Biography

Tenor saxophonist John Barrow is one of the journeymen of pop music. His playing career began in 1975 with Soul / Funk outfit Sister Big Stuff playing the clubs and discos of the U.K. playing support to a number of chart acts. In 1977 he joined funk band Black Gorilla who scored a top 30 hit enabling him to make his debut Top of the Pops appearance. They toured extensively across Europe headlining top funk venues.

After the demise of Black Gorilla in 1980, John played on releases by the Newmatics and the Sinatras and recorded a Sinatras live Radio One session for John Peel. Tracks on albums by the Godfather of ska Laurel Aitken followed. In the same year he founded the Swinging Laurels with college friend Gaz Birtles. They signed to Albion Records and their debut release Peace of Mind reached No 1 slot in the embryonic independent charts. By 1982 the outfit was gaining national music press attention and building a solid reputation as session brass players.

During a hectic 1982 they:

Recorded a Radio One session for John Peel
Released a 4 track. EP A TASTE OF… on Dining Out Records
Signed to major label giant WEA Records
Played session brass on the Fun Boy Three hit ‘The Telephone Always’
Rings making several TV appearances including: Top of the Pops
Cheggars Plays Pop - Saturday Superstore - ‘Something’
Else - Riverside - Generation 80 (Belgium) with Bananarama.
A video to promote the track was produced by Ultravox vocalist Midge Ure and featured cameo appearances by: Bananarama - Madness - Ultravox - Alexei Sayle and David “Kid” Jensen.

Other recorded brass sessions included:

A Jerry Dammers produced single for 2-Tone Records by the Apollinaires called ‘The Feelings Gone’
Tracks on an album by Worldbackwards for Illuminated Records
A session with teen chart toppers Musical Youth (produced by the Fun Boy Three)
A single by Coventry band Splashdown
Work on the Fun Boy Three follow up hit ‘Summertime’
Recordings with French chart act 24hrs
Live work with Coventry band Team 23 who were managed by Specials drummer Brad (they later transformed into chart toppers King)
Supported chart acts, Shakatak,  Mari Wilson, Classix Nouveau.
The first Swinging Laurels WEA release, ‘Rodeo’, hit the streets in September 1982 and featured the distinctive percussive influence of Scritti Politti drummer Tom, but despite saturation Radio One airplay, was restricted to lower reaches of the national chart. Culture Club producer Steve Levine lent his expertise to the second single ‘Lonely Boy’ which originally featured a fine vocal contribution by Boy George but due to contractual objections by his record label Virgin Records was eventually released minus his efforts.

1983 saw John touring with the Swinging Laurels, in their own right and as a special guests of Culture Club, at the request of Boy George who was a self-proclaimed fan. They were special guests on both of their sell-out UK tours in March and December. A Janice Long Radio One session was followed by a highly-successful Dutch festival tour where they supported Nick Lowe and Osibisa as well as headlining dates.

After parting company with WEA Records the Swinging Laurels formed their own label identity, Happy Records based, at their Leicester Studio Happy House. The first Happy Records offering Zoom (Take the Test) achieved critical acclaim in 1984 and in promoting the disc they appeared on Radio One road shows hosted by disc jockeys Peter Powell and Adrian John. Through 1985/86 John worked with Happy House featuring ex-Specials vocalist Rhoda Dakar. 1987 ushered in another Swinging Laurels platter Push and Shove through Happy Records.

During 1988 John was playing session sax with Food / Parlophone Records act Crazyhead, most notably on an eleven-nation tour of Europe and Scandinavia as special guests of godfather of punk Iggy Pop. This was followed by a live T.V.appearance for the Thames Television series The Concert in 1989 and a slot at the prestigious Reading Festival. A chance to audition for Beautiful South along with the other Swinging Laurels brass men Gary Birtles and Tony Robinson was passed over due to other commitments. In hindsight this wasnÕt the wisest decision as they went on to notch up many hit records.

No Label Records reissued PUSH AND SHOVE by the Swinging Laurels in 1990. Further brass sessions resulted in releases in the 1990s. ONE WAS in 1991 for Norman Beaton, star of Channel 4 world wide hit sit-com Desmonds, as well as tracks on an album by top ska exponents Ska-Boom on Extremely Nice Records in 1992.

Compilation CD albums featuring some earlier work surfaced through 1994 / 95 / 96 / 97. These included:

The 2-Tone Story and the No. 1 Ska Album (featuring versions of the Apollinaires track ‘The Feelings Gone’)

Fun Boy Three compilations -THE BEST OF THE FUN BOY THREE - REALLY SAYING SOMETHING (Featuring Bananarama)

The Best of the Fun Boy Three and Colourfield (featuring various mixes of The Telephone Always Rings and Summer of 82.)

A six track Swinging Laurels CD was released in 1997 entitled BE SOMEONE - signalling another collaboration with song writing partner and Beautiful South sax man Gaz Birtles. 1996 / 97 heralded re-runs of Fun Boy Three, Top of the Pops appearances on UK Gold television.

2000 saw the release ‘Be Someone’ released by Internet label www.peoplesound.com and in the same year John completed a highly successful UK / Irish tour with Baby Genius as special guests of The Beautiful South. Baby Genius also scored a prime time TV appearance on BBC’s Children in Need with Louise and Atomic Kitten. A 15-track Swinging Laurels compilation album GREATEST BITS was issued in 2001 and tracks were recorded for an album called LEARNING TO COPE WITH HAPPINESS by The Charmers in 2002. In November 2002 a re-run of an earlier Top of the Pops appearance with the Fun Boy Three was shown on BBC2 s Top of the Pops 2.

In 2003 tracks were recorded with Normal Position for their album RAVE KILLED THE ROMANCE.

For more information, please go to www.theswinginglaurels.co.uk

Through 2005/6 John played live dates and recorded with Leicester band ist. Tracks were recorded on the highly acclaimed album King Martha. The Swinging Laurels also got special guest billing on the single Here we go again and made a cameo appearance in the promo video. Both the album and the single reached the No.1 slot in the Russian download charts. The follow-up album TOOTHPICK BRIDGE under the watchful eye of ex Beastie Boys producer Jay Burnett and was released to critical acclaim along with the single ‘Pep Talk’.

Amazon Reviews

“A fine book indeed, which I’ve absolutely adored and loved reading from cover to cover, once or twice now and I’m sure there’ll be more times to come too. Even though I’ve not ever really known John intimately, so to speak I have had the pleasure of seeing him live, from way way back in the 70’s, right through to more recent years at various live shows, Abbey Park for example, and have a fair few CD’s too, The Swinging Laurels especially, which I can’t get enough of nor ever will I’m sure. Yes, a fine fellow indeed is John Barrow, and a true victor ultimately, away from his many victories in the overall music world with live appearances, record deals and all…”

“Probably the best book about How NOT to Make It in the Pop World ever written!”

“John Barrow is living proof that you can survive the dizzying heights and live the dream of near successes of being a pop idol, long before the days of our pop idol began. Whilst we struggled through the daily grind and general drudgery of life, he was rubbing shoulders with the stars on Top of the Pops (ToTP), signing with Independent Labels, mingling with the holy grail of all DJ’s - John Peel, and attending roadshows…”

“This book has all the honesty, warmth and, indeed, flaws of a magical conversation down the pub with a man who’s lived. For aspiring musicians, it’s a wake-up call, for those who remember the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, it’s a trip down nostalgia lane… for everyone else, it’s a glimpse inside the insanity and unpredictability of the music ‘business’.”