Johnny Fingers

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Johnnie Fingers with colleagues and friends JPR and Miumiu, August 2006
Johnnie Fingers with colleagues and friends JPR and Miumiu, August 2006

Johnnie Fingers (real name John Moylett, born 10 September 1956 in Ireland) is a pop pianist, and was a founding member of the New Wave band, The Boomtown Rats. He was notable for his stage costume of striped pyjamas as well as his melodic piano style. He is also Pete Briquette's[member of Boomtown Rats] cousin.

Contents

[edit] Background

Johnnie Fingers came from a large family of actors, artists and musicians. His first cousin is his fellow Boomtown Rat Patrick Cusack, a.k.a. Pete Briquette, as their mothers, Margaret "Peggy" (Bowles) Moylett and Cecilia "Sheila" (Bowles) Cusack, are sisters. He learnt the piano from a young age from 'Miss Grist' who he claims stole his youth [1] . After the demise of The Rats, he founded Gung Ho with Simon Crowe and Yoko Kurokawa in 1987. He is married with two children.

[edit] Recent projects

He currently lives in Tokyo, Japan where he continues to work in the music industry. Apart from producing and writing music for Japanese stars such as UA, and theme songs such as for the hit anime B't X, Fingers is the 'point man' [2] with the concert music production company Smash Japan, producers of Fuji Rock Festival, the largest music festival in Japan.

Johnnie Fingers also moonlights as a DJ in the eclectic Tokyo S's duo. Tokyo S's have DJ'd at venues such as Ageha, Womb and Yellow, as well as parties such asDisco Under the Cherry Blossoms and Fused Beach Party, along with the aforementioned Fuji Rock. Fingers DJ's alongside many top international DJs such as Santos, Shibachoff, Sugiurumn, Yoda, Derrick Carter, Space Cowboy and many others. Fingers also organizes events with Deep Dish, Fatboy Slim, X-Press 2, Santos and many more.

[edit] Pop cultural references

Johnnie Fingers appears as himself, an Irish ex-pat Tokyo music industry insider, in the novel Rock and A Hard Place by Stephen J. Martin.

[edit] Discography

[edit] With The Boomtown Rats

[edit] Singles

  • "Looking After No. 1" (1977) UK #11
  • "Mary Of The Fourth Form" (1977) UK #15
  • "She's So Modern" (1978) UK #12
  • "Like Clockwork" (1978) UK #6
  • "Rat Trap" (1978) UK #1
  • "I Don't Like Mondays" (1979) UK #1
  • "Diamond Smiles" (1979) UK #13
  • "Someone's Looking At You" (1980) UK #4
  • "Banana Republic" (1980) UK #3
  • "The Elephant's Graveyard (Guilty)" (1981) UK #26
  • "Never In A Million Years" (1981) UK #62
  • "House On Fire" (1982) UK #24
  • "Charmed Lives" (1982)
  • "Tonight" (1984) UK #73
  • "Drag Me Down" (1984) UK #50
  • "Dave" (1984) UK #81
  • "A Hold Of Me" (1985) UK #78
  • "I Don't Like Mondays" (re-release) (1994) UK #38

[edit] Albums

[edit] Compilations

[edit] With Gung Ho

  • "Play to win", single (1987)
  • "10", album (1988)

[edit] External links

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