Audio-biography

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My parents thought (the affect) music therapy (had on me) was amazing.  I asked my mum about her memories of my speech & music therapy.  She thinks that I was;  

Free to ‘shout’ because I’d found my voice

Enjoyed the ‘music’ making very much,

Very happy to be communicating with ‘musical’ speech

Emotionally charged because it was something I loved,

Able to ‘talk’ in a language instigated by me

Excited by the music. 

I started having piano lessons around the age of 5 or 6 and carried on learning on and off with 4 teachers.  As a pianist, I love playing music by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Glass, Handel, Tchaikovsky and Mozart amongst too many others to mention. 

Performance, improvisation and composition have been means of expression & communication for me. I like music that takes me somewhere, that makes me feel confident, happy, optimistic, proud and/or that makes me shiver, or that reflects the mood I am in.  Music continues to be a way of communicating, making friends, connecting with others, expressing myself & being myself / part of the world. 

My mum used to play guitar & sing folk music (songs performed by musicians like Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul & Mary, Tom Paxton, Joan Baez, Paul Simon).  

My dad encouraged me to sing with him in various choirs for many years during my teens and 20s; music by Bach, Beethoven, Haydn et al. 

The oldest of my 3 brothers gave me a tape of Queen’s album The Works when I was 8 (1988); I’ve loved them ever since. 

My next oldest brother introduced me to Cat Stevens, Suzanne Vega, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, 10cc, Supertramp as well as Mike Oldfield and Jools Holland through letting me sit in his room when he was listening to them. 

My 3rd brother and I started to have drum lessons when I was in my teens.

I studied music at school (1985-91-96) and then at Richmond Upon Thames College (1996-98).  Whilst at RUTC, one of our music teachers took us to a Gamelan workshop at London's Festival Hall.  The same teacher also teased us with snippets of Minimalism (Reich, Glass and Riley).  I was hooked!  I went with my parents (and a German exchange student we were hosting) to see Lerner/Loewe’s musical Guys n Dolls at London’s National Theatre in 1997. 

I (didn't) study at Colchester Institute during the academic year 1998-99 - I was depressed, barely completed the first year of a BMus, and ended up coming Home again. 

I studied music at Roehampton Uni during 1999-2002 and graduated with a BMus.  During my time there, I was briefly a drummer in a band although we never performed, was a member of the Uni choir, studied theory, history, piano, composition, learnt more about & played more Gamelan and wrote a thesis on Philip Glass' opera trilogy; Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha and Akhnaten. 

I also accompanied musicians including "Shades of Harmony" (an intimate female choir), solo singers and a string trio.  I also helped a solo singer pass a grade exam singer.  I loved taking part in a performance of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius at St Alban’s Cathedral as a member of the choir. 

I heard Jools Holland perform with his band at one of the end of year balls at Roehampton.  A secondary school / college friend gave me a CD by Jimmy Scott and also took me to one of his gigs at the Jazz Cafe in London.  He also took me to see Elton John at Wembley stadium (the original one) around the time EJ was promoting his Big Picture album.

I went to Kingston Uni for a year to study TV/Film composition during Oct 2002 - Sept 2003.  I composed some music for part of the (1922) film Nosferatu.  I wrote about Queen's music for the films Highlander & Flash Gordon and was fortunate to receive an email via the Queen fan club from Brian May about Highlander.  Howard Fredrics was one of my teachers.

Although I didn’t do very well academically at Kingston it did provide the opportunity to get involved as a performer in a touring arts event / exhibition called transit station which took me from Kingston (Nov 2003) to Berlin (Feb 2005) and Edinburgh (Feb 2006). 

I heard Brian May play at London's Royal Albert Hall in May 2004 as a 'Friend' of the Italian singer Zucchero.  Around the same time, an old friend took me to see Simon & Garfunkel in Hyde Park; The Everly Brothers were the ‘support’ act.  I went to hear Jools at the RAH with my middle brother one year in the 00’s.

As a composer I produced the soundtrack for a VERY short film produced by Right Charlie Productions (Death (G)row) and a score for a (not so) short film (The Spotter, dir. Li, prod. Main - both students at the London Film Academy) in 2005. 

I worked as an accompanist at Sheen Mount School from Feb-July 2005. 

I saw the Queen / Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You in London twice.  I went to see The Blue Man Group with family c2006/7. 

I saw/heard American composer Philip Glass perform a number of times during the 00’s; as a solo pianist, with his ensemble (including Music In Twelve Parts) and with other musicians (inc Orion, scores for short films).  Glass' collaborations with Ravi Shankar (i.e. Passages, 1990) opened my ears to Indian classical music in the same way that Glass' collaboration with Richard D James (aka Aphex Twin) opened my ears to more electronic music. 

The next transit station took me to Berlin in Feb 2005 and gave me the chance to collaborate / perform with dancers / musicians / performance artists & film makers and opened my eyes and ears as to what art and music could be. 

I joined another band around 2004/5 (Mark on vocals + guitar, Jon on bass was replaced by Jan).   

At some point after bassist Jon left, Mark and I performed as a 2-piece, White Stripes style.  I can’t remember the chronology of the next few bassists; at one point Jan was playing with us, then another bassist joined, who was replaced some time later and then we had a 3rd bassist.

I joined another band with someone I was working with (Lester on bass & Paul* on guitar & vocal) during 2006/7 and left as I moved to Nottingham (Oct 2007 - mid 2008). 

I saw  John Adams' 2005 opera Dr Atomic & Philip Glass’ 1980 opera Satyagraha in May 2007 - both at the ENO in London.  I saw / heard Philip Glass perform with cellist Wendy Sutter and percussionist Mick Rossi in London on 26 May 2009. 

At some point Mark & I stopped playing together (I went to Nottingham with my then girlfriend Oct 07-mid 08), then started again in mid 2008 when I got back; first as a 2 piece a la White Stripes.  We were then joined by Sam on bass and carried on rehearsing and performing in London (Angel/Islington, Camden, Canning Town, Kings Cross…). 

Since c2008 I’ve been composing a music theatre / musical / opera based on a book ('WAKTM') by the same friend who introduced me to Jimmy Scott and looking for artists of ALL sorts to get involved.  

Having been active on social media since 2007, I started Sharing and Retweeting content published by various musicians.  I started blogging around 2010, then doing interviews with some of them, including singer-songwriter Tom Cuneo, event organiser Adrian Silas, and singer - songwriter Raphaella.  

I saw Verdi’s opera Aida at the ROH in March 2011.  I went to the Royal Albert Hall to see / hear Brian May and Kerry Ellis (former WWRY star) perform their Anthems album when they released it in May 2012. 

I accompanied a singer-songwriter called Nix Nugent during 2010-13; we performed around London. , We performed at open mics around Camden. Our first Gig was at The Purple Turtle (23 Sept '11) & we ventured to The Brunswick in Hove / Brighton once. 

"Round midnight" on the night of 24-25 September 2011, I was a passenger in the front seat of a van, being driven somewhere after a small gathering at someone else's home.  I was or wasn't wearing a seatbelt - I honestly don't remember.  I woke up (briefly?) around 2.30am in a hospital bed; I remember texting people (family, a few friends) to tell them that I'd been in / had an accident, and where I was. 

I vaguely remember signing something to give consent / permission to remove my teeth at the front on the bottom.  I don't think I knew / understood that I'd broken my top jaw, evidently having hit my chin. I don't remember 2 of my long time friends coming to see me early in the morning.  One of my them sent me a photo of a quick sketch he did of me in hospital: it / I didn't look pleasant. 

The accident resulted in a broken top jaw, damaged / lost teeth.  At some point I discovered that I'd been rescued / treated at the scene by amazing doctors & staff of London's Air Ambulance who then took me to the Royal London Hospital.  

In 2012, I wanted to provide a space for musicians, to  encourage and inspire them to connect with other people who could help them;  somewhere where I felt like I fitted in, to make friends.  I wanted to help them to use social media, to be social, to communicate, to think about what, how & when to share your stories; to help them to connect with, empower, encourage & inspire each other.   I set Cheeky Promo up in 2013 as a Facebook group  & gradually created the Facebook page, Flickr group, Instagram, LinkedIn page, Mixcloud, Pinterest, Soundcloud, Spotify, Tumblr, @CheekyPromo, YouTube profiles.  In the last 10+ years I’ve interviewed countless musicians & entrepreneurs.   One person I knew online called me the Fastest Sharer In The West (FSitW).

I played drums in Kingston based band Euphoric Recall (Paul*, Tim & Laura) for between Jan-Sept of 2014.  We performed in Kingston (Fighting Cocks, Cricketers) and Camden (Fidler’s Elbow).  Euphoric Recall then became The Euphorix and featured Paul, Laura & Lawrence.

During 2011-15, I had dental treatment & a bone graft operation from my right hip to my lower jaw to enable implants at the Dental dept at the King's College Hospital.   During some of this time I was going through a legal compensation claim - and received £30k in late 13 or early 14.    I grew close to someone who lived in the Midlands; I needed to get out of my Dad's place where I'd been living since 2010 and I wanted to be closer to them.  I moved to Nottingham again* in Oct '14.  

My implant(s) were completed in March 2015 and the gap at the front of my bottom jaw was filled with ‘teeth’.   I was discharged in April.  This experience was the seed or spark of what is now Cheeky Fest; I wanted to raise money for the air ambulance Charity.  I moved back Home in mid '15 and felt like I was back at square 1.  I felt stupid; I'd spent all of the money by Christmas '14 (going out, a good hifi system & a new iMac - both of which I still have, renting a house in Nottingham) was still unemployed & couldn't afford to live on my own.

However, life took a drastic turn after a life-altering accident in Sept 2011.  In 2016 I started thinking about organising an event to fundraise for London's Air Ambulance who had rescued & treated me at the scene and taken me to Hospital.   Then I wanted to fundraise for another charity - Nordoff [And] Robbins; the UK's leading music therapy provider as I had music therapy at the age of 3 or 4 - as well, so I thought ‘let’s split the profit 50/50'.  Whilst talking with a friend in the USA around 2018, the idea of a one off music gig grew into a UK-USA music festival tour, then into an arts community & series of festivals — initially in London, and then in other cities / countries around the world.  

Inspired by my experiences, and my desire to give back, I founded Cheeky Fest-a community and arts festival aimed at transforming lives through the arts.  Cheeky Fest is more than just an event; it's a movement.  We support artists, creatives, and performers in harnessing the healing power of the arts.  Our vision is to create spaces where people can discover their voices, share their stories, and connect through art, dance, music, theatre, and more. 

Join me and the Cheeky Fest community on this journey.  Whether you're an artist, volunteer, investor, or supporter, let's collaborate and make a difference together. If you share our vision and want to get involved, reach out to me at rupert@cheekyfest.com. Together, we can transform lives through the arts.