Connections: L is for ...

Judd Lander (1) Connecting in 1991. Harmonica.

Judd seems to be the only person top people turn to when they want a bit of harp embellishment on their tracks! He played on All I ever wanted and in the closely related earlier album from Tracey Ullman featuring Kirsty's You caught me out. Way back in 1972 he played on a session for Nazareth. In 1981 he played with Andy Bown's Vardis and (working as Epic Records promotion man) convinced Jeff Beck to appear on the BBC TV show The Old Grey Whistle Test. "Judd was working on promoting Jeff's latest album, There And Back, and Ernest Chapman had told him that Jeff was willing to do selective interviews 'reluctantly'. Jeff felt that his music should do all the talking. With this in mind Judd arranged for Jeff to appear with host Annie Nightingale for an exclusive interview. All the stops were pulled, press releases, promos etc. for the show but then on the day before Jeff's management called and said, 'Jeff can't do the show'. Needless to say Mr. Lander freaked out, so the next day he got in a limo and headed down to Tunbridge Wells with a set of bagpipes. On arrival, he took off all his clothes and marched up Jeff Beck's driveway naked playing 'Hi Ho Silver Lining' on the bagpipes much to the household's amusement. In the end Jeff agreed to appear on the show provided that Judd did his bagpipe thing live on TV! And sure enough that's just what happened right in the middle of the interview - Judd could be seen walking behind Annie and Jeff naked playing the bagpipes!"

Clearly a bit of a showman, after leaving Epic, he dined out with Abba (giving a wonderfully tenuous link to Frida). On an evening off for ABBA. "It isn't necessary to answer repetitive questions and they don't have to entertain. In fact this role is given to one of the best amateur showmen in the restaurant-goers guidebook. Judd Lander turns up for the first opportunity to talk with old friends since he left Epic in the summer. He is in top form. The interim period has provided him with a chance to revise his repertoire of tricks and repartee. Here is a fresh audience and there isn't a better kind. Judd is now working at RCA managing the roster of artistes on the Motown label which are now being distributed through that company. He expresses a great love and enthusiasm for his new charges but it is a measure of how fondly he regards ABBA, that he accepted the invitation."

Other more conventional collaborations included Paul McCartney's Flowers in the Dirt alongside Robbie McIntosh and Guy Barker, The The Infected with David Palmer and Barker (an album which later led to Johnny Marr working with the band) and Johnny Thunders 1988 Restless album, where he connected with Anthony "Whistle" Thistlethwaite, John "Irish" Earle" and Chrissie Hynde who links on to Marr, McIntosh and indeed Joe de Jesus. Annie Lennox used Lander on Medusa as indeed did ABC (Alphabet City), and Madness (Mad Not Mad) alongside Jimmy Chambers. The mighty harp riffing on Karma Chameleon and Church of the poison mind by Culture Club? That's Judd Lander. What about the debut album from the mighty Spice Girls? Yep, that's Judd too. Finally, showing that he will actually appear on any old dross if the money's right, he contributes to Richard Ashcroft's solo debut, Alone with everybody, as did Stuart Brooks, Pino Palladino and Jamie Talbot.

Sara Lee Connecting in 1998/99. Bass guitar.

Sara Sara played with Ani Difranco for a year, including the live album Living in Clip. Ani once stated there was going to be merchandise featuring Sara's face with the words "Band Slut" on it, on the back would be listed all the bands she's appeared with....a more regular berth has been playing with the Indigo Girls since their third release. She can also be found on albums by Fiona Apple, Gang of Four, Ferron, Andy Summers, Kristen Hall, League of Gentlemen, B-52's, Shag, Robert Fripp, Williams Bothers and Robyn Hitchcock. She was a friend of Kirsty's and played in some benefit gigs with her in London.

After playing with a couple of local bands in the West Midlands, she moved to London and worked as a secretary at Polydor records, where she was discovered by Robert Fripp, who was encouraged to stay at a show to see "a girl who works in the office". She has just released her first album in her own right, called Make it beautiful, which features Ani Difranco and Joan Osborne in the mix.

Jona Lewie Connecting in 1980. Songwriter & Singer.

Jona As a sociology student, Lewie met Dave Brock and they played two or three gigs while Brock was putting a band together (which was later to become Hawkwind). Next he recorded an album with Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup, who wrote That's Alright and My Baby's Left Me for Elvis Presley, called Roebuck Man. During this period Lewie, who was still at college, played on a number of other blues albums and supported himself playing piano around London clubs.

At one stage he was a member of Brett Marvin and The Thunderbirds, who recorded two albums, toured as support for Eric Clapton's Derek and The Dominoes and scored a smash hit under the name of Terry Dactyl and The Dinosaurs. After a few years of small-time bands, Jona decided to give up rock'n'roll and worked as an all-night car park attendant, part-time masseur and sociology lecturer.

