On This Day 22/12/2005 Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra

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On this day, 22 December 2005, Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra played Cardiff International Arena.

Jools Holland OBE DL was born Julian Miles Holland on 24th January 1958 in Blackheath, South East London.

At the age of eight, he could play the piano fluently by ear, and by the time he reached his early teens he was proficient and confident enough to be appearing regularly in many of the pubs in South East London and the East End Docks.

At the age of 15, Jools was introduced to Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford; he joined Squeeze, followed by Gilson Lavis shortly afterwards (Gilson had already played with, among others, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, and Max Wall) – who still drums with Jools.

Up The Junction and Cool For Cats gave Squeeze meteoric success and their popularity rapidly extended to America, where their tour included performances at New York's Madison Square Garden.

In 1987, Jools formed The Jools Holland Big Band – comprising himself and Gilson Lavis. This has gradually metamorphosed into the current 19-piece Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, which consists of pianist, organist, drummer, three female vocals, guitar, bass guitar, two tenor saxophones, two alto saxophones, baritone saxophone, three trumpets, and three trombones.

As well as formidable live performances, Jools has maintained a prolific recording career since signing to Warner Music in 1996, which includes the multimillion selling Jools Holland and Friends series. Notable 'friends' have included Sting, Chrissie Hynde, George Harrison, Norah Jones, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Bono, Joe Strummer, KT Tunstall, Robert Plant, Smokey Robinson, Kylie, Marc Almond, Ringo Starr, Peter Gabriel, Solomon Burke, and many more.

On This Day 21/12/1983 Tina Turner

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On this day, 21 December 1983, singing legend Tina Turner played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

In November 1983, Tina released her cover of Al Green's “Let’s Stay Together ", with Capitol. The record became a hit, reaching several European charts, including a top 10 placement in the United Kingdom. The song peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Turner's first solo entry into the U.S. charts. It also peaked at the top ten of the Hot Dance Club Songs and Hot Black Singles charts.

The success of the song forced Capitol to rethink its contract with Turner, offering the singer a three album deal, demanding an album on short notice, which had Turner staging what Ebony magazine later called an "amazing comeback." Recorded in two months in London, the album “Private Dancer” was released in June 1984.

Turner sold more than 100 million records worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. She received 12 Grammy Awards, which include eight competitive awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and three Grammy Hall of Fame inductions. She was the first black artist and first woman to be on the cover of Rolling Stone.

Rolling Stone ranked her among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Turner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: with Ike Turner in 1991 and as a solo artist in 2021. She was also a 2005 recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and the Women of the Year award. During her lifetime, she earned an estimated $250 million.

Band
Annie Behringer - Singer and Dancer
Lejeune Richardson - Singer and Dancer
Jack Bruno - Drums
Bob Feit – Bass
Kenny Moore – Piano
Chuck O'Steen - Keyboard
James Ralston – Guitar

On This Day 20/12/1988 The Proclaimers

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On this day, 20 December 1988, Scottish duo The Proclaimers played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall. The band had just released their second album Sunshine on Leith.

Sunshine on Leith marked a departure from the minimalist acoustics of the group's 1987 debut This Is the Story, toward a rock-oriented full band sound, backed by members of the Fairport Convention and Dexys Midnight Runners.

Review - South Wales Echo

The album's sound draws heavily from American music, such as country and 1950s rock and roll, with homages to the duo's own Scottish culture. The album was a major worldwide hit, particularly in Australia where it was described as the band's "biggest success", reaching No. 2 in the ARIA Charts and being 1989's 12th highest-seller.

The album peaked at No. 3 and No. 6 in New Zealand and the United Kingdom respectively, while also charting in Canada and Sweden, ultimately selling over 2 million copies worldwide, including over 700,000 in the USA.

On This Day 19/12/1994 The Cult

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On this day, 19 December 1994, rock band The Cult played Cardiff’s Astoria on their Beauty is on the Streets tour.

The band had just released their sixlth studio album The Cult on Beggars Banquet Records and it is also the band's last album on Sire Records in the US. It is also commonly referred to as the "Black Sheep" record, due to the image of a Manx Loaghtan black sheep on the front cover.

The record also features one of the very rare times when Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy have shared songwriting credit with anyone: bassist Craig Adams is credited as co-author of "Universal You".

Vocalist Ian Astbury referred to the record as "very personal, and very revealing" songs about his life, with the subject matter ranging from sexual abuse at the age of 15, to the death of Nigel Preston (friend and former drummer for The Cult), to his directionless years spent in Glasgow in the late 1970s. But the record was barely noticed, only reaching US#69, and UK#21, and then quickly dropping out of sight.

Reportedly it reached number one on the charts in Portugal, but quickly dropped out of sight as well. The single "Coming Down (Drug Tongue)" (UK#51) was released with the band going on tour in support of the new album. Only one more single, "Star" (UK#65), was officially released. That song began life in 1986 as "Tom Petty" before being dropped by the band during rehearsals. In 1993 the song was resurrected once again as "Starchild", and was finally completed for the record in 1994 as, just simply, "Star".

On This Day 18/12/2014 Decade

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On this day, 18 December 2014, rock band Decade played Cardiff University on their All Signs Point to Britain tour.

