Biographical questions for Mr Jeremy Spencer
 

Dear Jeremy,

I wonder if you could possibly answer some or all , the following questions if you feel inclined:

You Wicki entry states that you were educated at the Strand school ,so therefore, you spent your teenage years in London. Is this correct ?

What did you do after school ?You obviously have artistic talent, so did you go to art school?

How come you were in Lichfield with the Levi Set rather than a London based band ?(Wicki entry for the Levi Set says you were on Hammond organ and someone else on slide guitar -surely an error ?)

Had you seen Peter playing with the Bluesbreakers prior to your meeting in Lichfield ?

And finally:

Did you and Peter ever actually write any songs(together or individually ) or even record anything -for your Life of Jesus project ?

Thanks THD

Thank you, THD. Good questions. I'll answer them shortly.

I've wondered about this myself! :nod:
Really looking forward to Jeremy's answer. :thumbsup:

[QUOTE=THD;1106590]Dear Jeremy,

I wonder if you could possibly answer some or all , the following questions if you feel inclined:

You Wicki entry states that you were educated at the Strand school ,so therefore, you spent your teenage years in London. Is this correct ?

I lived in West Hartlepool from my birth in 1948 until 1957, when my family moved to London, then we moved to Lichfield, Staffordshire in 1963.

What did you do after school ?You obviously have artistic talent, so did you go to art school?
Went to art school in Stafford for six months, then worked in an accountant's office in order to buy a guitar on hire purchase.

How come you were in Lichfield with the Levi Set rather than a London based band ?(Wicki entry for the Levi Set says you were on Hammond organ and someone else on slide guitar -surely an error ?)
I initially played organ (not a Hammond unfortunately), and picked up the slide on some numbers. We had a guitarist, too, (not slide). The organ belonged to the roadie, and he and the guitarist took off, leaving us a trio. I played guitar from then on (slide and regular).

Had you seen Peter playing with the Bluesbreakers prior to your meeting in Lichfield ?
Once in Birmingham.

And finally:

Did you and Peter ever actually write any songs(together or individually ) or even record anything -for your Life of Jesus project ?
No. The closest was when he asked me to play the piano on the end of 'Oh Well Pt 2'

Hope this answers your questions sufficiently THD!

Thanks very much for your responses Jeremy I really appreciate your replying !

I have always been fascinated by how the late sixties (London)” blues boom” largely seemed to sprout from the grammar Schools of suburban South London** fuelled ,often, by the free to borrow record collections of the public library service (some of which contained some quite obscure stuff - Lavender Hill library comes to mind !) Until I read you Wicki entry,recently, I had always assumed you’d grown up in the North East and that you didn’t live in London until you joined FMac So I got excited that you ,after all , seemed to fit into the above template, but if you went to Lichfield in 1963 it seems a bit early for you to have heard any Chicago blues whilst still at school in London ?(but perhaps you had ?)

The reason I asked about whether you had seen Peter playing prior to meeting him , was that I was wondering whether you knew who he and Mike Vernon were when they came to visit you in Lichfield. Did you know they were coming ? If you did, did you realised that you were potentially being auditioned for Peter’s new band ( and did this make you , perhaps,a bit nervous?)


** (as I type I am reminded of The Bonzo Dog Dooh Dah Band’s song Can Blue Men Sing the Whites ?)

:thumbsup: