John Grimaldi

John Grimaldi (May 1955 to Nov 1983) was a multi talented musician, songwriter and artist. He was born in St.Albans, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, and was linked to the Grimaldi's of Monaco.^{[citation needed]} John was educated at St.Albans Boys School, which is where he developed his talent for Electric Jazz, songwriting and art. John was primarily a Jazz artist but was able to adjust to any musical genre. He formed a number of bands, writing and performing, until his untimely death from Multiple Sclerosis, in 1983.

Musical career

Motiffe

John first discovered his love of music when he joined the school orchestra at the age of 14/15. It was here that he found his ability with stringed instruments, and also to write music. John and Mark Pasterfield set up a school band called Motiffe in 1970. Mark had bits of a drum kit, so he became the drummer, Dave Shackley was the only person with a Bass, so he joined quickly, along with Ian Wilson, Quentin Bryar and Steve Bellingham on keys. Steve left in 1971 and Mick Avery then joined on Keyboards. In early 1972 they were recorded live by Deroy, and 100 copies of the Album were produced, some of which are still around in 2013.

Flux

(1972 - 1974)
Soon after in 1972 there was a difference within Motiffe as to what & how much they should play, so John on guitar & Dave Shackley on bass started Flux aiming to go pro. Neil Chapman on drums & Phil Hawkins on keys joined to make up the band. Flux recorded, though nothing was released, gigged, and started to get a bit of interest. St.Albans band Babe Ruth & their management took Flux their wing. In late 1972 Flux were gaining in popularity, and interest form the industry was coming their way. Neil left to be replaced by Charlie Chandler from Hemel Hempstead on drums; Dave Puncheon left Babe Ruth to join Flux, however he agreed to still gig with Babe Ruth until a replacement was found. Richard Blanchard, a flute, sax & vocalist from Pinner joined. The band, with this line up, played regularly & widely including 100 club & Marquee.

Flux recorded a demo for EMI harvest at Manchester Square & were close to being signed, but this did not happen. However there was interest from other companies. About this time Dave Punshon left to live with the Divine Light Movement. Charlie Chandler left to rebuild antique furniture. They were replaced by 2 pro circuit musicians, Zoë Kronberger on keys & Nick Monas on drums. Richard Blanchard, (who was also a pro photographer) was getting more work including the Glitter Band & left to be replaced by another circuit pro Jon Gifford on Flute & Sax.

Zoe & Nick eventually left in mid 74 & soon after John did the Argent audition & went to them, resulting in Flux folding in late 74. Dave Shackley has a bad recording of their last gig in St.Albans, somewhere.

Flux - Killer track was really and truly interrupted by a Bomb Scare. This was the height of the IRA issues, which ended up affecting us all.... history as it happens.

Argent

(1974 - 1975/6)

• 

  Cover Artist for Circus

In 1974, Russ Ballard left Argent, and John Grimaldi and John Verity joined to fill the gap, no doubt helped by being from the same town and school as Rod Argent. John was involved in the Circus and Counterpoints albums, contributing to the Artwork as well as musically. He also played at the Roundhouse in 1975, a video of which is still held by John Verity.
When the band came off the road in 1975, John left to set up The John Grimaldi Band, which became Captain Sussex, and then Cheap Flights.

Captain Sussex

(1975 - 1976)
Captain Sussex came out of the John Grimaldi Band. Johns Jazz Rock leanings came to the fore during this time,playing with many such as:

John Giblin (Bass / Vocals)

Mick Parker (Keyboards)

Preston Heyman (Drums).

Cheap Flights

Coming out of Captain Sussex there followed 4 years of Cheap Flights. This band went through 3 major versions, but was firmly planted in the Jazz Rock genre.
(1976 - 1977)

This first version of Cheap Flights was pure Jazz Rock of the highest calibre. John collaborated with

Peter Arneson (Rubettes) on Keyboards

Dan Brown (The Fixx) on Bass

Cliff Venner - Percussion

Pete Ernest - Second guitar and Vocals

This lineup of Cheap Flights produced the signature track "Cheap Day Return". Although they had a number of gigs in the London and Hertfordshire area, and had a studio tape produced by Toni Visconti, the producer on the Counterpoints album for Argent, they had little success in attracting the attention of the record companies.
(1977 - 1978)