Soon returning to the rock'n'roll grind, he formed The Jive Bombers (who lasted six months), followed by a few one-off independent singles that charted in Europe. Late in 1977, Lewie signed to Stiff Records and spent the next nine months in the studio recording. His first Stiff single, The Baby She's On The Street, was followed by an album, On The Other Hand There's A Fist, and Lewie joined the 'Be Stiff' tour of England and New York. Next, Stiff released God Bless Whoever Made You, written by Nick Lowe and Ian Gomm and produced by Bob Andrews of The Rumour. You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties was released in March 1980, featuring one of Kirsty's earliest (and most prominent) backing vocals.

Lew Lewis (1+) Connecting in 1979. Harp & Vamp.

Lew Lew Lewis played harp with Eddie & the Hot Rods just after they first started out (1975). He recorded a couple of singles with them (Writing on the Wall/Cruisin' (in the Lincoln) and Wooly Bully/Horseplay (Wearier of the Schmaltz)) on Island Records in 1976, and then recorded a couple of singles under his own name: Out for a Lark on United Artists, and Boogie on the Street/Caravan Man on Stiff Records. He then put together a very fine band (Lew Lewis Reformer) which released an LP Save The Wail in the late 1970's which was also on Stiff records, and they had three singles too, also on Stiff. They even got an appearance on Top of The Pops.

He was a very good harp player, who was influenced mainly by Little Walter. They also had Johnny Squirrel on bass, and Buzz Barwell on drums (who later toured with Lee Brilleaux). Lew had a habit of giving out a harp to people in the audience when he played. They never had any major success, and folded in the early 80's.

Lew was credited with "Vamping" on Desperate Character.

Pete Lewis (1+) Connecting in 1991. Engineer.

Pete Assistant engineer & mixing on Electric Landlady. Pete's CV also includes recording & mixing for James, Furslide, Garbage (Special Single), Dru Hill, Massive Attack (Mezzanine), Pulp (Different Class & This Is Hardcore), Alabama 3, Elton John (Candle In The Wind '97 and The Big Picture), Meredith Brooks, Murray Lachlan Young, Eternal (Before The Rain), Cast, Alisha's Attic, Dina Carroll, Sex Pistols Live Album, Etienne Daho, Marcella Detroit, INXS and Deni Hines. Additionally, he did video synching for Martine McCutcheon's Love Me Single.

Adrian Lillywhite (3) Connecting in 1991. Percussion.

Adrian was drummer with The Members - heard Pistols, saw God, formed band, gigged at London's Roxy in 1977. Appeared on the first Beggar's Banquet compilation Streets with a fabulous punk track, the anti-National Front Fear On The Streets, featuring Nicky Tesco's roaring vocal to a ripping tune. But their career seemed likely to stall there, because they insisted on confusing their audience by playing things with a batch of different styles; bleached-reggae stuff, songs with metal-like guitar solos, and songs that at times featured the most un-anarchistic lyrics. This was topped off by Tesco's very Cockney accent, which made for a sound that didn't really fit any of the existing slots.

Still, after one single for Stiff, Tesco was developing into the sort of boisterous, one-o'-the-lads sort of front man that the British kids adored in their search for anti-hero stars, and things were looking up for the band. Virgin pulled out all the promotional stops for their first release, Sound Of The Suburbs, and for the album the band was fortunate enough to be in a position to hit on Adrian's brother Steve to produce. Steve Lillywhite's claim to fame at this time was producing a couple of Siouxsie records and playing bass in the Snivelling Shits. U2, Simple Minds and all that was far in his future, but he was able to help the Members out with free studio time and managed what became his production trademark sound for them; crystal clear with every note perfectly audible.

"Virgin signed all these bands who were around, like us and the Ruts, and they expected us to keep on bringing out energetic stuff all the time like Solitary Confinement and Sound Of The Suburbs. But then we released the single Offshore Banking Business and that really got up their noses. I think that record was ahead of its time, but Virgin couldn't see why we wanted to release a reggae-influenced song as a single". As it turns out, both were right in their own way. Although it was a chart disappointment, the success of ska a year later proved that the Members were right as well; people were interested in energetic reggae. They folded in 1983, just when their biggest US success was occurring. Naturally.

Adrian then played with Pauline Murray, and ex Jam bassist Bruce Foxton conscripted him along with Pete Glenister from the Hitmen for his solo album Touch sensitive in 1984. Adrian went on to join Paul King's eponymous outfit - their break came late in 1984 when they supported Culture Club. Love And Pride was released early next year, and made number 2 in the UK chart, while the album went to number 6. The hits continued throughout the year, most notably with the Top 10 hit, Alone Without You, and King abruptly disbanded in 1986.

