Flanagan consists of Mark Flanagan (Guitars, Vocals, Waterphone, Meletron, Steel Drums), Kevin Willoughby (Bass) and George Double (Drums).
Mark
Flanagan was born in Liverpool and started playing ukulele at the age of
eight. He got his first guitar
when he was 12 and was mesmerised by Django Rheinhardt.
He grew up listening to Hank Williams, Ray Charles, The Beatles, Tamla
Motown, the Stones, and Bowie. He
joined his first group at the age of 15 and later moved to East Anglia where
he founded cult swing harmony group 'The Box Brothers'.
Mark
then moved to London in 1988, where his neighbour happened to be Jools
Holland. He jammed with Jools at the Edinburgh festival that year and has been
with the Rhythm and Blues Orchestra since. He has performed on many live TV
shows, where he has accompanied anyone from Chaka Khan to Paul Weller, Barry
White to Eric Clapton.
Reunited
with old mate Kevin Willoughby in '98, they met up with
George Double and Flanagan was born. They
recorded an EP "Like A Fool" in January 1999 and the new album "THE CHOSEN FEW"
is due for release in March 2002 when Mark will be doing a short UK solo tour
to promote the album.
Kevin
Willoughby is a formally trained genius of bass and harmony.
He met Mark Flanagan in a jazz-funk band in the '80's and they were
involved in many projects together. Kevin
went to Senegal, Africa in 1989, and ended up staying for six years playing
with various artists such as Ishmail Lo, Sariba Kouyate and Super Diamono.
He then spent some time in Scandinavia where he was involved in various
projects including an acid-jazz collaboration.
He came back to England in the late 90's and reunited with Mark.
George Double was a national finalist in the Daily Telegraph’s Young Jazz ‘89. George read Music at the University of Nottingham. West End and touring credits include Guys and Dolls, Avenue Q, Sinatra, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Anything Goes, Annie Get Your Gun, Chasing Fate and Godspell. Freelance credits include work for EMI, Polygram, London and Talkin’ Loud records, Jack Jones, Kym Mazelle, Claire Sweeney, Matthew Herbert, The Memphis Belle Swing Orchestra, British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, The Beauty Room and Herbie Flowers. He has also appeared at both Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals.
Radio sessions for John Peel and Gilles Peterson on radio 1, Sean Hughes, Robert Elms, Gideon Coe and the Drivetime Show on BBC London and XFM. George has contributed articles to the New Grove Dictionary of Music, including the entry of drummer Billy Cobham and four of his compositions are in the lists of the current Trinity Guildhall drum kit syllabus.
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