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ANDY GIBBON (Lead)
Born in South Wales, Andy confesses that he was “a bit of a tearaway” as a teenager, and he’s still got the teddy boy outfit somewhere in the loft. But he joined the Welsh Guards in 1979, and the army soon put him on the straight and narrow. He saw active service in Northern Ireland and the Falklands, did a spell guarding Rudolf Hess in Spandau Prison, and took part in trooping the colour. On the sporting front, he was army champion in shooting at Bisley, the BAOR .22 small bore champion, and has also run the marathon under 4 hours on 3 occasions. Andy is now serving with Surrey Police, where he’s done a spell in the armed response team and has received two Chief Constable’s Commendations for bravery. Despite the action-man background, Andy had never sung before joining Capital Chorus’s LTS course and says he was “terrified” doing his audition. This from a man who was on the Sir Galahad when it was hit by an Argentine missile!
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IAN WILKINSON (Bari)
Ian is originally from Preston, Lancashire but spent his formative years in Brisbane Australia. Returning to the UK at age 11, he found the best way to avoid having to stand around the school playground at lunchtime in the cold and wet was to join the school choir - and he's been singing ever since - including at such illustrious venues as Sydney Opera House, Barcelona Cathedral, La Madeleine church in Paris and even Carnegie Hall in New York. When he's not warbling his way around the world, he does something technical in Broadcasting in White City (it's so technical even he doesn't really understand it). Work and singing aside, Ian spends his time messing around on his allotment fighting weeds and slugs, brewing up strange preserves and liqueurs with his produce and trying to palm off surplus vegetables to friends and neighbours. Ian lives in lovely West Ealing with his Dutch-Indonesian-Australian partner Jan and two over-spoiled cats.
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MARK TOMPSETT (Lead)
Meet our very own super-spy. Mark was originally sent to Capital Chorus on a secret mission to persuade some of its members to join a local SATB choir. The plan backfired completely, and the undercover agent ended up defecting from the SATB choir to Capital. With an irrepressible sense of humour, Mark laughs that he’s more Austin Powers than James Bond! He’s been singing in choirs since his undergraduate days, but reckons his enjoyment is more related to the other members of the choir than the music they sing. Even so, we reckon he must have music in his blood: as a keen genealogist, Mark has identified some illustrious relatives, including the famous contralto Kathleen Ferrier. So it’s either the ancestry or the tight trousers that explain how he manages to hit those high notes. Away from the chorus, he’s a regular cyclist and uses his IT skills to maintain a number of web sites, including that for the Kathleen Ferrier Society.
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LORENZ McLEOD (Lead)
Lorenz is proud to claim Sri Lankan, Dutch, Portuguese and British among his ancestors. But he was born on the Chorus’s doorstep in Ealing, and has spent most of his life in the area. He’s spent most of his career in IT and is currently working for the local library service. He also spent several years training as a counsellor: bizarrely, Lorenz reckons that he spent so much time listening that he lost his voice (now thankfully restored!). His main interests are music, psychology and religion, though he also enjoys playing squash and badminton and used to play rugby in his younger days. Although his musical tastes are varied – everything from reggae and soul to folk and bluegrass – he’d never had any contact with barbershop until discovering Capital Chorus in his back-yard. He’s says he’s been overwhelmed by the welcome and adds that singing with the group is a heart-warming experience.
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AIDAN BRAND (Tenor)
Musical Director
As the son of a vicar, it’s not surprising that Aidan was singing in the church choir from an early age, initially in Guyana where he grew up and then in London. He says he’d always wanted to sing barbershop, and his wish finally came true in 1983 when he helped found Capital Chorus. He left the club to join Thames Valley Chorus (TVC) in 1988 after moving away from London, and subsequently became tenor section leader at TVC and part of their music team. Aidan has also been active in quartets: in the 1990s he was part of Bagatelle, and more recently competed with Figaro, reaching convention finals on three occasions. He rejoined Capital Chorus in 2006 and was made Musical Director in 2008. Since re-joining, the club has won the Small Chorus Award and the Most Improved Chorus Award and Aidan is hoping this is a sign of better things to come at Capital as it continues to work hard at raising its game.
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GREG NIXON (Lead/Tenor)
Early in his career Greg was a singing actor, touring schools in educational musical theatre. However, he also confesses to appearing on stage naked in one role and wearing a nappy in another! Little wonder that appearing on the risers doesn’t seem to faze him. After a brief spell with Harmony Revival in his native Stockport, Greg “followed his heart” to London in 2007, and now works as a technician in TV post-production. His hobbies include ultimate frisbee, he loves discos and remains a loyal Manchester City supporter (well, nobody’s perfect). Describing how he came to join Capital Chorus in May 2008, Greg says: “I just turned up at rehearsals one evening. I remember being really impressed by the singing…and then even more impressed at how friendly everyone was. A group of the guys took me with them to the pub after practice had finished and made me feel very welcome. I think barbershoppers are really one big brotherhood.”
