Neil

 'The Crowd' are the latest of a string of successful club acts formed by Neil. He started life as a multi-keyboard player way back in the 80's with a band called 'Klymacks', a five piece band covering chart material of the time. He then joined the very popular show band Dragonfly.

 DRAGONFLY - 

 Where he met their manager & agent, Mr Terry Shaw of TAS Management, again as keyboard player & backing singer, playing to capacity crowds at every venue throughout Yorkshire and the North East. Dragonfly were a totally live band that had a very unusual first set involving costumes and props. The 'show' part of the band became their trade mark way before the likes of other bands now re-creating a similar act. After leaving Dragonfly, Neil decided it was time to have a go at forming his own band having learned all he needed to know......or so he thought at 22!!

The Cat's Whiskers -

 Managed by Terry Shaw, this was the first band he formed with a six piece line-up originally including sax player and female vocalist. Several line-up changes occurred thro 'musical and personal' reasons and the band became  male fronted with the very talented, Chris Hall. The band had yet more internal problems resulting in Neil & Chris closing the band to pursue the duo scene.

Perfect Strangers  -

Neil and Chris's first step into hi-tech duo-land. All the backing tracks were painstakingly prepared by Neil. Perfect Strangers did very well in clubland and ran for several years in the mid 90's. The duo was cut short after a couple of years due to Chris's personal problems!!

I                                                                                                                 Poster taken at Doncaster Railway station by Andrew Jones

        Neil & Chris

Perfect Strangers ran a while longer with the introduction of  Mr Vain's front man Paul, and Chris Broad, who joined as lighting technician due to a large investment in new lighting gear, a very good friend and work colleague of Neil's. While with Paul, Neil discovered he had the ability to sing lead vocal and therefore prised himself away from his beloved keyboards!

( picture of Neil & Chris Hall )

 POWERHOUSE -                                                                                                                                                                                              

The return of Chris Hall saw the birth of  Powerhouse. New material, new equipment and shared lead vocal made this a huge step forward for Neil, now leaving the keyboards totally behind him. Once again, Chris decided to concentrate on his home life, and therefore decided enough was enough!! An up and coming young vocalist and very good friend of  Neil and Chris's (lighting man) agreed to step into the breach at short notice, in came Tony Walsh. Yet another change in direction, more investment in equipment and a new van, a good old Ford Transit and the re-birth of Powerhouse had happened! This was a very energetic duo and a whole lot of fun, going down very well at most venues. The inevitable occurred and Tony wanted to try new things and explore new directions, the search for a new partner began!

                                                                                                                      Studio publicity photo

                                              ( Picture of Neil & Tony Walsh )

SOUND FOUNDATION  -

  New partner and new name. Michelle joined the duo, fresh faced and new to the scene, but what a voice!!! Typical boy/girl material with large PA and lighting. Chris remained as lighting guy and the duo did quite well. Neil was never really comfortable with the 'Boy / Girl ' thing, and they eventually went their separate ways, Michelle joining all girl band MINX and Neil, once again looking for a new partner, male this time!! A guy called Wayne joined and the set changed again combining material from Powerhouse and Wayne's previous acts. Neil changed the name back to POWERHOUSE for a while but soon found Wayne to be totally un-reliable!!!! At this point Neil decided to take some time off to decide his future, if any, in this field....!!!!!! Chris, meanwhile, kept himself busy working with several bands including MINX and Harlem Nights while the band was in limbo..!

      A few years passed and he blew the cobwebs off his mic, '' Time to try again, this time it WILL work and be better than ever.............!''

                                                                                     Welcome to The Crowd

                    Neil, Chris & Justin     -      The Crowd

The Crowd -

 Potentially the best show so far! Chris and Neil formed the band and after several guitarists, Justin (who is the son of Alan Hayward, Klymacks vocalist from the 80's) came in some time later. They spent the summer rehearsing and getting the set together, after several false starts & taking time to get it right. Chris decided it was time to have a go at being onstage rather than at the sidelines as was the case in previous acts. Chris still controls all lighting and effects as well as some keyboard work and backing vocals. Neil, now doing the lions share of vocals, now totally fronts the band in his own mad way!!!! A different choice of material some un-heard of in club bands, but all known. A very entertaining show, very visual with some funny moments.....! The Crowds hard work has so far paid off as the band continue to go down extremely well in the majority of venues keeping bums on seats all evening!!!!

The Crowd publicity shot, taken by Pufferfish