Post by Slinger on Aug 19, 2022 14:53:25 GMT
Laurie Wisefield
Laurie was born in East London and began playing the guitar at the age of eight when his grandfather bought him a £6 Unicorn acoustic. He later progressed to a Watkins Rapier 33 (That was my first electric guitar too) and a Watkins Westminster amp and began to get into numerous bands with friends.
At the age of thirteen, Laurie formed his first semi-pro band, the Four Fables, who played Beatles and Shadows covers at weddings and parties. The band's main claim to fame was an appearance on the Stubby Kaye Show, a TV talent contest. After the Four Fables split, Laurie answered a Melody Maker ad and went down to Tooting Bec where he met bassist Cliff Williams (who went on to play with AC/DC). This was the beginning of Sugar.
After leaving school Laurie went to art college and then began to work designing jewellery in Cheapside, by which time Sugar was playing regularly at London's Whiskey-a-Go-Go club. Laurie eventually gave up his day job, although Sugar split soon after.
Laurie and Cliff Williams then teamed up with Mick Stubbs, a vocalist/songwriter and drummer Mick Cook (who, in '75, replaced Clive Brooks on drums in the Groundhogs.) to form Home, which is where he first came to my attention. In fact, it was probably Laurie's playing more than anything else that drew me to the band.
Home, in my opinion, suffered badly from not having a coherent direction through their first couple of albums, I really liked them though, probably as much for the musicianship as the music, which could get a bit country-rock-lite at times.
Then came their best album, The Alchemist, their third and almost proggy album, an album produced by John Anthony if memory serves, a bloody excellent album, and, dare I say it, a concept album to boot?
How do you follow that? You split up, obviously.
The band had supported Led Zeppelin at Wembley, as well as Wishbone Ash on a UK tour, and after Stubbs quit the band, the remaining members of Home were adopted as Al Stewart's backing band for a US tour, which, sadly, was not recorded. I'd love to have heard Laurie tackling Tim Renwick's guitar parts and making them his own.
It was during this stint that Wishbone's Andy Powell flew out to the States to ask Laurie if he would be interested in replacing Ted Turner in Wishbone Ash.
Laurie joined Wishbone Ash prior to their 1974 album There's the Rub, eventually leaving in the mid-1980s following the release of Raw to the Bone, and over that 12 years with the band, he toured the world and recorded loads of albums, with sales of over a million.
In 1987 Laurie joined Tina Turner's band for her world tour lasting fourteen months, which included the opportunity to perform alongside Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Tony Joe White and Robert Cray.
During the late '80s through the '90s, Laurie toured and recorded with Joe Cocker and Eros Ramazotti, and was part of the Night Of The Guitars tour. He also toured and recorded albums as a member of Roger Chapman's Shortlist.
Working together with singer/songwriter/keyboardist John Miles in Tina Turner's and Joe Cocker's bands led in 1996 to Laurie becoming an integral part of the massively successful Night Of The Proms tours as part of the John Miles Electric Band, alongside Il Novecento Orchestra.
Since then, Laurie has appeared on stage and on recordings with a huge number of great artists in all styles of music as part of the Night Of The Proms, Including Andrea Bocelli, Joe Cocker, Meat Loaf, Jim Kerr (Simple Minds), Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders), Lisa Stansfield, En Vogue, INXS, Zucchero, Deborah Harry (Blondie), Mark King (Level 42), Roger Daltrey (The Who), Youssou N'Dour, Seal, Karl Jenkins, Patricia Kaas, Donna Summer, Shaggy, Coolio, Oleta Adams, Howard Jones, Rodger Hodgson (Supertramp), Michael McDonald (Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers), James Brown, Ike Turner, Pointer Sisters, Tears For Fears, Sharlene Spiteri (Texas), Ali Campbell (UB40) and many more.
In 2002 Laurie became a permanent member of the band in the hugely successful Queen musical We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre in London, playing to audiences totalling over 2.5 million. He also performed with Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen, together with the cast of We Will Rock You and Phil Collins at Queen Elizabeth's Royal Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace in 2002,
In 2005 he was part of the band for Jeff Wayne's The War Of The Worlds live tour.
He toured with Tina Turner again throughout 2008/09 and shared backing vocals and guitar with John Miles.
Laurie became a member of the rock supergroup Snakecharmer, which was formed in 2011 by guitarist Micky Moody and bassist Neil Murray, the former Whitesnake members who played on such classic ’Snake albums. The pair recruited an all-star line-up that included Thunder and Magnum drummer Harry James, Laurie, Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath keyboard player Adam (son of Rick) Wakeman and Heartland vocalist Chris Ousey.
The full lineup for the following video is as follows...
Neil Murray (Whitesnake/David Coverdale, Gary Moore, The Brian May Band, Black Sabbath) - Bass
Laurie Wisefield (Wishbone Ash, Home) - Guitar & backing vocals
Jon Finnigan (Ian Gillan with the Don Airey Band) - Drums
Chris Ousey (Heartland) - Vocals
Simon McBride (Ian Gillan with the Don Airey Band, Sweet Savage) - Guitar & backing vocals
Rob Lyndop (Inglorious, Doris Brendel) - Keyboards
Trevor Bolder., who worked with David Bowie, Uriah Heep, and Mick Ronson sadly died in 2013, but seven years after his passing, the bassist’s first solo album was released and featured all-new recordings of original songs including some that later became Uriah Heep tracks.
Bolder was working on the album before his death, but the album was ultimately completed by Wishbone Ash bandmate Laurie Wisefield, and fellow Heep members Mick Box and Lee Kerslake (who has also now passed away) amongst others.
