Toby Jepson
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| Toby Jepson | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Scarborough, England, |
| Genre(s) | British rock Hard rock |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Label(s) | Townsend Reconds |
| Associated acts | Little Angels, Mr. Thrud, Fastway, Toby and the Whole Truth |
| Website | http://www.tobyjepson.com |
Toby Jepson (born Toby Matthew Jepson, 9 October 1967, Lincoln, England) is a singer, songwriter and was lead vocalist in the British rock band, the Little Angels between the years of 1984 and 1994.
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[edit] Career
Jepson formed Mr Thrud with his school friend Mark Plunkett in Scarborough, and the band went on to become very popular in their local area. Eventually breaking out and achieving national success, Mr Thrud became Little Angels and went on to release three albums and tour the UK throughout the early 1990s.
The band had twelve Top 40 hits, including "Too Much, Too Young" and "Womankind" in 1993, and a number one album Jam in 1993). They toured with Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams and Van Halen, and performed their own headlining tours taking in venues such as Hammersmith Apollo and The Royal Albert Hall. They were arguably one of the most successful and popular British bands of their time.
When the band split (somewhat acrimoniously) in 1994, Jepson continued to write and produce music. His solo debut album was released in 1995 under the moniker "Toby & The Whole Truth". Ignorance Is Bliss showed a different side to his songwriting, and he embarked on a tour to support it. Sadly, this tour was cut short due to illness that developed into pneumonia, and this had an impact on sales of the album and his profile, which suffered as a result.
Jepson spent a long while out of the spotlight, during which time he moved to Bristol and had his first child. He earned a living working as a supporting actor on various productions (including Steven Spielberg's Band Of Brothers amongst others) and busying himself with various projects - including writing and recording, although he was not releasing records at the time.
He returned to the public eye in late 2001 and announced a short club tour with a new band (but using his own name). He toured the UK through the start of 2002 to great response from his former Little Angels fanbase, and released the "Refresh EP" over the internet and at gigs to showcase the new material he had been working on. A re-issue of Ignorance Is Bliss was also made available at this time. As a premium membership feature of his website, he launched the "MP3 Club" in which subscribers would received exclusive recordings delivered straight to their inbox via email every month.
Jepson and his band continued writing and recording when they got off the road, and then toured again in 2002-2003. Around this time work commenced on Twisted Rhapsodies, a double disc collection of live material, demos and finished recordings. Before it's release, however, Jepson announced over his website that it was highly likely that this was to be his final output, as the venture was rapidly becoming unfeasible financially. He retired once again from the stage.
In November 2005, Jepson's fortunes appear to have improved considerably, and he resurfaced again to tour with Thunder. He toured twice in the UK during 2006. The first tour supporting Thunder, and the second, headlining during September. This new tour premiered new songs to an eager fan base.
In March 2007, Jepson released the first of three EPs entitled "Guitar, Bass and Drums", and immediately began touring to promote them. In addition to headlining his own shows, he was a special guest to former Black Sabbath vocalist, Glenn Hughes, at a date in Shepherd's Bush, London.
In May 2007, Jepson was invited to be the lead singer of the reformed Fastway, led by former Motörhead guitarist, "Fast" Eddie Clarke. This took Jepson on a whirlwind tour of some of Europe's largest festival dates.
January the 10th 2008 saw Toby perform solo and as guest vocalist for Gun, at a charity gig in Glasgow, promoted by Rockradio. During the Gun set, Jepson appeared on stage wearing a kilt. In April 2008 Toby was announced as the full-time singer for Gun.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Little Angels
- "Mr. Thrud" (EP) (1986)
- "87" (EP) (1987)
- Too Posh To Mosh (1988)
- Don't Prey For Me (1989)
- Young Gods (1991)
- Jam (1993)
- Little Of The Past (1994)
- Too Posh To Mosh, Too Good To Last (1994)
[edit] Toby and the Whole Truth
- Ignorance Is Bliss (1995)
[edit] Solo
- Refresh EP (2002)
- MP3 Club (internet only subscription releases) (2003)
- Twisted Rhapsodies (2003)
- "Guitar, Bass and Drums EP1" (2007)
- "Guitar, Bass and Drums EP2" (2007)
