...THE
OF A SOPHISTO-ROCK SAXOPHONIST BY ANNIE McCLEAN
Over the next three years a teenaged Helliwell continued to play and
to study for his school leaving exams (A levels). Initially his plan was
to study music at the Royal College of Music but by eighteen and the completion
of his studies he had found work in Birmingham (August ’63) as a
budding computer programmer for ICL, then Britain’s largest computer
firm.
Music was still an important part of his life and in his free time he
played in a succession of local dance and blues bands. Birmingham had
a very exciting mix of musicians beginning to emerge at that time, including
key future members of Traffic, ELO and the Moody Blues, all of whom crossed
the young Helliwell’s path.
John’s
first real experience of playing in a blues influenced band was the amateur
Jugs O’Henry which he joined back in May ‘65 but when Jugs
announced his intention to turn professional, John decided to chance his
luck too, moving south with the band to a London base and turning his
back on the world of computers. Gig bookings dwindled quickly and unexpectedly
so that the following year with no band and no job, our man was forced
to place an ad in the Melody Maker “Have sax, will travel.”
As luck would have it, a Swedish computer firm simultaneously offered
him a position but he plumped instead for another music job, replacing
David Green in The Alan Bown Set mark II in Feb ’66
Alan Bown was a trumpet player and his, for that time, daring vision
of mixing horns with rock quickly began to pay off. That very same month
the Bournemouth Times ran a feature on the band and a mere three months
later in October John (or rather John Anthony as he was known professionally)
cut his first single with the band "Emergency 999" with a December
follow up of "Headline News". A first album “Outward-Alan
Bown” followed in April ‘67.
By then, more high profile gigs were definitely on the cards. In August
they played the Windsor Jazz and Blues festival alongside the likes of
Cream, releasing another single "Toyland” in October and playing
the Marquee Club in London the same month. The band’s name was truncated
to “The Alan Bown” around this time. Gig attendances were
on the increase along with their accompanying rock ‘n roll dangers.
Just two days before Christmas, Helliwell blood was spilt when the band
became involved in a huge bar fight in Dereham...
OF A SOPHISTO-ROCK SAXOPHONIST BY ANNIE McCLEAN
John’s
first real experience of playing in a blues influenced band was the amateur
Jugs O’Henry which he joined back in May ‘65 but when Jugs
announced his intention to turn professional, John decided to chance his
luck too, moving south with the band to a London base and turning his
back on the world of computers. Gig bookings dwindled quickly and unexpectedly
so that the following year with no band and no job, our man was forced
to place an ad in the Melody Maker “Have sax, will travel.”
As luck would have it, a Swedish computer firm simultaneously offered
him a position but he plumped instead for another music job, replacing
David Green in The Alan Bown Set mark II in Feb ’66