Adrian played percussion on The one and only, and tambourine on Lying down and He never mentioned love.

Jamie & Louis Lillywhite (3) Connecting in 1989 and 1999. Vocals & Saxophone.

Kirsty's two sons! They are credited with vocals ("Big money!") on Innocence while aged 4 and 2. They also provided the chorus to Happy!. More recently Louis contributed saxophone to the B side Golden heart.

Steve Lillywhite (+) Connecting from 1989 to 1991. Producer.

Steve The ex husband. Production on Kite, Electric Landlady, Angel, New England, He's on the beach, Miss Otis regrets, Fairytale of New York. Mixing of Titanic Days (produced by Vic van Vugt). Bass on Fifteen minutes.

"During 1979-'80, Steve Lillywhite oversaw three landmark albums within a 12-month period: Peter Gabriel, XTC's Black Sea, and U2's Boy. All three challenged the punk-rock mentality that an album had to sound like a live band. Lillywhite manipulated sound as aggressively as any old-school producer, but he did so in a way that enhanced the songs -- which, on these albums, were as deep and complex as anything being written at the time. With Gabriel he echoed and doctored the drum kit (played by Phil Collins) to create a claustrophobic pound that became the standard '80s drum sound. On U2's album, Bono's vocal climaxes and the Edge's guitar slicings reflected the youthful delusions of grandeur that the lyrics were about. And XTC's sound matches the band's early creative hyperactivity.". - critique by Brett Milano.

Morrissey says, "He's incredibly gifted. It's been a great pleasure and enlightenment to work with him. It's an atmosphere, it's positivity, and it's a matter of drawing the best out of everybody. And that's very hard to do. And Steve Lillywhite does it incredibly well, and makes you feel more adventurous and more sure of yourself than perhaps you normally would do."

His CV includes many of the great names - Morrissey (Vauxhall & I, Southpaw Grammar, Maladjusted), U2 (Boy, October, War, Under A Blood Red Sky), Simple Minds (Sparkle In The Rain), Big Country (The Crossing, Steel town), The Pogues (If I Should From Grace With God, Peace & Love), Psychedelic Furs, Siouxsie & The Banshees (The Scream), Talking Heads (Naked), Peter Gabriel, Dave Matthews Band, Climie Fisher, Penetration, The La's, The Rolling Stones (the much maligned Dirty Work), Johnny Thunders, Joan Armatrading, Marshall Crenshaw, Thompson Twins, Travis (Good Feelings), World Party (Bang!) and XTC (Drums & Wires, Black Sea). Check out more credits here, or interviews with Addicted to Noise and Billboard. Incidentally, Steve is one of the whistlers on Peter Gabriel's song Games Without Frontiers. (thanks, Glenn).

Most recently, Steve has agreed to sit on the Advisory Board of garageband.com, the Internet music company dedicated to identifying and signing the hottest of the emerging bands. The Advisory Board is chaired by Sir George Martin and now comprises 35 top music industry creatives and professionals, including Steve Earle, George Massenburg, DJ Lethal and Brian Eno. Steve Lillywhite now lives in New York, and married again (to Patricia Galluzzi) there in 2004. He won a Grammy award in 2001 for engineering on Beautiful Day by U2.

Jody Linscott (3) Connecting in 1991. Percussionist.

Jody Percussion on Walking down Madison. According to her web page, "Jody started playing for the love of music with no expectations at all. There were virtually no other female working musicians other than vocalists and so Jody soon began doing studio work, first for Robert Palmer & David Sanborn, then for many many other successful artists both in England and in the U.S.. Pete Townshend brought Jody back to England where she has been recording since with many British artists. She has two kids, and has also been publishing books (published by Jackie Onasis at Double Day) as well as writing songs for children as a sideline."

Her recording CV includes work with Billy Bragg, John Mayall, Dan Fogelberg, Paul McCartney, John Sebastian, The Beautiful South, The Clash, Maggie Bell, Elliott Randall, The Who, Ray Davies, Pauline Black, Hall & Oates, Elton John, Sam Brown, Nils Lofgren and even Bob Dylan. She's also toured or gigged with Bonnie Raitt, Dave Gilmour, Linda Ronstadt, Bette Midler, Bob Marley, Mongo Santamaria, Flora Purim and the walrus himself, Barry White. Busy! She was recorded with Pete Townshend's tour at the Rockpalast in the company of Chucho Merchán and Dave Gilmour). She also contributes to the recent CD by Jim Mullen's band Jimjam, including Pino Palladino. In 2002 she toured with the Pet Shop Boys Release show.