Peter Arneson left in 1977 to pursue other projects, as did Pete Ernest, which resulted in John inviting his schoolfriend, and former Motiffe member, Mark Pasterfield to join the band. This produced a comic element to the performances and a stabalising effect on John.
The bands music moved slightly away from the Jazz, and more into Rock, though still with the 'Grimaldi' touch. The band gigged more successfully in the London and Hertfordshire areas, as well as moving into the West Country. Dan Brown and Cliff Venner moved on leaving a gap, which was filled by various musicians, until Carmello Luigeri, and Brett Salmon and Dave Taylor, from the English Rogues, joined, providing more stability to the band.
It was this lineup that landed an 8 night tour of the Netherlands in Oct/Nov 1978. The October 28th gig at the Gigant, in Apeldoorn was recorded, it is thought, by the Hilversum 3 radio station, but this recording is missing.
(1978 - 1980)
In 1978 Mark had to leave for medical reasons, leaving the 4 piece of:
John Grimaldi - Lead Guitar / Vocals
Brett Salmon - Second Guitar / Backing Vocals
Dave Taylor - Percussion
Lou - Bass
This lineup lasted for a good two years, expanding their horizons around the country on the pub and club and college circuit. They produced a single, financed by a stalwart in the fan club, which sold 5000 copies, but were still struggling to find that elusive album deal.

Adrian Stamford

(1977 - 1979)
John experimented with all types of music, instruments, and genres. He invented Adrian Stamford as his alter ego, under which he would write for the purely experimental sounds, that would not fit in with his other projects. A number of these came out in the Cheap Flights catalog, such as his use of the H&H echo machine to replay his guitar solos, live, on stage, as can be heard in 'Snakes in the Ice' and 'The Cause' (titled as invariably this would break the machine, which H&H would fix for free, regularly, without actually investigating 'The Cause'!!)

Casual Athletes

(1980 - 1982)
The last project John was involved in. Although they didn't see the light of day in a live environment, John had written a number of songs specifically for the CA, and a demo tape was produced in a recording studio in Hertfordshire, paid for by Pete Waterman. John was able to experiment with a drum machine during these sessions, as a suitable drummer was not available.

The lineup of the Casual Athletes was meant to be:
John Grimaldi - Keyboards
Brett Salmon - Guitar
The studio recordings were on a different line up of:
John Grimaldi - Keyboards
Brett Salmon - Guitar
Dan Brown - Bass
Linn Electronics - Drum Machine

Where are they now

As with all bands and musicians, the effect of their collaboration can be felt for many years. In the case of John, although he was only alive until 28, he drew many people together, who went their separate ways, but still contributed to the art world, as can be seen from the ones tracked down here:

Motiffe

• Quentin Bryar (Saxophone) Still playing saxophone, his son is following in his footsteps with his own London based band.
• Mark Pasterfield (Drums, percussion) Mark also joined John in Cheap Flights, then left to get married to an American, and they now have 3 children. Mark plays locally in Devon, and formed an design company with his wife, called spongeuk
• Ian Wilson (Vocals, Flute) Ian went into Artist Management at IMWP
• Dave Shackley (Bass) After a couple of false starts, Dave can now be found in S.Africa, still playing and running a guesthouse in Swellendam

Argent

All details on Argent can be found here

Captain Sussex

• John Giblin (Bass/Vocals) British bassist, and internationally renowned session musician.
• Preston Heyman (Drums) British session drummer, playing with Kate Bush and many others.

Cheap Flights

• Dan Brown Now playing with The Fixx.
• Peter Arnesen After lecturing on Jazz in Austria, Peter is now out and performing again.
• Dave Taylor Carried on playing drums, and is now playing with the Fabulous Marauders in Spain
• Brett Salmon Brett Salmon MD at Attractions Audio Visual Ltd (AAV) producing large-scale Multimedia Shows around the globe’
• Carmelo Luggeri Continues to play and perform with Kiki Dee

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

External links

• The Music Archive of John Grimaldi
• John Verities Website
• Brett Salmon
• Dan Brown - The Fixx

Newspaper Writeups