Welcome To My Website
Image © Mike Gibbens, Chester Bandstand 2019
Based in Chester, Cheshire, UK I am a songwriter who shares ideas and works together with songwriters, musicians, poets and artists across the UK. During 2021 I will be pitching songs and working with new artists and bands.
In December 2020 I joined SYNCR Music as a Pro Member and have started pitching tracks to their jazz and rock music briefs.
During the summer and into the autumn of 2020 I have been working on a commission by a poet called Mike Hynde to adapt one of his dark lyrics into a song called 'Death Row'. As a songwriter I love working with poets as they have the opportunity to tell some really interesting stories without being shackled by song structures.
'Death Row' is the second commission by Mike Hynde to produce a video trailer for one of the poems from a book of poetry he published on Sunday 18th October 2020. It's called 'Dark Hearts and Other Twisted Poetry'. As you can tell by the title this is a far darker book than his first book of poetry called 'Hearts and Flowers'. It shows the potential synergy between a poem and a song.
The book is available from this link; 'Dark Hearts + Other Twisted Poetry'
My first commission from Mike was to compose the music for and produce a video of one of is poems called 'Pianos'. As a piano player I chose to compose an ambient backgroud piano piece with the poem being spoken.
His first book of poetry is available from this link; 'Hearts and Flowers'
At the start of 2020 I focused on writing and releasing jazz tracks. It started well with the composition and performing of many songs at sessions in Chester. One of my projects is the preparation a jazz portfolio of songs for submission to a music publisher. Potential tracks include;
- 'One Step Closer To Heaven'
- 'Everything and More Besides' (co-written with Paul Wightman)
- 'Sea Of Stars'
- 'Dazzle Me'
- 'Where There's Smoke' (co-written with Tommy Hunt)
- 'Decadense'
- 'Sinner Not A Saint'
- 'One Night Stand' (co-written with David Watson)
- 'Money Talks' (co-written with Tony Denmade)
- 'Living A Lie'
- 'Selfish Heart' (co-written with Paul Wightman)
Selected tracks will be published on my 'Cool Jazz' page
One of my main projects is called 'The Heart Athletes' a Chester based musical collective.
On 1st November 2019 'The Heart Athletes' released our third video single ‘Decadence’ on YouTube. Written by Phillip Allan and mixed by Tony Denmade the video was specially commissioned by Steven Berkoff as the music for the official 25th anniversay trailer of his 1994 film. With an all star cast this war between the rich and poor will leave a lasting impression. Let's play decadence!
On 2nd September 2019 'The Heart Athletes' released our second video single ‘The Hand Of Fate’ on YouTube. Written by Phillip Allan and David Watson the video was specially commissioned by Steven Berkoff as the music for the official trailer of his reimagining of the Socrates play ‘Oedipus’. Steven gave us full access to the footage from his production.
On 24th June 2019 we released our first video single ‘Salome’ on YouTube. Written by Phillip Allan and David Watson the video is the official trailer for the Steven Berkoff’s production of the Oscar Wilde play ‘Salome’ using footage from the production and featuring the music of The Heart Athletes.
Later this year sees the release of a new video for the english version of the song called 'Key To My Heart', co-written with GP Hall and beautifully sung by Suvi.
On Monday 21st October 2019 I played a set of songs at Chester Storyhouse and The Oddfellows Arms. At 7.00pm on Saturday 6th July 2019 I performed a full set of songs at The Piper, Pipers Lane, Hoole, Chester, CH2 3LS as part of Chester Live.
On Monday 7th January 2019 my song 'The Grace Of God' beautifully performed by Simon Schofield and The Sapphire Blue Choir was released as a digital charity single to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday 27th January 2019. It is available on Amazon Music, iTunes, Play.com, Spotify and 32 other vendors. Full information here.
On Tuesday 1st May 2018 my song 'Chiave Del Mio Cuore' (Key To My Heart), co-written with GP Hall and magnificently performed by Marcello Dongu was released. Full information here.
On Monday 22nd August 2016 I released a new video for the song 'Never Forget'. Originally commissioned in the UK by the Greater Manchester branch of the charity SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors, Air-Force Association) the song has lead vocals by Simon Schofield and backed by the 'Sapphire Blue' choir.
A video for the song 'Resting In The Arms Of Angels' dedicated to the memory of Rachel Rogers was launched on Sunday 17th July 2016. The song was originally commissioned in the UK by the Greater Manchester branch of the charity SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors, Air-Force Association). This version is sung by Rosanna Rigby and the 'Sapphire Blue' choir.
My song 'The Agenda' was released in New York as a follow up to the track 'Soulshaker'. Recent songwriting collaborations include David Watson, GP Hall, John Every, Tommy Hunt, Paul Wightman, Phil Dennett and Tony Denmade.
I completed a 52 week song challenge. Examples of which are available by contacting me and letting me know what genres of music you are interested in.
The Agenda
Published on 20th June 2016, 30 second teaser for 'The Agenda'.
Here's a link to the full video for 'The Agenda'.
Soulshaker
Published on 29 May 2016, 30 second teaser for 'Soulshaker'.
Here's a link to the full video for 'Soulshaker'.