Please note that the musicians listed below are the main band, but there will be occasions where some of them will be unavailable because of other musical commitments. We can however absolutely guarantee that any musician taking their place will be of equal caliber.
The Singers
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Victoria Newton Her career has seen her perform across the pop, jazz and Brazilian genres. As well as having a top ten hit with the group Stryke (remember the song 'You Sure Do'?), she has released a critically acclaimed album and also teaches at the Trinity College of music. The owner of the world famous jazz club The 606, describes her perfectly. "A fabulous strong clear voice with a great sense of time and an even greater sense of fun!" |
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Brendan Reilly Brendan is regarded as one of the best male singers on the music scene, and is regularly compared to greats such as James Brown and Stevie Wonder. Very few people deserve such accolades, but in his case, it is truly deserved. His versatile style has also recently seen him providing backing vocals for Hard Fi. |
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Rachael Calladine Rachael began singing professionally at the age of 17 and since then has toured the world with Us3, been a backing singer with the Spice Girls, and had her own music featured on an album by world famous DJ Giles Peterson. As if being a busy musician isn't enough, Rachael's interests include yoga, running, and weight training. She has a black belt in the martial art of Sanchou. You have been warned! |
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Kelly Dickson Kelly amazing stage presence and natural rapport with audiences, have made her first choice for many function bands. Also an active session musician, Kelly sang vocals with Gwen Stefani on her her UK television dates. Jamie Cullum describes her style as "A highly individual, mature voice with very subtle power that creeps up on you" |
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The Horns |
It would be far easier to write about who he is hasn't worked with, but to pick a few: Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey, Georgie Fame, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, Donna Summer, Jamie Cullum Need we mention more! |
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Nick Smart - Trumpet Nick is the current arranger and lead horn players for legendary funk band The James Taylor Quartet (their version of Starsky and Hutch was the best!). His versatile sound has taken him all over the world with groups including Spiritualized and Lady Salsa. He is equally as respected a jazz musician and is a senior jazz educator at the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall. |
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Patrick Johns - Trombone/ Backing vocalist Patrick is one of the most versatile musicians around, doing everything from singing with orchestras to arranging bavarian oompah music. He is a seasoned horn section leader and arranger and performs with many leading function bands, as well as the increasing popular Ska act The Dualers. |
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The Rhythm Section |
Jenny Carr - Keys and Backing Vocals Jenny has an almost telepathic musical understanding with lead singers that make their harmonies and timings as perfect as any studio recording. No stranger to the big stage herself, she was the backing vocalist and keyboardist for Jason Donovan's world tour at the height of his fame in the 90's. |
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Oli Savill - Percussion If you know anything about percussion in the UK then you'll know about Oli. An authority on both Brazilian and Cuban styles, he is an in-demand teacher and session musician for all styles on music. He has featured on hundreds of recordings and his impressive list of credits include: Basement Jaxx, LuLu and The Pet Shop Boys. |
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Gareth Stapleton - Guitar As the band leader, he works tirelessly to make every aspect of the music, performance or arrangement perfect, and will be regularly seen doing funny arm and hand signals on stage. He has been performing, composing, arranging, and leading soul, jazz funk, and disco bands for over 14 years and has played at venues from the Jazz Cafe to Alexandra Palace. |
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Scott Stapleton - Drums Scott is a percussion extradionaire who is as skilled at playing disco grooves as he is latin beats. He regularly travels Europe performing samba, and won the 'best samba group' award with the London School of Samba at the 2006 Notting Hill Carnival. His collaboration with the bass player 'Bill', has lasted for 16 years and explains why City Strut have such a sweet groove. |
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Grahame 'Bill' Hill - Electric Bass Give Bill a groove, whether it's funk, R&B or soul, and he'll 'sit' on all night. Not concerned with histrionics or ego, he has been likened to 'Bernard Edwards' of Chic, for his exceptional sense of time and taste. Bill's eclectic musical tastes have seen him dressed as a snowman performing Robbie Williams songs to three thousand people. Not many musicians can claim that! |
