THE JOEL DAVID STORY

Joel was born in 1948,his parents and family were evacuated from Liverpool having been bombed out of two
homes.They settled in a small pennine village called Belthorn where Joel lived until the age of 15.
Having played piano and guitar since the age of 5, Joel joined a rock group made up of ex-school chums,
they played local dance halls throughout lancashire. A small consortium of businessmen regognised the
groups talent and in exchange for a management contract furnished them with new musical equipment and
a tourbus. The group were soon on their way to "fame and fortune"!. They toured Germany, Italy, and Turkey
but disbanded after 3 years. Joel and another member of the group continued as a duo and spent a great
deal of time composing. They knocked on doors till their knuckles were raw trying to get their songs
published. One day Joel was reading Adam Faith's autobiography in which Adam praised his manager Eve
Taylor, the two lads found her agency address and knocked on her door, they told her they had been
recomended by Adam Faith. Admiring their "cheek" Ms Taylor listened to their songs and immediatly offered
them a contract to write songs for Adam, Sandy Shaw, Val Doonican and the Batchelors. Soon after ,up
popped the consortium of businessmen waving the contract they and their parents had signed on their
behalf, the "small print" gave them full title ownership to the lad's songs. Regretfully this is not uncommon
in the music industry. Joel was also prevented from performing as a musician and singer for the remainder
of the 7 year contract, but could'nt be prevented from working as a comedian, which he did for several years.
Although earning a reasonable proffessional living he was never comfortable being a comedian,he admired
the true "naturals" of comedy and knew he was not in that class, in truth he was only happy sitting at his
piano singing.
In 1976,contractual problems left behind, he formed a variety showband, they played all the major uk caberet
venues and played "support" to chart topping band Showaddywaddy on a european tour.
The showgroup disbanded in 1981 and Joel embarked on a solo career as a piano/vocalist. He played a
number of weekly venues one of which was the Park House Hotel in Blackpool, a favourite haunt of his parents.
Because Joel knew his mum and dad liked the Park House so much he took them with him every monday
night. His dad would sit in his favourite corner with a "little whiskey", a few of the regulars would always chat
to him and keep him up to date with what dad called "all the old news".But his dad was there to hear his son
sing. He loved music and he loved life,but was at the time fighting a losing battle with cancer. The disease
had taken most of his body wieght,but not his sence of humour, for he said,"now when i walk i rattle"!.
Joel affectionaly called him OLD BONES.
Throughout his dads illness Joel would visit every lunchtime and whilst having a bite to eat they would listen
to the David Jacobs Show on BBC radio 2, his dad also used to listen to Ray Moore in the mornings listing
suitable songs for Joel to sing in his act. Joel's dad insisted that he try to record OLD BONES convinced
that it would be a popular record, but Joel having experienced a swim in the shark infested waters of the
music industry was pessimistic of an attempt.However spurred on by his dads failing health Joel sent demo's
to 30 record companies and, as expected, none replied. E.M.I. published the song but refused any assistance
in getting the song recorded or promoted, they said, and joel still has the letter,"it will never get airplay".
In desparation joel went to his bank manager at the "listening bank", Joel sang him the song,he listened, and
he liked what he heard, he too felt that there was an audience that was being totaly ignored by record moguls
for pleasant easy melodious music. He lent Joel Ł2500-00, small change by record company standards,but
enough for Joel to make a start on a proffessional recording. He contacted a collegue whom he done some
voice over and jingle work for, a producer called Andrew J J Hall, Andrew felt the song needed a "timeless"
feel and aquired the talents of some of the uk's finest jazz musicians including; Digby Fairweather, Roy
Williams, Jonny Van Derek, Tony Crombie, Jack Fallon, Brian Dee, and Denny Wright.
He booked three hours recording time at the world famous C.T.S.soundstage studio in wembley.
Joel and Andrew set off for london on the 15th of June 1983.They met the musicians over lunch and conveyed
their ideas of how the songs should "feel"(Joel had written a song for his mum and dad's 40th wedding
anniversary on the 14th of February 1984). They entered the studio engineered by Richard Lewzey at 2pm
and by 3pm after only one rehearsal per song they recorded both tracks live and "unplugged".
