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Darrel Higham | |
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| Born | 5 January 1970 Bedford, England |
| Genres | Rockabilly |
Darrel Higham (born 5 January 1970) is an English rockabilly guitarist who performs with Kat Men. He was previously married to Imelda May and performed in her band.
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Darrel Higham | |
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| Born | 5 January 1970 Bedford, England |
| Genres | Rockabilly |
Darrel Higham (born 5 January 1970) is an English rockabilly guitarist who performs with Kat Men. He was previously married to Imelda May and performed in her band.
Higham started playing lead guitar with British rockabilly bands in the late 1980s. By the mid-1990s, he and the bass player Mick Wigfall had created the band that would become his main gigging and recording project: Darrel Higham & The Enforcers. Higham's solo projects include session work as guitarist with Chrissie Hynde, [1] Jeff Beck, Rocky Burnette, Billy Lee Riley, Shakin' Stevens (on the 1999 UK tour). Eddie Cochran's last road band – The Kelly Four – employed Higham as their front man for a six-month period in 1992 for gigs and recordings in the US.
In 1996, he also appeared in London's Prince of Wales Theatre playing the role of Scotty Moore and Eddie Cochran for 8 months in a revival of Jack Good's Elvis: The Musical. [1] This would lead to further roles as Eddie Cochran in touring theatre shows around the UK for a couple of years afterwards.
In 2006, Darrel found himself in California touring in support of WILD Records. After providing lead guitar on various WILD band recordings, he and Reb Kennedy (WILD Records founder) decided to record an album of Darrel's favourite rockabilly songs. The tracks were lost for some time, but recently resurfaced and the resulting 12-track album, "Wild in Hollywood" was finally released in March 2013.
In 2007, Higham formed Kat Men with former Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom. The duo recorded its debut album, Kat Men, with former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke.
From 2008 onwards he has also found success as lead guitarist in the Imelda May band, whose albums Love Tattoo and Mayhem reached number one in Ireland, as well as having toured the US as support acts to Jeff Beck and Jamie Cullum.
In 2011 he shared the lead vocal duties with May on the Jeff Beck DVD, A Rock 'n' Roll Party, and reunited Kat Men.
Higham co-owns Embassy Studios, a sixteen-track analogue recording studio near Basingstoke, with Foot Tapping Records boss, Clive Duffin. They also run a small recording label, Ambassador Records. Higham is endorsed by Peavey and plays their amplifiers exclusively. He also helped design the company's first semi acoustic guitar – The Rockingham. He is endorsed by Gretsch Guitars [2] and performs using a variety of their guitars, including a Gretsch 6120, his own custom shop version of a 6120, a Gretsch White Falcon and a Gretsch Duo Jet.
In 2002 Higham was married to singer Imelda May, they have one daughter together. In 2015, May announced their decision to separate after 13 years of marriage. After the separation, Higham also decided to leave May's band to focus on his solo career.
Higham is a fan of Sunderland AFC, a football team in the English Championship,
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Brian Robert Setzer is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and returned to the music scene in the early 1990s with his swing revival band, the Brian Setzer Orchestra. In 1987, he made a cameo appearance as Eddie Cochran in the film La Bamba.
Geoffrey Arnold Beck was an English guitarist. He rose to prominence as a member of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to an instrumental style with focus on an innovative sound, and his releases spanned genres and styles ranging from blues rock, hard rock, jazz fusion and a blend of guitar-rock and electronica.
Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. including "Stray Cat Strut", "(She's) Sexy + 17", "Look at That Cadillac", "I Won't Stand in Your Way", "Bring It Back Again", and "Rock This Town", which the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has listed as one of the songs that shaped rock and roll.
Ray Edward Cochran was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran's songs, such as "Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", "C'mon Everybody" and "Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in the mid-1950s and early 1960s. He experimented with multitrack recording, distortion techniques, and overdubbing even on his earliest singles. Cochran played the guitar, piano, bass, and drums. His image as a sharply dressed and attractive young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the 1950s rocker, and in death he achieved iconic status.
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Imelda Mary Higham, professionally known as Imelda May, is an Irish singer, songwriter, television presenter and multi-instrumentalist. Known primarily as a singer, she also plays the bodhrán, guitar, bass guitar and tambourine. She is known for her musical style of rockabilly revival and has also been compared to female jazz musicians such as Billie Holiday.
David Eugene Summers was an American rockabilly singer, songwriter and guitarist. His most famous recordings include the late 50s "School of Rock 'n Roll", "Straight Skirt", "Nervous", "Gotta Lotta That", "Twixteen", "Alabama Shake", "Fancy Dan" and his biggest-selling single "Big Blue Diamonds". Summers was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Southern Legends Entertainment & Performing Arts Hall of Fame in 2005. He still performed worldwide and celebrated his 50th anniversary as a recording artist in 2008 with the release of Reminisce Cafe.
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The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton (1963–1965), Jeff Beck (1965–1966) and Jimmy Page (1966–1968), all of whom ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 greatest guitarists. The band's other members during 1963–1968 were vocalist/harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja, and bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, with Dreja switching to bass when Samwell-Smith departed in 1966. The band had a string of hits throughout the mid-1960s, including "For Your Love", "Heart Full of Soul", "Shapes of Things", and "Over Under Sideways Down".
Levi and the Rockats are a British rockabilly revival band originally from Essex but currently based in New York City. They are recognised as one of the pioneering neo-rockabilly groups of the 1980s.
Kat Men is an American/British rockabilly band, formed in 2006 by former Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom, and Darrel Higham. The duo released its debut album, Kat Men in 2006, with a follow-up, The Kat Men Cometh, released in 2013.
Life Love Flesh Blood is the fifth studio album by Irish singer-songwriter Imelda May. It was first released in the Republic of Ireland on 7 April 2017, through label Decca Records, followed by a worldwide release two weeks later on 21 April 2017. The album, a follow-up to May's previous album Tribal (2014), was created in collaboration with American musician T Bone Burnett. Serving as the primary producer for the record, Burnett was only credited alongside Scottish producer Cam Blackwood. Blackwood produced a duet version of the album's lead single "Call Me", recorded with English vocalist Jack Savoretti, included on streaming editions of the album post-release. Throughout the album's creative process, May received guidance from Irish musician Bono, of rock group U2. The album followed May's divorce from guitarist Darrel Higham, influencing many lyrical themes on the album. Life Love Flesh Blood features soft rock and acoustic styles, differing significantly from the rockabilly genre of previous albums.
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