Hello and welcome to the “About Me” section!
Due to my travel experiences, some refer to me as “one man and his keyboard.” Born in Birmingham in 1957, I could be found from a very early age tinkering with my parents’ piano in the front room. I am told that at the age of three, I would sit on the little stool playing simple nursery rhymes and would cry if I was taken away from my beloved instrument.
I attended a boarding school for visually impaired children. While the other kids were outside playing football or partaking in sports, I could be found in one of the cloakrooms bashing out the latest pop songs on a somewhat out-of-tune piano.
At the age of 11, I began formal piano lessons. While I passed two music exams (one with merit and the other with distinction), I was a handful for my patient tutor. Whenever she left the room for a moment, she would return to find me composing something she had never heard before — usually something completely irrelevant to the actual lesson!
I began creating my own instrumental works at 13.
By 15, I wrote the lyrics for a song entitled “Times Again,” dedicated to a girlfriend who was leaving school that summer. I even persuaded my teacher to transcribe the music so I could see what it looked like on paper. When I first played the song to my best friend, Reg, I refused to sing and only played the melody. After some encouragement, I finally sang it; to my absolute surprise, he told me I had a great gift and urged me to keep it up.
In 1972, I formed a pop group called “Overdrive,” named by a friend who was mad about cars. The line-up consisted of a drummer and a guitarist, with me on piano and lead vocals, while the other two harmonized. We were convinced we were going to “make the big time.” While we didn’t quite make it onto Top of the Pops, we did win a talent contest in 1973 using primitive equipment built from old record players and amplifiers. I will always remember being announced by the compere: “And here we have our very own, Overdrive!” To my embarrassment, our poor equipment picked up a radio signal, and the speaker announced, “This is the BBC, and now the 9 o’clock news.” Fortunately, it faded away, and we began our set of two chart-toppers and one of my original songs.
I left school in 1975 and jammed with local musicians, but my heart was set on being a solo artist. Using two old reel-to-reel tape recorders, I continued recording my own material. By the 80s, my style began to evolve. I frequently travelled to London to promote my compositions and started a mobile disco for weddings and parties. I also became a DJ at a nearby hospital radio station.
During the mid-80s, I became a street entertainer, playing well known instrumental favourites on my keyboard.
During the 90s I would perform in various shopping centres, raising funds for causes such as the Children’s Hospice, and, a mother and baby unit.
I recall one lady asking if I’d “had it long.” Thinking she meant my Casio keyboard, I replied, “No, it’s a Roland.” She then asked, “Have you ever thought of having it taken away?” I replied, “Not really, I need it for entertainment purposes!” only to realize she was asking about my cataracts, not my keyboard.
On another occasion, a lady asked, “Do you know Lily Was Here?” the instrumental song). I replied, “I have no idea you were looking for her, but if I see her, I’ll mention you were trying to find her!” which caused an uproar of laughter.
In 2003, I received a Director’s Award of Merit for Excellence in Song writing for my song “Time and Place” in the Valentine Song Contest, awarded by the Paramount Group in Nashville, Tennessee. This song is available on my YouTube channel.
In 2017, I joined The Accessible Friends Network (TAFN), a service for visually impaired people. I began hosting two shows on TAFN Radio:
Sundays from 10 pm to midnight.
And Tuesdays from 6 pm to 8 pm.
My sense of humour inevitably took over, and I introduced various characters, sketches, and voices — all created by me, at the end of each show’s first half.
Today, I continue to record and upload my music to major platforms such as Apple Music,
Spotify,
YouTube Music,
and Amazon. I can also be found under the name Jay Jackson, as well as Jay Jack & Friends.
I still love performing at songwriter showcases and open mic nights. On 1 occasion, I was amused to learn that while playing a venue in London, the bar itself didn’t even have a drinks license!
Thank you once again for visiting Jay’s World of Music.