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TOM FITCH (Tenor, Lead)
Membership Director
Tom reckons he started acting only slightly after he started walking, initially at Sunday School, where his critically acclaimed role of King Herod is still talked about in Manchester’s artistic circles. At University, Tom spent his time acting, organising student entertainment and chasing women (his words not ours), while studying chemistry in his spare time. But the singing bug had already started to bite in the sixth form, when he joined the school barbershop chorus, and after moving to Ealing in 2009 he found Capital Chorus on his doorstep. Having looked around for a fulfilling and rewarding career, Tom decided against it and instead joined the Civil Service as a trainee accountant. All that excitement – but at least he’s got an index-linked pension to look forward to. You may scoff, but Tom points out that the UK had moved out of recession within three months of him starting to walk the corridors of power: hardly a coincidence.
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HAMZAH BAIG (Bari, Bass)
Hamzah is the only person we’ve ever met who comes from Eastbourne and doesn’t actually use a zimmer frame. His musical talents (?) became apparent very early: aged only 5, he reckons he used to sing at the top of his voice in Tesco, embarrassing his Mum and terrifying elderly local residents. He subsequently appeared in several musicals while studying medicine at University – including Little Shop of Horrors and the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas - with much the same traumatic effect on audiences. He now claims to be big in drugs, though disappointingly for the more unsavoury members of the chorus we understand he’s actually a medical adviser to a large pharmaceutical company. Hamzah says he’d often talked with friends about singing barbershop and had been actively considering taking singing lessons. The advert for the Learn to Sing course thus came at exactly the right time…..and with the added benefit of being free!
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RAY GARNETT (Bari)
Ray has appeared on stage and in concerts since an early age. He was also a university lecturer for many years, and as a result reckons he’s used to keeping people on their toes to stop them sleeping through his performances. He joined Capital Chorus in 1993 after a background in classical choral singing, initially auditioning as a bass, but then moving up in the world and becoming a baritone. Ray was the club’s Chorus Director during 2003-2008, leading Capital to the award of best small chorus in the 2007 UK Barbershop Championships. Away from singing, Ray’s many interests include magic, wood turning and animal welfare, and he remains active in his local Methodist church, using his IT background to look after the Church website and to publish the weekly newsletter. He’s also led folk camps and has been a barn dance caller for many years. Ray also claims to be noted for his witty monologues: we say claims because no-one else in the chorus can actually tell what he’s saying due to his strong Lancashire accent.
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PHIL LEIWY (Baritone)
Phil’s main interests are musical. He plays guitar, harmonica and sings, performing solo under the name of Harmonica Lewinsky, as well as in a country honkytonk band, called O Brother Where’s Hank. The band sings three-part harmony, and it was this growing interest in singing harmony that led him into barbershop. However, Phil reckons that neither wife Mary nor his two kids can stand any of his music, so Monday-night rehearsals with Capital Chorus are a welcome escape! Phil is also the treasurer of something improbably called the National Harmonica League, which sounds like an enthusiastic outreach section of the Ku Klux Klan, but is in fact the UK harmonica society (Phil claims this is fairly harmless, but we’re still investigating). He also co-runs the London Harmonica Group. Asked if he’s done anything especially funny in his life, Phil says he’s an accountant, so his life is full of hilarity.
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TOM HALLEY (Bass)
Brought up in Twickenham, and with a kiwi father, it’s not surprising that Tom’s first love was rugby. Sadly, a nasty injury a couple of years ago ruined his chances of making the British Lions, and nowadays he confines himself to being an armchair pundit, something he reckons he does pretty effectively. He’s always been involved in music, and has played bass guitar in a few rock bands over the years. But he’s a relative newcomer to singing. His prior experience consisted of an abortive attempt to join the school choir aged 11 (he went to the wrong room for the first rehearsal) and many an ill-advised sing-song on a rugby team night out. He says he’d always enjoyed listening to barbershop but hadn’t a clue how to get involved – until he discovered the Learn to Sing course and Capital Chorus. Tom’s other interests include sports in general, art, architecture and history, but he says he’s most happy with a pint of ale in his hand. We can confirm that this is true.