Bob Loveday (2) Connecting in 1991

Bob Bob is now part of the "Canterbury Scene" along the likes of with Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, Lindsay Cooper, Lol Coxhill and Elton Dean. He says, "My first ever contact with the Canterbury mob happened inadvertently an exceedingly long time ago, when I bought a Carlsboro Mantis echo unit from Caravan's Dave Sinclair. Much later, long after the Mantis had been nicked from the trunk of my Cortina, I found myself sawing away alongside Simon Jeffes, Geoffrey Richardson et al with that lateral instrumental orchestrette the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, a sublime experience which lasted for several excellent years. Geoff also introduced me to Rupert Hine who at that time was busy producing Bob Geldof's 1990 album "Vegetarians of Love" and my association with Bob's band has continued ever since. You'll find me at the Musart Digirama Gargantustudio often as not, performing various questionable but allegedly musical experiments."

Bob has also recorded with Paul McCartney, Van Morrison, Jeff Beck, Paul Young, Pet Shop Boys, Richard Niles, Paul Carrack, George Fenton, Louden Wainwright III, Billy Bragg, Wes McGhee, EKO, Danny Thompson, Tim Renwick and many more... For Kirsty, Bob played violin on He never mentioned love and Maybe it's imaginary. On television, he has appeared with Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Bob Geldof, Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, Mary Coughlan, Matraca Berg, Richard Thompson & Maria McKee as well as being a regular on comedy shows with Alexei Sayle, French & Saunders, Fry & Laurie, Hale & Pace, Benny Hill, The Comic Strip Presents, Simon Brint, Tracy Ullman, Lenny Henry, Jane Horrocks, Josie Lawrence and the Mary Whitehouse Experience...

Frida (Anni-Frid Lyngstad) (4) Connecting in 1984

Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born near Narvik, Norway. Her father was a German soldier, while her mother Synni was a Norwegian teenage girl, and their liaison was not well-thought of in a country occupied by the Germans so Frida's grandmother decided to take Frida with her and move to Sweden. Music was a source of comfort for Frida, and at the age of 11 she made her stage debut, followed by a range of experiences. She says, "I was 14. I was a vocalist in a dance band, working every Saturday. And of course, I sang the contemporary music of that time like schlagers, pop music. And then my taste in music changed with the years. And for some years from that, I sang with a band, mainly doing evergreens and jazz music".

She was popular as a stage artist and toured the Folkparks with famous Swedish artists such as Lasse Lönndahl in 1968. She entered Melodifestivalen (the Swedish selections for the Eurovision Song Contest). Although Benny [Andersson] had entered a composition in the same show as Frida and was present at the contest, Frida did not meet him until a few Days later when they both were working in Malmö in the South of Sweden. It was not long after this first meeting that they both became a couple, and Benny started producing Frida's records. In 1970, Frida made her second appearance in the chart, reaching Number Eight with her Swedish cover of the Edison Lighthouse hit Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes). As the ABBA phenomenon exploded onto the world in 1974 and 1975, Frida recorded her last Swedish-language solo album for a while. Frida ensam was produced by Benny, and was released in November 1975. It was her first major sales success, and went on to sell an impressive 130,000 copies. Already though, the four people who were to become one of the world's most successful groups were coming together.

The ABBA story you surely know, so it doesn't bear repeating here apart from a comment: "Technically she [Agnetha]'s a soprano and I'm a mezzo soprano. So I have the deeper voice and she has a higher pitched voice. Benny and Björn, I suppose, already had an idea of which one was going to sing the lead. I mean, they knew perfectly well our ranges and which kind of voice they wanted on a specific song. And sometimes, I envied the choice of Agnetha, I must admit (laughing)."

In 1983, Frida participated in the musical project Abbacadabra - a fantasy musical featuring ABBA songs set to new lyrics - and recorded French and English language versions of ABBA's Arrival under the titles Belle (a duet with Daniel Balavoine) and Time (a duet with B.A. Robertson) respectively. Both these tracks were released on singles. The summer of 1984 saw her back in the studio for the recording of yet another solo album. This time the producer was Steve Lillywhite, and the result was Shine. The album was not a great success, and Frida was beginning to tire of life in the public eye. This was to become her last album for twelve years. Kirsty sang backing vocals on the album, and co-wrote four songs for it.

In recent years Frida has returned to recording and there have been various Swedish releases. She's even come to terms with her years with ABBA. "There was a long period of time when I didn't even listen to ABBA or the music that we had once recorded. Then I got some cassettes sent to me where Michael Tretow and Benny and Björn had put together the music and remixed some of the songs and so forth. I remember playing these cassettes over and over again and actually for the first time in so many years, listening to Agnetha's voice, my voice, the arrangement, the production and so forth. And that was a very happy moment, I must say."

In 2004 she has been reported as singing backup on Jon Lord's latest album.

Connections: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W

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