Formed in 2009, the band consists of lead vocalist Alex Sears, guitarist Joe Marriner, guitarist and backing vocalist Connor Fathers and bassist Harry Norton. Encapsulated by the locution 'Loud quiet happy sad', Decade currently have two studio albums, Good Luck and Pleasantries, a self-titled EP as well as an EP they pretend does not exist.

Decade signed to Rude Records in late 2016. Their second studio album, Pleasantries, was released in 2017 to much acclaim across a number of independent publications.

ON THIS DAY 17/12/1972 THE SWEET

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On this day 17/12/1972, Glam rock giants The Sweet played Cardiff’s Top Rank.

February 1972 saw the release of "Poppa Joe", which reached number 1 in Finland and peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart.

The next two singles of that year, "Little Willy" and "Wig-Wam Bam", both reached No. 4 in the UK. "Little Willy" peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 after a re-issue in 1973, thus becoming the group's biggest American hit.

Although "Wig-Wam Bam" remained largely true to the style of Sweet's previous recordings, the vocals and guitars had a harder, more rock-oriented sound, largely because it was the first Chinn-Chapman single on which only members of Sweet played the instruments.

In January 1973 "Block Buster!" became Sweet's first single to reach number 1 on the UK chart, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. After their next single "Hell Raiser" was released in May and reached number 2 in the U.K., Sweet's U.S. label, Bell, released the group's first American album The Sweet in July 1973.

The band also capitalised on the glam rock explosion, rivalling Gary Glitter, T. Rex, Queen, Slade, and Wizzard for outrageous stage clothing.

Despite Sweet's success, the relationship with their management was becoming increasingly tense. While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, Sweet were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image.

Sweet had always composed their own heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; they avoided older novelty hits like "Funny Funny" and "Poppa Joe".

A 1973 performance at the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall in Kilmarnock ended in Sweet being bottled off stage; the disorder was attributed by some (including Steve Priest) to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set (the 1999 CD release Live at the Rainbow 1973 documents a live show from this period).

The incident would be immortalised in the hit "The Ballroom Blitz" (September 1973). In the meantime, Sweet's chart success continued, showing particular strength in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. By the end of 1973, the band's name evolved from "The Sweet" to "Sweet". The change would be reflected in all of their releases from 1974 onward.

On This Day 16/12/1994 Dina Carroll

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On this day, 16 December 1994, singer Dina Carroll played Cardiff International Arena.

Combining the early soul-pop of Mariah Carey, the power balladry of Whitney Houston, and the sophisticated dance-pop of M People, Dina Carroll was one of the most successful U.K. female vocalists of the '90s.

Born in Newmarket, Suffolk in 1968 to a Scottish mother and Afro-American G.I. father, Carroll began singing with her sister at a young age, and after winning a talent competition at school, she decided to pursue a career in the music industry.

In her teens, she moved to West London after signing to independent dance label, Streetwave, where she provided uncredited vocals for a production outfit named Masquerade. In 1989, she signed to Jive/Zomba Records where she released several club hits, including a cover of Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By," and contributed to Brothers in Rhythm's single "Peace and Harmony."

Her breakthrough came in 1991, when she appeared on Quartz's Top Ten dance reworking of Carole King's "It's Too Late," and was offered an album deal by A&M Records. Two years later, her first LP, So Close, had spawned two Top Five singles, "Don't Be a Stranger" and a rendition of Sunset Boulevard number "The Perfect Year" helped her to scoop Best British Female Vocalist at the 1994 Brit Awards, and up until Dido's No Angel, was the biggest-selling debut album by a female artist in U.K. chart history.

Review - South Wales Echo

After moving to Mercury Records, she developed otosclerosis, a hereditary bone disease which affects the ears, whilst working on her sophomore, Only Human, which despite reaching number two, failed to achieve the same multi-platinum sales of its predecessor.

Carroll changed directions for her self-titled third effort, hooking up with Rhett Lawrence in Los Angeles for a dance-pop sound reminiscent of her club roots, but although lead single "Without Love" reached the Top 20, various record company wranglings meant that plans for its release were shelved. Other than a performance of Van Morrison's "Someone Like You" on the Bridget Jones soundtrack, and a 2001 hits compilation, Carroll hasn't released any new material since.

On This Day 15/12/2014 Chris Rea

On this day, 15 December 2014, singer/songwriter Chris Rea played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on his The Last Open Road Tour.

Known for his distinctive voice and his slide guitar playing, Rea has recorded twenty five studio albums, two of which topped the UK Albums Chart, The Road to Hell in 1989 and its successor, Auberge, in 1991.

He had already become "a major European star by the time he finally cracked the UK Top 10" with the single "The Road to Hell (Part 2)".

Over the course of his long career, Rea's work has at times been informed by his struggles with serious health issues.[6] His many hit songs include "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat", "Stainsby Girls", "Josephine", "On the Beach", "Let's Dance", "Driving Home for Christmas", "Working on It", "Tell Me There's a Heaven", "Auberge", and "Julia".

He also recorded a duet with Elton John, "If You Were Me".Rea was nominated three times for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist: in 1988, 1989 and 1990.

Setlist

The Last Open Road

Work Gang

Where the Blues Come From

Josephine

Easy Rider

'Til the Morning Sun Shines on My Love and Me

Julia

Stony Road

Come So Far, Yet Still So Far to Go

Somewhere Between Highway 61 & 49

Stainsby Girls

The Road to Hell (Part 1)

Encore:

On the Beach

Let's Dance

Driving Home for Christmas