The Jazz Organ Scene

Great Britain

Michael Timothy Michael's musical journey began aged 8, he started learning classical piano and went on the road with his father Al Timothy, a tenor-saxophonist and composer. During the summer holidays Michael accompanied him as he toured the UK performing in nightclubs, working men's clubs and holiday camps, and by the age of 11 he started to fill in between acts and accompany him on the piano. Still carrying on his classical study, by 17 he had worked through all the grades and a handful of diplomas.   A year later he went to one of George Clinton’s Parliament & Funkadelic concerts. Their style and musical expression made a lasting impression on him, and it was at this point that he knew he wanted to be a musician.   Soon after Michael started jamming with a funk band, which kick started his musical career. He later joined The Yeow Band, which released a number of jazz funk records, and ended up supporting the popular 80's band Shakatak on their UK tour. During this time he got his break with South African music legend Hugh Masekela. He started tourin with Hugh and a few weeks later they were at Montreux Jazz Festival with Michael Brecker guesting on stage! Through producer Stewart Levine a good friend of Hugh, he started working on the London studio session scene and made his mark as a co-writer on Hugh's "Tomorrow" album. ​   Soon after he worked on Boy George's first solo album "Sold". Whilst doing a showcase for a friend at the BBMC Michael was approached by CBS A&R man Lincoln Elias who offered him an audition for Terence Trent D’Arby! I got the gig and spent 4 years travelling the globe with TTD - a hi-light for him was performing at the 30th Grammy Awards at Radio City NYC with Prince, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Herbie Hancock, U2 and many other artistes who had inspired him so much in the past. He also played, scored, and co wrote on TTD's notorious 2nd album, "Neither Fish Nor Flesh", and it was shortly after the release of this album that ​the tour and band fell apart in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.   On returning to London Michael was pretty burnt out with the music business. He started to learn meditation which led to mystical experiences. Weeks later came a call from Boy George inviting me to go on tour. I accepted and toured with him for 3 years.   The next call was from an old girlfriend, who introduced Michael to a band called Massive Attack. He finished touring with this band in 1999. After a few more years working with Mushroom in 2010 he co-wrote and performed with Lucinda Drayton, Russell Stone and a very talented group of musicians on "The Gathering, Startled by the Familiar". This was a unique and experimental project which took place in a barn in Cornwall. Each recording session started with meditation which was followed by musical improvisation – it was a wonderful chance to experiment with silence and sound. In 2013 Michael really wanted to play live again so when the opportunity came up to play keyboards for the Dexys he jumped at it.

contact:	info@michaeltimothy.com
homepage:	www.michaeltimothy.com
	Click on the logo to see Michael's tour dates.

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