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English musician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Anthony Helliwell (born 15 February 1945)[1][2] is an English musician, best known as the saxophonist, secondary keyboardist, and backing vocalist for the rock band Supertramp.[3] He also served as an MC during the band's concerts, talking and making jokes to the audience between songs.
Helliwell was born in Todmorden in 1945.[4] He sang in choir and at age nine played piano, but this only lased for one year. After hearing Monty Sunshine play Petite Fleur with Chris Barber's Jazz Band, John was inspired, and saved up for two years to buy a clarinet for 15 pounds when he was thirteen.[4] His other inspirations were inspirations then were Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis and Art Blakey.
After leaving school, John moved to Birmingham and worked as a computer programmer.[4] It was there he played in some of his first bands. One of these bands, The Dicemen, John claims dressed in Beatles-inspired suits and wore trousers so tight they had to be carried on stage.[4] Another band, Jugs O'Henry, was the first group he turned professional with in 1965.
The Jugs O'Henry band was short–lived, and once they had ended, Helliwell put an advertisement into an issue of Melody Maker with the title "Have Sax, Will Travel".[4] His advertisement was seen by members of The Alan Bown Set, and he joined The Alan Bown Set, replacing Dave Green in January 1966.[5][6] Helliwell was in The Alan Bown Set (later known as The Alan Bown or just Alan Bown) until February 1972.
The band, known for including future music stars such as Alan Bown, Jeff Bannister, Jess Roden, Robert Palmer, Mel Collins, and Dave Lawson, had limited success in sales, and changed genre's through the 60s, transitioning from blues, soul, and rnb, to psychedelic, progressive, and baroque pop, and freakbeat.[4][7]
On a few later Alan Bown records, including their 1971 album Stretching Out, Helliwell is credited as John Anthony, his fore and middle name. The Alan Bown Set had ended by early 1972, and Helliwell worked with the groups bassist Dougie Thomson in London.
Helliwell joined Supertramp in 1973 along with bassist Dougie Thomson, who convinced Helliwell to make the move.[8] John's addition helped introduce saxophone, other woodwinds, occasional keyboards, synthesizers, and backing vocals to the groups sound. Helliwell was in Supertramp until 2011, even when the band had two break ups.
In 1987 Helliwell played on Pink Floyd's album A Momentary Lapse of Reason; his name was misspelled as "Halliwell".[9] This was after Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour had played on Supertramp's album Brother Where You Bound. Helliwell also played on French singer Jean-Jacques Goldman's 1985 album Positif, and clarinet on Sara Hickman's 1990 album Shortstop.
During a professional lull in the 1990s, Helliwell began studying for a music degree at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, but he discontinued his studies to join Supertramp on tour when Some Things Never Change was released. In 2004 he contributed saxophone work on the Simon Apple album River to the Sea.[10]
In 2004, Helliwell formed the band Crème Anglaise with Mark Hart, who had joined Supertramp in 1985. This group recorded their eponymous debut album in 2005.
Helliwell contributed clarinet to The Pineapple Thief's song "Fend For Yourself" from their Your Wilderness album which was released in 2016.[11][12]
Helliwell fronts the Super Big Tramp Band,[13] which has a jazz big band line-up of trumpets, trombones, saxophones and rhythm section. It plays versions of Supertramp tunes, arranged by members of the band, with no vocals, but with Helliwell as the chief soloist. The band first played in Manchester in June 2013.[14] In 2019 the band played at the Manchester Jazz Festival[15] in May and was scheduled to play in Hull and Hamburg later in the year.[16]
In October 2020, Helliwell released Ever Open Door, a CD album of ballads with Helliwell on saxophone and clarinet, with a string quartet and Hammond organ.
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