Biography
How it all began....
Back in 1990 some guy tried to chat me up
in a pub in Alverstoke, Gosport. I told him
that I sang jazz and I gave him my card
with my number, not because I thought he
was cute, but because he said his dad
played jazz piano... I never heard a
thing! Then 6 months later this guys dad,
Vince Wharton, who happened to live at
the end of my road, contacted me and I
went along to audition. From then on I
spent 3 -4 days a week learning jazz tune
after jazz tune, words and more words,
transposed keys and varied arrangements...
I loved every minute of it.
I started to play Vicky's Wine Bar in Gosport,
the Swordfish Restaurant and the Anglessey
Hotel. Wow, that takes me back. I even
sang at the Gosport Jazz Club which used to meet at the Football Club and I loved to chat
to the legendary Nat Gonella. Then, in March 1991 we organised a show at the
Fernham Hall in Fareham and packed it with 300 jazz fans on a sleepy Sunday afternoon.
The article to the left was featured in the Portsmouth Evening News publisising the event.
I moved from Gosport in 1995 up to Guildford but I continued singing with the musicians
and bands that I'd been working with around the south coast. I joined the Maryland Jazz
Band and The George Regis Jazz Band and guested with Otis B Driftwood and the
Stane St Jazzmen. Then in 2002 I joined Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra which
coincided with a move back to Hampshire.
I have gigged at the 100 Club in London, the Palm Court Restaurant at the Waldorf Hotel,
the Goodwood Revival and the Upton Upon
Severn Jazz Festival (where the whole band
got their feet covered in mud ...
that's another story...!)
But my favourite was the Breda Jazz Festival
in Belgium, that was extraordinary. An old
vaudville style theatre with a 2 tiered stage
and a gallery all full of jazz fans wanting their
jazz fix. The Jiving Lindy Hoppers were also
featured with us and their dance numbers really got the audience fired up to enjoy
the evening.
My singing has taken me to many places and has introduced me to many people. At Steyning
Jazz Club a few years ago, an old lady came to compliment the band. She shook my hand and
said that I was shaking a hand of a person who'd shook the hand of Thomas "Fats" Waller in
the 1930's. Well there's a thing! I will never cease to be amazed by what Jazz means to
different people. Singing Jazz is something I really enjoy and I hope to continue well
into the future.
Jazzyjulie x
