Bill Sharpe | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Jeffrey Revell Sharpe |
| Born | 19 November 1952 Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instrument | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1980s–present |
Bill Sharpe (born William Jeffrey Revell Sharpe; 19 November 1952) is a British musician, who has worked as a member of Shakatak, as a solo artist, and with others, such as Gary Numan and Don Grusin.
Sharpe was educated at Bishop's Stortford College. From there he studied music at Birmingham University where he gained an honours degree.
Sharpe had classical tuition on piano from an early age. As a teenager, his main interest was piano music from the romantic era, but eventually he found an interest in jazz and rock music. He joined several jazz rock bands as a keyboard player around his native Bishop's Stortford, one of the most successful ones featuring Trevor Horn on bass guitar. [1]
He worked for the BBC as a tape op and sound engineer at the Maida Vale Studios for six years, engineering sessions for the John Peel and Kid Jensen shows. [1] During this time, in the early 1980s, he was a founding member of the group Shakatak. [2] After Shakatak had achieved a handful of hit singles he became a full time musician. [1]
Shakatak was founded in 1980. Following three singles that reached or stalled just outside the top 50 on the UK singles chart, they had their first major success with "Easier Said Than Done", which reached no. 12 on the singles chart in late 1981. It was followed by the UK top 10 hit "Night Birds", peaking at no. 9 in April 1982, and the album of the same title, which reached no. 4 on the albums chart during a 28-week chart stay. In 1984, they scored their second UK top 10 hit with the single "Down on the Street". In total, Shakatak achieved 14 singles and 6 albums on the UK top 75 in the 1980s. [3] The band also gained a huge popularity in Japan, releasing a number of albums exclusive for the Japanese market, such as the 1983 double album Shakatak – Live in Japan!. [4]
In 1985, he teamed with Gary Numan, billed as Sharpe & Numan. The duo scored a British top 20 hit with the single "Change Your Mind". [5] That same year, Sharpe released his debut solo album, Famous People, which included the duet with Numan. Other vocalists featured on the album include then-frequent Numan backing singer Tessa Niles, who sang the title track. [6] It was released as the second single from the album, but did not chart.
A follow-up Sharpe & Numan single, "New Thing from London Town", was featured on Numan's 1986 album Strange Charm . Two years later, Sharpe & Numan returned with the single "No More Lies", and in early 1989 the duo released a full album together, Automatic. A second single, "I'm on Automatic", was a modest UK Top 40 hit. "Change Your Mind" was also included on that album. [5] [7]
In 1999, he recorded his second solo album, State of the Heart in Los Angeles, co-produced by Don Grusin. This featured many artists, including Jeffrey Osborne and Gerald Albright. [8] He continued to work with Don Grusin on a joint project called Geography, released in 2007. Sharpe's second collaboration with Grusin, Trans Atlantica, [9] was released on 3 September 2012 through the London label, Secret Records, and included their first album Geography as a special 2-CD package. [10] In recent years, he has worked with Jah Wobble on the album Kingdom of Fitzrovia; Roberto Tola on the album Bein' Green and "Fast" Eddie Clarke on his album, Make My Day. [11]
Sharpe continues to tour and record with Shakatak.[ citation needed ]
Gary Anthony James Webb, known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two studio albums with the band, he released his debut solo studio album The Pleasure Principle in 1979, topping the UK Albums Chart. His commercial popularity peaked in the late 1970s and early 1980s with hits including "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". Numan maintains a cult following. He has sold over 10 million records.
Tubeway Army were a London-based new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. Formed at the height of punk rock in 1977, the band gradually changed to an electronic sound. They were the first band of the electronic era to have a synthesiser-based number-one hit, with their single "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK charts in mid-1979. After its release, Numan opted to drop the Tubeway Army name and release music under his own name as he was the sole songwriter, producer and public face of the band, but he retained the musicians from Tubeway Army as his backing band.
"Cars" is the first solo single by English musician Gary Numan. It was released on 24 August 1979 and is from his debut studio album The Pleasure Principle. The song reached the top of the charts in several countries, and is Numan's most successful single.
Shakatak is an English jazz-funk band founded in 1980 by Bill Sharpe, Nigel Wright, Roger Odell and Keith Winter. Following an initial white label release, "Steppin", the band's name was derived from a record store in Soho, London Record Shack with the name created by Les McCutcheon, Passion records label owner and Northern Soul DJ Kev Roberts, It was they who first showed interest in the initial single.
