considerably by the release in 1966 of the classic “Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton” LP. Eric’s ferocious soloing, particularly on the slow blues “Have You Heard”, was a revelation. Although this wasn’t Clem’s first exposure to the blues, having heard tracks by Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, John Lee Hooker and more, the power of Eric’s approach to playing this music instantly touched a nerve and set Clem off on a mission to play the blues!
When this legendary album was followed very quickly by the first albums from Cream and Jimi Hendrix., which took the blues genre a step further, Clem knew that playing chart hits in working men’s clubs couldn’t satisfy his musical inclinations.
He began his career in earnest in the late 1960s with the power trio, Bakerloo (originally The Bakerloo Blues Line), playing blues-rock, which is where I first came across his playing. They released one album and a single, both produced by the legendary Gus Dudgeon, for the UK Harvest label. The band appeared as the support act for Led Zeppelin's debut at the Marquee Club on 18 October 1968.
This track was on a sampler album and was my introduction
to Clem's playing. I became an instant fan.
The two mainstays of the trio, Clem and Terry Poole, worked with several drummers, including John "Poli" Palmer (Family) and John Hinch (Judas Priest), before settling with Keith Baker, who went on to join Uriah Heep and was a founder-member of Supertramp.
While reviews for the debut LP were favourable, the group itself was in disarray at the end of 1969. By the time the record was released, the Clempson-Poole-Baker lineup had decided to go their separate ways. Clempson initially sought to form a new blues-rock power trio, one that reportedly included drummer Cozy Powell, and Poole and Baker also moved on, forming May Blitz.
In 1969, Clempson joined Colosseum, until they disbanded in 1971, and appears on my personal favourite live album of all time, Colosseum Live.
After Colosseum's split, he went on to join Humble Pie in 1972, after an invitation from Steve Marriott, replacing Peter Frampton. When the band split in 1975 he and Greg Ridley joined drummer Cozy Powell to form Strange Brew. During this period, Clempson auditioned for Deep Purple but lost to Tommy Bolin.
Although he played in Marriott's All-Stars, he opted not to join the reformed Humble Pie in 1980 in favour of joining Jack Bruce "& Friends," instead.
In 1977, Clempson formed the short-lived band, Rough Diamond, with former Uriah Heep singer David Byron.
Soon after the collaboration on Cozy Powell's first solo album, Jack Bruce, one of Clem's heroes, showed up at Clem’s London home and said he was planning a new band, with Billy Cobham on drums and David Sancious on keyboards – would Clem be interested in playing the guitar?!
This was a wonderful opportunity for a return to the kind of music Clem had enjoyed playing with Colosseum, who had included several Jack Bruce compositions in their repertoire.
Clempson also appeared as a guest musician with Roger Daltrey, Tanita Tikaram, Mike and the Mechanics, Rod Argent, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, Aaron Neville, Maxi Priest, Chris Farlowe, Bob Dylan (the disastrous film “Hearts of Fire”), Joshua Kadison, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Kiri Te Kanawa and many others.
His credits extend into scores for many films, most notably Evita, G.I. Jane, Lawn Dogs, and Tomorrow Never Dies. Clempson was also called upon by the Oscar-winning composer Trevor Jones for arrangements for the 1999 romantic comedy film, Notting Hill.
Clem’s proudest achievement in the session world came in 2005 when he worked as a guitarist and an unofficial musical director with one of his biggest influences, and one of the blues genre’s most important musicians, BB King, on tracks for an album commemorating BB’s 80th birthday, “BB King and Friends 80”.
Many top names contributed to the record, and the tracks Clem played on featured BB in vocal duets with Roger Daltrey and Van Morrisson, as a result of which Clem received a phone call from Van’s management inquiring whether the post of musical director for Van Morrisson would be of interest to Clem!
From 2008 to the summer of 2012, he played as a member of the Hamburg Blues Band (HBB).
After HBB he formed his own band, The Clem Clempson Band, which started touring at the end of February 2013 in Braunschweig, Germany. Among others, the band includes Adrian Askew from Hamburg Blues Band and also features the great Chris Farlowe on vocals occasionally.
In 2017, Clempson became a member of a new trio band called JCM. Other members of the band were drummer Jon Hiseman and bass player Mark Clarke. The band recorded an album Heroes in late 2017 and it was released in April 2018.
JCM began a tour in April 2018 but cancelled it when drummer Jon Hiseman was taken seriously ill with a brain tumour. Jon Hiseman died in the early hours of Tuesday, 12th June 2018 in Sutton, England aged 73, leaving his wife, saxophonist and composer Barbara Thompson, his daughter, singer Ana Gracey and his son, financier Marcus Hiseman, along with four grandchildren.
The cause of death was complications of surgery that he underwent in May 2018 to remove the brain tumour.
In 2020 Clem became a part of the reformed Colosseum alongside Mark Clarke, Chris Farlowe, Malcolm Mortimore, Adrian Askew and Kim Nishikawara.
As far as I know, Clem and Mark (Clarke) intend to carry on with the JCM band, with Ralph Salmins on drums, but he is currently a part of the Colosseum “The Return Of A Legend - 2022.” Tour.
Colosseum, with the age-defying Chris Farlow on vocals, from 2009.