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ROBERT LANGLEY-JONES (Baritone)
Club Secretary
“Barbershop singing? Elementary my dear fellow!” Having been brought up in Crowborough, East Sussex, the home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for many years, it’s not surprising that some of the Great Detective’s traits have rubbed off on Rob. Having studied all the evidence, Rob decided to make a career in TV post-production, though he says the jury is still out as to whether it was the right choice. But it was through working in TV that he met Capital Chorus member Greg Nixon who hounded Rob into trying the Learn-to-Sing course, and subsequently into joining Capital. After taking guitar lessons for a few years and studying music theory, Rob has also started to write his own songs. However, he says he’s only inspired when depressed, so the songs are not the happiest. Perhaps more Leonard Cohen than Sherlock Holmes……
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CLIFF ABELMAN (Baritone/Bass)
Born and raised in Johannesburg, Cliff has sampled various musical styles, starting out as a folk singer with his guitar at the age of twelve, and entertaining with ballads and pop songs in a restaurant as a student. After emigrating to London, he met his wife-to-be when both were performing in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and they progressed through groups singing madrigals and opera before joining a chamber choir. Both of their sons grew up to be accomplished musicians, and it was the success of their elder son in directing a university a cappella group that opened their eyes to unaccompanied singing - whereupon Cliff decided to join Capital Chorus. He recently took up bass guitar in order to play in the Barnet borough's wind band, and he and his wife are now starting to play Klezmer music, which springs from the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe.
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SEBASTIAN ROMERO (Tenor)
Although still only 24, Sebastian has been singing barbershop for nearly 10 years. Initially this was at the John F. Kennedy High School in Berlin, Germany, where he was brought up, but he subsequently sang with the Peers of Harmony in Newcastle, UK, before joining Capital Chorus in September 2008. He has also sung classical music, both in his school choir and chamber choir and with the Felling Male Voice Choir in Newcastle. Sebastian is now a freelance theatre carpenter and technician, having recently graduated from the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in north London with a BA(Hons) in Technical Theatre. Aside from singing, Sebastian plays the guitar, French horn, and a variety of recorders and native flutes. He’s also started kicking a ball around on Saturdays for Tollington Park Football Club, which he reckons is an essential step towards full integration into British society!
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JOHN BEESLEY(Bass/Tenor)
John has always enjoyed performing. As a teenager he sang at weekends in a pub where his mum played piano and his dad worked behind the bar. Over the past 30 years he’s been in a number of choirs, but knew little about barbershop until a family friend suggested he give it a try and emailed a link to the Capital Chorus website. “I went along with a certain amount of apprehension” says John, “but everyone was so welcoming and encouraging that I was soon joining in and afterwards was invited along to the pub”. John, who works as a radio producer, says that he’s been learning the repertoire by singing along to his MP3 player while riding his bike. “It’s a great way of learning” he says, “but I think I’m rapidly becoming known as the neighbourhood eccentric!”
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EROL-ANTONY McKENZIE (Bass)
Erol says that no-one will be surprised to hear that he comes from the Black Country: Walsall in the West Midlands to be precise. Although he sang in the school choir, he only discovered barbershop thanks to a pal at work who already sang with Capital Chorus and who invited him to hear a sing-out. According to Erol, the chorus were so good that they made him cry – and he’s been bringing tears to our eyes ever since. At his first sing-out - at a party given by the American Ambassador – everyone turned up in full uniform, including white shirts, except Erol, who wore the same but with a bright yellow shirt. Formerly in RAF Air Traffic Control, Erol is now a security trainer, covering firearms, explosives, the use of X-rays and all other security matters: he reckons that most suspects confess almost immediately when threatened with his version of MaryLou. Away from work and singing, Erol says he is a real family man: proud of his lovely 14-year old daughter.
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RAY BAXTER (Lead)
Music is in Ray’s blood. His grandfather and father were both drummers, and one grandmother was a professional pianist (though Ray adds that this was in Woolworths, where her job was to boost sheet music sales!). Ray himself has been playing the drums in rock groups since he was 17, at one stage featuring in three groups simultaneously and playing gigs six nights a week. He subsequently moved on to jazz-rock, with his group playing on the Old Grey Whistle Test and Radio 1’s Jazz Club. Although he still plays in a rock group, Ray works as a “piano tuner to the stars” to pay the bills. He has tuned for many major artists, including Paul McCartney, and his current clients include many West End theatres, the Abbey Road and Pinewood studios and Harrods.
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ROB NATHAN (Bass)
Booking Officer
Rob’s aspirations to fame have found an outlet in such venerable institutions as The Putney Players, where he appeared as the lead Butterfly in “The Plotters of Cabbage Patch Corner” a musical play for children. He has also sung the part of the Baker and Reuben in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. In a more classical vein he has joined hundreds of others basses at the Royal Albert Hall’s Scratch Choral Concerts, including Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem. Rob was trained as an Occupational Psychologist. He loves his work, which involves helping people with career decisions, and training others to do likewise. His other hobbies include creative writing and long distance cycling. During 2009 he celebrated his 60th by cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats, raising a large sum for two charities.