Telekon is the second solo studio album by the English new wave musician Gary Numan. It debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart in September 1980, making it his third consecutive No. 1 album. It was also the third and final studio release of what Numan retrospectively termed the "machine" section of his career, following Replicas and The Pleasure Principle.
Donald Henri Grusin is an American jazz keyboardist, composer, and record producer. He is the younger brother of Dave Grusin.
Warriors is the fifth solo studio album by the English new wave musician Gary Numan, released on 16 September 1983 by Beggars Banquet Records. It would be his last studio release on that label.
Strange Charm is the eighth solo studio album by the English musician Gary Numan, originally released in October 1986, it was Numan's third release on his self-owned Numa Records label. The album was not released in the United States until 1999 when it was issued in a digitally remastered form with five bonus tracks by Cleopatra Records. In the same year it was also reissued with bonus tracks in the United Kingdom by Eagle Records.
Outland is the tenth solo studio album by the English musician Gary Numan, released in March 1991. It was Numan's second and last studio album to be released by I.R.S. Records. It reached Number 39 on the UK charts. The songs "Heart" and "My World Storm" were released as singles; "Heart" charted at Number 43, while "My World Storm" eventually became a US-only promo single after a planned UK release was shelved due to the inner turmoil at the label around the release of the album. The latter however reached Number 46 on the US dance chart. The reaction to it was mixed with Q Magazine calling it 'repetitive and full of affectation'.
Automatic is a 1989 album released by Sharpe & Numan.
The following is a comprehensive discography of Gary Numan, a British singer and musician. Numan released his first record in 1978 as part of the outfit Tubeway Army. Initially unsuccessful, the band scored a huge hit in 1979 with the single "Are Friends Electric" and their second album Replicas, both of which reached number one in the UK. Numan then decided to release further recordings under his own name, beginning with the single "Cars" later in 1979. Both this and the subsequent album The Pleasure Principle also reached number one in the UK, and Numan became a leading force in the British electronic music scene. He scored a third number one album in 1980 with Telekon, and more hit singles and albums until the mid 1980s when his popularity waned. Despite this, he has continued to record and tour on a regular basis up to the present day. His 2017 studio album, Savage , entered the UK Albums Chart at no. 2, which was Numan's highest chart peak since 1980. His most recent album, 2021's Intruder, also entered the UK charts at no. 2.
"Warriors" is a song written and recorded by English musician Gary Numan, released in 1983 as both a seven- and 12-single from his fifth solo studio album, Warriors. Numan promoted the song on many popular television shows such as The Saturday Show and Crackerjack. It peaked at No. 20 on the UK Singles Chart, and was Numan's final Top 20 hit until 2003.
Night Birds, released in 1982 on the Polydor label, is the second album by English jazz-funk band Shakatak. Night Birds established Shakatak's trademark jazz-funk sound, and contains two of the band's biggest hits, "Easier Said than Done" and "Night Birds", the former reaching the No. 12 spot in 1981, the latter climbing to No. 9 in the following year.
"We'll Bring the House Down" is a song by the British rock band Slade, released in 1981 as the lead single from their ninth studio album We'll Bring the House Down. It was written by lead vocalist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea, and produced by Slade. The band's first single to reach the UK Top 40 since 1977, the song peaked at No. 10 in the UK, remaining in the chart for nine weeks.
Sharpe & Numan was a British synth-pop duo formed by Shakatak's Bill Sharpe and Gary Numan (vocals).
Jill Saward is a British singer, musician and composer, best known for being the lead voice of the English jazz-funk band, Shakatak.
Roberto Tola is an Italian jazz guitarist and composer.
"Change Your Mind" is a song recorded by synth-pop duo Sharpe & Numan. Written by Shakatak members Bill Sharpe and Roger Odell and featuring lead vocals by Gary Numan.
Down on the Street is the fifth studio album by the London jazz-funk band Shakatak, released in 1984. The album peaked at no. 17 on the UK Albums Chart, and produced the band's second top-ten UK single "Down on the Street", which peaked at no. 9 on the UK Singles Chart. The album produced two other singles: "Watching You" and "Don't Blame It on Love".
"New Thing from London Town" is a song by the English synth-pop duo Sharpe & Numan, released as a single in October 1986. Composed by Bill Sharpe with lyrics by Roger Odell and featuring lead vocals by Gary Numan, it spent three weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 52.
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