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This is the archive of the combined Barking Spider and Andy Broad Portsmouth Blues Site mailing lists.
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NICK HARPER - South Parade Pier, Southsea, Tuesday 31st May with special guest - JACKIE LEVEN Two superb artistes appearing at The Pier next Tuesday! Nick Harper is a highly accomplished guitarist with a distinctive and soulful voice and a master of original songwriting. Nick's debut recording was first heard in 1983 when he appeared on his father's `Whatever Happened To Jugula' album - a collaboration between Roy Harper and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Nick went on tour with his father and recorded regularly with him thereafter. Nick's energy and talent entranced Roy's fans and he soon began touring and recording in his own right. Nick's first solo album`Light At The End of The Kennel' was released in 1994, and was followed by `Seed' the following year. The next stage of his career began when Nick supported Squeeze front man and songwriter Glenn Tilbrook. Tilbrook was so impressed that he promptly signed Nick to his own label Following tours in the UK, USA and Japan, Nick recorded his second album `Smithereens' with Glenn Tilbrook as producer. A 40 date solo tour including devastating appearances in New York and Glastonbury confirmed Nick Harper as a formidable talent, and his third album, `Harperspace', confirmed his position at the forefront of a new generation of British acoustic performers, which was followed by Nick's first live album`Double Life' which included outstanding live versons of songs from all his previous releases. Nick has developed a reputation for creating great audience rapport. While his songs can be intense and emotionally charged, in concert Nick is relaxed, spontaneous and always enthralling. Special guest Jackie Leven is a formidable singer, guitarist, songwriter and storyteller, his work falls into a category of its own. Jackie lives in an ancestral line that includes the likes of Van Morrison, Lightnin' Hopkins. Jackie first made a serious impact upon the UK music scene in the late 1970' s with the rock band Doll By Doll, a hard-hitting classic two guitars, bass and drums outfit that beguiled audiences when they weren't scaring the pants off them with a rare on- stage intensity. The band made five superb albums of warped melodic rock music, but were perhaps fatally out of step with the punk and new wave preoccupations of those times. In the early 1980's, Jackie was nearly murdered by strangulation in an unprovoked attack in a London street whilst walking home from recording. He was left deeply traumatized, inconsiderable pain and unable to speak or sing for over a year. Jackie's return to record-making was marked by the release of the remarkable and widely acclaimed album "THE MYSTERY OF LOVE IS GREATER THAN THE MYSTERY OF DEATH" which included poetry readings by the great American poet Robert Bly, and Mike Scott of The Waterboys This album was one of Q magazine's top 20 albums of the year, and was the first in a stream of critically acclaimed albums. Such consistent recording excellence plus a constant gruelling touring schedule is giving Jackie a growing worldwide audience which receives the candour, tenderness and raw power that characterises his work on stage and on record. NICK HARPER and JACKIE LEVEN appear at South Parade Pier on Tuesdasy 31st May. Doors open 8 p.m..Tickets - a bargain £8 - from Wedgwood Rooms Box Office, Albert Rd., Southsea, (023) 92863911, Reflex Records Albert Rd., Southsea, South Parade Pier General Office, (023) 92732283