As far as I know, Laurie is a part of the "Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds Life Begins Again Tour 2022".
Laurie was born in East London and began playing the guitar at the age of eight when his grandfather bought him a £6 Unicorn acoustic. He later progressed to a Watkins Rapier 33 (That was my first electric guitar too) and a Watkins Westminster amp and began to get into numerous bands with friends.
At the age of thirteen, Laurie formed his first semi-pro band, the Four Fables, who played Beatles and Shadows covers at weddings and parties. The band's main claim to fame was an appearance on the Stubby Kaye Show, a TV talent contest. After the Four Fables split, Laurie answered a Melody Maker ad and went down to Tooting Bec where he met bassist Cliff Williams (who went on to play with AC/DC). This was the beginning of Sugar.
After leaving school Laurie went to art college and then began to work designing jewellery in Cheapside, by which time Sugar was playing regularly at London's Whiskey-a-Go-Go club. Laurie eventually gave up his day job, although Sugar split soon after.
Laurie and Cliff Williams then teamed up with Mick Stubbs, a vocalist/songwriter and drummer Mick Cook (who, in '75, replaced Clive Brooks on drums in the Groundhogs.) to form Home, which is where he first came to my attention. In fact, it was probably Laurie's playing more than anything else that drew me to the band.
Home, in my opinion, suffered badly from not having a coherent direction through their first couple of albums, I really liked them though, probably as much for the musicianship as the music, which could get a bit country-rock-lite at times.
Then came their best album, The Alchemist, their third and almost proggy album, an album produced by John Anthony if memory serves, a bloody excellent album, and, dare I say it, a concept album to boot?
How do you follow that? You split up, obviously.
The band had supported Led Zeppelin at Wembley, as well as Wishbone Ash on a UK tour, and after Stubbs quit the band, the remaining members of Home were adopted as Al Stewart's backing band for a US tour, which, sadly, was not recorded. I'd love to have heard Laurie tackling Tim Renwick's guitar parts and making them his own.
It was during this stint that Wishbone's Andy Powell flew out to the States to ask Laurie if he would be interested in replacing Ted Turner in Wishbone Ash.
Laurie joined Wishbone Ash prior to their 1974 album There's the Rub, eventually leaving in the mid-1980s following the release of Raw to the Bone, and over that 12 years with the band, he toured the world and recorded loads of albums, with sales of over a million.
In 1987 Laurie joined Tina Turner's band for her world tour lasting fourteen months, which included the opportunity to perform alongside Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Tony Joe White and Robert Cray.
During the late '80s through the '90s, Laurie toured and recorded with Joe Cocker and Eros Ramazotti, and was part of the Night Of The Guitars tour. He also toured and recorded albums as a member of Roger Chapman's Shortlist.
Working together with singer/songwriter/keyboardist John Miles in Tina Turner's and Joe Cocker's bands led in 1996 to Laurie becoming an integral part of the massively successful Night Of The Proms tours as part of the John Miles Electric Band, alongside Il Novecento Orchestra.
Since then, Laurie has appeared on stage and on recordings with a huge number of great artists in all styles of music as part of the Night Of The Proms, Including Andrea Bocelli, Joe Cocker, Meat Loaf, Jim Kerr (Simple Minds), Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders), Lisa Stansfield, En Vogue, INXS, Zucchero, Deborah Harry (Blondie), Mark King (Level 42), Roger Daltrey (The Who), Youssou N'Dour, Seal, Karl Jenkins, Patricia Kaas, Donna Summer, Shaggy, Coolio, Oleta Adams, Howard Jones, Rodger Hodgson (Supertramp), Michael McDonald (Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers), James Brown, Ike Turner, Pointer Sisters, Tears For Fears, Sharlene Spiteri (Texas), Ali Campbell (UB40) and many more.
In 2002 Laurie became a permanent member of the band in the hugely successful Queen musical We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre in London, playing to audiences totalling over 2.5 million. He also performed with Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen, together with the cast of We Will Rock You and Phil Collins at Queen Elizabeth's Royal Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace in 2002,
In 2005 he was part of the band for Jeff Wayne's The War Of The Worlds live tour.
He toured with Tina Turner again throughout 2008/09 and shared backing vocals and guitar with John Miles.
Laurie became a member of the rock supergroup Snakecharmer, which was formed in 2011 by guitarist Micky Moody and bassist Neil Murray, the former Whitesnake members who played on such classic ’Snake albums. The pair recruited an all-star line-up that included Thunder and Magnum drummer Harry James, Laurie, Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath keyboard player Adam (son of Rick) Wakeman and Heartland vocalist Chris Ousey.
The full lineup for the following video is as follows...
Neil Murray (Whitesnake/David Coverdale, Gary Moore, The Brian May Band, Black Sabbath) - Bass
Laurie Wisefield (Wishbone Ash, Home) - Guitar & backing vocals
Jon Finnigan (Ian Gillan with the Don Airey Band) - Drums
Chris Ousey (Heartland) - Vocals
Simon McBride (Ian Gillan with the Don Airey Band, Sweet Savage) - Guitar & backing vocals
Rob Lyndop (Inglorious, Doris Brendel) - Keyboards
Trevor Bolder., who worked with David Bowie, Uriah Heep, and Mick Ronson sadly died in 2013, but seven years after his passing, the bassist’s first solo album was released and featured all-new recordings of original songs including some that later became Uriah Heep tracks.
Bolder was working on the album before his death, but the album was ultimately completed by Wishbone Ash bandmate Laurie Wisefield, and fellow Heep members Mick Box and Lee Kerslake (who has also now passed away) amongst others.
As far as I know, Laurie is a part of the "Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds Life Begins Again Tour 2022".
