...THE
OF A SOPHISTO-ROCK SAXOPHONIST BY ANNIE McCLEAN...
(The Story so Far…)
John
Anthony Helliwell was born into a musical family in the Yorkshire town
of Todmorden on the 15 th February 1945 just 4 months after another musically
famous Todmordarian, Keith Emerson, of Emerson, Lake and Palmer fame.Exposure
to music in the Helliwell home was virtually instantaneous. Family members
were involved in every type of music from church to local Gilbert and
Sullivan productions. John’s parents duly ensured that their young
lad received the usual childhood piano and recorder lessons but none of
these musical stimuli proved very inspirational to him and it was left
to the jazz record collection of a family friend to prompt our small hero
to start his quest for a clarinet.
These were the grey fifties in post world war II England. Times were
hard and some serious saving of pocket money was required to achieve his
goal. Two years later and fifteen pounds poorer, he became the proud owner
of a clarinet, promptly joining the Todmorden Symphony Orchestra whilst
barely a teenager. His musical interests were by this time leaning increasingly
towards jazz and by the age of fifteen he’d spent a further £35
on an alto saxophone and had begun playing with several school groups
including the TGS5 (Todmorden Grammar School Five) which he founded. The
group was quickly banned when teaching staff objected to “scandalous”
lyrical content, namely the use of that dodgy word “baby”.
Eminem take note!
Life in Yorkshire also involved the usual childhood pranks and adventures
with his peers. During one winter (?62/63), a particularly cold snap caused
all the local water courses to ice up. John and his best pal decided to
do a spot of messing about on the (frozen) river. The ice gave way under
our young saxophonist who duly fell in and being unable to swim had to
be dragged out by his chum. The two remain firm friends to this day.
In common with many successful artistes, John seems to have visualized
his future path in music from a very early age. In a school essay from
his mid teens he confidently predicted a future career as a long haired
and bearded, touring jazz musician. Not bad for no crystal ball.
OF A SOPHISTO-ROCK SAXOPHONIST BY ANNIE McCLEAN...
