Continuation of Girl's Story from Previous Page

The scene was small then, I was very young, still learning and I had "marvelous mentors" . . . I played with Traffic [not in it]. Jim and dearly departed Chris recorded a couple of my tunes . . .I had the wrong manager to do much with that, but so much was going on. . . Leslie Duncan who wrote Elton's "Love Song" and PP Arnold, an American girl singer from the "Ikettes", who Mick Jagger took to England to start her own career -- took me around to do backing vocal sessions, a "vocally refining experience" which I enjoyed. [see resume for name dropping]

I jammed and recorded with "Fuzz" Samuels, a bass player from Antigua who played with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. . . I taught Linda Lewis to play the guitar. With the few chords I knew, and her marvelous unstoppable creativity, Linda became one of England's major musical forces . . .endorsed by the great Stevie Wonder himself!

I jammed with Blind Faith when they were recording and rehearsing at Steve's "cottage in the country". They pulled me up to their virtuoso level. . . It was Fly!

My best story from this era began with a call I received from my friend Mike Dowd, an art director [He did the Supertramp covers], who invited me to record a track, in Ascot, at the home of John and Yoko. . . It was at the lovely white house you've probably seen in the "Imagine" video . . . The song was called "God Save OZ". . . We were sitting on the floor with boom mics and acoustic guitars. . . John, another kid and myself. Phil Spector was producing, and Yoko and I sang backing vocals. But she must not have liked them because they got removed from the track in the recent releases of the song. Pity, I'd been waiting all my life to get a copy of that. It was another sing-along . .. . still do really.

I joined a band in Holland called Sail. We had four successful years. . . lots of interest and some "sit-ins". . . We recorded in London and Vic Coppersmith-Heaven produced some great tracks. I let my heart rule my head and left the band . . . Sail merged with a group called Joia [from Portugal] and carried on in Holland for years afterwards . . .

In New York I met lots of great studio musicians from the Brecker Brothers, Larry Coryelle, and Bob Dylan Bands. . . . We recorded some great tracks there. I must mention here a special friend and great artist I knew since I was seventeen, Hugh Masekela. He was like an ambassador to South Africa when he was exiled from there. He's happy to be back there now. I learned very much from Hughie over the years. . . . Kindred spirits recognize each other. . . .

Sony Artist Dave Mason recorded an original song of mine during this time called "Two Guitar Lovers" on his "Split Coconut" album . . . He did a great job on it, rather West Coast/Country style with Graham Nash and David Crosby singing backing. . .

In LA, I gigged and did theatre projects, then returned to Europe. In Holland, I did a solo support act at a Tina Turner concert. She was surprised to see me there; we knew each other from LA as SGI Buddhists and she didn't even know I was a singer. . . .

We created a band in Holland MGNFX to launch a new Dutch record company, but it folded. EMI Publishing Holland suggested that I record with Nico Virrips producing. It was a Roxette-like project.with Nico doing all the music and me singing the Beatle's "You're Gunna lose that Girl" and "Money [that's what I want]". I loved the tracks. They were so raw, giving me space to PLAY LOUD!

Why Girl?

Back in England, I was encouragecd by a guy at EMI publishing for a three girl group. He thought I was good at writing 60's girl group type material [funny] and so he thought I should create a 60's/90's girl-group thing.

I started Girl Talk featuring Girl, consisting of Susie [an Asian girl), Capri [the Mediterranean girl] and Girl [like hey Girl] - that was me. There were many incarnations of this group as it was difficult to find an Asian girl in London with an American accent to sing pop songs.

The name "Girl" stuck to me like glue. At first, I didn't like it. I was getting a lot of sexual intention and that wasn't my intent but I learned to cope with that by making myself available with greetings and hugs, backing off the sleazy little suitors. Suddenly, I noticed I was on the receiving end of so many different reactions to the name "Girl" . . . The Blacks had the friendly "Hey Girl, what's happening." The Frenchmen, "Oo la la, Girl" . . . "Oh so your name is 'Girl'", the gay girls replied.

There was just no end to this thing. I think my intentions as a singer-songwriter was . . . "not bad for a . . . 'girl'". [This was before the advent of girl players in pop/rock.] Then I realized that girls should be represented in their entirety, not just bits and pieces, so I delved into the many parts of the species . . .beyond their sexuality, onto their spiritual content, their nurturing, their bridging, compassion, their courage, their love, their beauty . . . in all ages. . . . in all cultures . . . all aspects of life . . . WOW! the beginnings of Girl Power! I've gotten used to it now . I noticed that Girl Power went on to "Hey Girl", "You Go Girl" and so they should. . .

The songs and projects that had come from it create value . . . are meant to inspire and encourage others . . . how typically Girl. . .

["It's a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it"]

In Oxford we created the band"Girl and the Boys". My friend and favorite bass player, Kees Van der Laarse from Holland, played bass. Ian Campbell [from Dr. Didg] played drums . . .and I ended up playing guitar overdubs. "Rock that World" had a couple of guitar "sit-ins" from Marc of The Egg, and Richard the studio owner/engineer. Oxford Boys RULE! Check "Rock that World" for proof!

There's more stories to come, please check back again!

For those who prefer "resume-like" listings, see this page