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DAVE LEWIS (Lead)
Dave is proud to be one of the “more mature” members of the chorus. He’d sung in amateur shows and musicals for years, before joining Capital in 2000 as a result of a newspaper ad. Even then, he says, it took a lot of persuasion from his wife. But he’s never looked back, and as well as being the club’s sing-out secretary he also sings lead in “Just Four”, one of the Chorus’s quartets. Before retiring, Dave was a mechanical engineer in the motor industry, so he says he always had plenty of “friends” who wanted him to help them out. Today he reckons his friends are not quite so keen to use his services as he works part time as an undertaker! Away from singing, Dave was a Boys’ Brigade Captain for 19 years, specialising in drill. He was also a Battalion drill convenor and London District drill judge.
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IAN YARDLEY (Lead)
Born and bred in Scotland, Ian developed an interest in singing through the church choir. As a teenager he joined a local amateur light operatic society and played comedy lead in shows such as Calamity Jane and Country Girl. He left his beloved Scotland in 1966 to attend drama school in London, after which he joined the Birmingham Repertory Company, working alongside many famous actors, including Sir Michael Gambon, Timothy Dalton and “Benny” from Crossroads. After leaving Birmingham Rep he appeared in pantomime with Vince Hill and in several TV programmes, notably Z Cars, Dr Who and the Morecambe and Wise Show. Ian says the thespian genes run deep: he continues to provide entertainment for his local Rotary Club and still appears in pantomime. He’d not sung barbershop before, but came to Capital Chorus via the summer 2009 Learn to Sing course.
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MIKE COOK (Baritone)
Club Treasurer
Mike claims he sang solos at Sunday School concerts, but it took more than 40 years before he plucked up courage to try singing in public again. Even then, he only turned up at rehearsals as a result of prodding from wife Jill, who thought (misguidedly!) that it might keep him out of mischief. In the intervening years Mike travelled the world as an economist in the metals industry, achieving, he says, an unparalleled record of incorrect forecasts spread over some 25 years. His main hobby has always been playing and watching sports: cricket, football and especially tennis. He still plays tennis for his club 3rd team: despite a combined age of 125, Mike says he and his partner regularly see off young whippersnappers in their 20s and 30s. He’s also done some amateur dramatics, and reckons his main claim to fame is playing the part of a Nigerian schoolmaster in a play on Radio Zambia (don’t ask, it’s a long story….).
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PAUL DE RIDDER (Bass)
Although music has always played an important part in Paul’s life, it was not until 2002 that he was introduced to barbershop harmony singing. Back in the late 50’s and early 60’s he had a rock group in Holland named “The Silhouettes”. The band released two 45rpm records – all Paul’s own compositions – one of which (called “SHINE”) reached number one in the hit parade on Radio Veronica. Originally from the Netherlands, Paul has lived in five different countries over the years but settled in the UK in 1992. During his working life he travelled around the globe as export sales manager for a number of companies, yet always managed to find time to pursue his musical interests. He plays the guitar and has sung in a number of church choirs, both in New York and London. Chairman of Capital Chorus from 2004 to 2010.
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DAMON NEWMAN (Lead)
Damon was brought up on a dairy farm in a small place called Oeo, in New Zealand’s North Island. (He reckons this is a definite claim to fame: how many other BABS members have a palindromic birthplace?) As a youngster he was sports-mad, playing softball, rugby, touch-rugby and athletics, all to provincial level. Damon also concedes that he should have been a decent musician: after all, his father had enjoyed a successful career playing guitar and saxophone in a dance-band in NZ during the 1960s. But all his sons played were the stereo, very loudly. And Damon says his earliest musical memory is being left out of the school choir (in a tiny school where everybody participated) because his voice “didn’t quite fit”. Yes, Damon, funny you should say that….! Damon moved to the UK in 2002, and now works as a Performance Consultant, helping to strengthen systems, organisations and the performance of individuals.
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PAUL GORDON (Bass)
Chairman
Paul was a founder member of Capital Chorus in 1983 and has been a member ever since. He’s always sung in quartets, though shudders when recalling coming “spectacularly last” in competition many years ago. More recently he’s enjoyed success with Catch 22, qualifying for convention on several occasions. Music plays an important role in the Gordon household: wife Sue sings barbershop with Capital Connection, his two kids play piano, guitar and bass guitar and you’ll often hear four styles of music coming from different rooms at one time, ranging from thrash metal to classical piano….it’s an interesting sound! Paul is a massive Beatles fan, he loves football, though sadly for him he’s a lifelong QPR supporter (OK, we know they’ve just sneaked back into the Premiership) and enjoys real ale and good pubs. On the work front, Paul is a waste water network engineer: asked how he got into the sewage business, Paul says he doesn’t really know – he just sort of fell into it.
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