Joel discovered the name OLD RECORDS had never been used and registered the label. He felt the label
needed a "logo", a few days prior to the recording he had taken his ailing father for some new dentures on
his mums orders, she refused to accept that her beloved husband was dying. Dad said he wanted to enter
the dentist's alone, the sight of that proud old man ,standing in his raincoat ,holding his walking stick waiting
to cross the road burned into Joel's memory, he sketched it and used the drawing as his logo for Old Records.
His dad died a few days later, he never got to hear Joel's finished recording of Old Bones.
Andrew had 500 "white label" singles printed, Joel selected 25 of them and sent them to Radio 2 producers,
each one in an envelope with no letters or explanations, just the records. Three weeks later two presenters
played the record on the same day to high acclaim, niether aware of each others play listing, they were :
RAY MOORE and DAVID JACOBS. The record was played with increasing popularity,presenters summised
as to who Joel David was and where he came from?. The general concensus was that he was probobly
some"yank" who was known in america but not heard of here, so it would be ok to play it. E.M.I. soon
learned of the record's popularity and contacted Joel promising to distribute the record if it were transferred
to compact disc. C.D.singles were in their infancy in the early 80's and it would be a collossal task,but Joel
re-morgaged his home and had 5000 discs printed. Radio 2 along with 39 local radio stations were furnished
with a brand new 3 track single. The record was then "a" listed and E.M.I. sat back and raked in the royalties,
they never had any intention of distributing the record even though there were 1000's of people out there trying
to buy it. Old Bones eventualy "died".
A little older and a little wiser, Joel worked 8days a week to reduce his debt, his 15 minutes of mild fame
opened a few doors for a short while, he recorded a few sessions of Radio 2s Nightride and sang with the BBC
Big Band, his talent as a pianist/singer was growing. Joel was performing from Timperly to Timbuk2 but a stroke
brought it all to an abrupt end, he coud'nt speak, he could'nt play, but he amazingly found he could still sing!.
He made a slow but determined recovery,but there were complications with his spine and more importantly his
left hand, he could no longer play his beloved pianoforte. The Old Bones were now his!.
With no income and a bleak future Joel learned how to play and program an electronic keyboard, he could still
sing, but not converse with an audience in the way needed to resume caberet or theatre. One night whilst in his
local pizzeria he was asked to sing for his supper, he has done that ever since. In whichever restaurant he works
(he performs five different eateries per week), the regular diners love him, the relaxing dexterity of his voice is
quite unique and can only be experienced by hearing him work live. Demands for an album of his music were
constant but the costs involved were untenable, people used to take domestic recording devices to where he
played, being a perfectionist he was'nt happy about it but understandingly did'nt deter it either. He realised
that he would never again make a proffessional recording to broadcast quality but, if his customers were happy
with what they were listening to then,"what the hell". He dissappeared into his den armed with a good quality
tape recorder emerging 10 hours later with an album. There was no double tracking or edits on it, just him
and his keyboard playing and singing. He mastered the album at a local studio and tagged the Old Bones
tracks on the end declaring that if he ever did sell any albums at his "gigs", the Old Bones tracks were worth
3quid!. A few years ago Desmond Carrington ressurected Old Bones on his Radio 2 All Time Greats Show,the
responce was astounding, Desmond recieved hundreds of letters, all of which were forwarded to Joel,Joel did'nt
feel comfortable charging for the records so he sent everyone a disc asking people to make a donation to
either the R.S.P.C.A. or an animal charity of their choice. It's now been estimated that the R.S.P.C.A. has
benefited to the tune of One Hundred Thousand Pounds.
Joel is still working, restaurants, corporate dinners,ect ect, and he's recorded another "home made" album for
which he charges Ł5-00, he says its ok if your hearing aid is'nt tuned to critical. Its nice to know that Old Bones
has not yet reached the graveyard and the odd resurrection from time to time is most welcome, whatever the
future holds Joel is just content to earn a living playing and giving great joy to the hundreds of regular lovers of
good music that come religiously to see and hear him sing in his weekly venues, what is most amusing is the
regular occurance of people ringing friends on mobile phones and holding up the devices to share the unbeleivable
experience of listening to the "Chef de Quisine Of The Music Of Love".