MICK BOLTON
PIANIST/SINGER/SONGWRITER based in East Sussex, UK, playing BLUES, BOOGIE, ORIGINAL SONGS etc. (Finalist in 2008 UK Songwriters Contest)
(Also available for all kinds of venues and occasions - very wide repertoire and variety of styles . Please see my 'Solo Bookings' page for more details.)
Welcome to my website. Hopefully there is something for most music fans to enjoy, especially fans of the various artists I have worked with. Please come back again as I will be adding to it all the time with memories from nearly four decades of music making.
In 1973 I played Hammond Organ with MOTT THE HOOPLE. There's a detailed list of all the gigs from that year (complete with support acts - including Queen, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Iggy Pop, Joe Walsh and The New York Dolls) on my Ancient History page. There are some rare photos in my Photo Gallery - and below, here on my Home page is a video of myself playing All The Young Dudes. Also on my Music page you can hear Rainbow Over Michigan, a song I wrote in 1974, inspired by some of my experiences on tour with the band. On my Reviews page is the review that I wrote for the Mott The Hoople fan club magazine of one of Ian Hunter's 2007 gigs. The band will be playing five 40th anniversary concerts in October 2009 with the original 1969 line-up at the Hammersmith Apollo, which was the venue for the final riotous concert of our 1973 tour - see my Biography page.
In the 1980s and early 1990s I toured and recorded with DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS. On my Ancient History page fans of Dexys will find excerpts from the diary I kept during the preparation for the 1985 tour to promote the Don't Stand Me Down album. I also toured and recorded with Irish singer/songwriter PAUL BRADY, playing on the same bill as U2, Van Morrison and The Pogues among others. For several years I was a regular visitor at the McCartneys' home where I worked with LINDA McCARTNEY, giving her some keyboard tuition as well as co-writing and recording tracks that appeared on her album Wide Prairie.
Since the 1990s I have worked mainly as a solo artist in piano-bars throughout Scandinavia, Europe and the UK and currently I perform in various venues playing blues, boogie, jazz and original compositions as well as my own unusual versions of some pop and rock standards. I currently play over a hundred gigs a year, mainly in a more middle-of-the-road capacity in hotels, restaurants, clubs, pubs and for all kinds of private and corporate occasions. See my Solo Bookings page.
I was a finalist in the 2008 UK Songwriting Contest which had over 6200 entries. The song I entered in the contest was Me And My Old Piano. There's a video of a live performance of the song below
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/mickbolton
Videos:
1. All The Young Dudes
2. Rock And Roll Widow
3. Me And My Old Piano
4. Musical Differences
There are more live performances on my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/mickbolton1