Rhythm Kings » The history of the Rhythm Kings - part one
Former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman reveals how the Rhythm Kings were formed, and the Rhythm Kings' success over the years. In this first part, Bill Wyman talks about life after the Rolling Stones, and the early years of the Rhythm Kings...
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"In the two years following my departure from the Rolling Stones in 1993, I hardly touched my bass guitar. During that time I was a busy man. I married Suzanne Accosta, and developed my Sticky Fingers restaurant business. I also found the time to work on a variety of diverse projects like books, archaeology and photography – things I had had no time to get into in a serious way while I was a member of the Rolling Stones.
"When I again became inspired by musical thoughts in late 1995, I did so without any very serious intentions. I just fancied playing a bit of music, but I knew I wanted to do things differently this time. I wasn't interested in playing 'commercial' music, so I decided to try to get back into early traditional roots.
Find out more about Rhythm Kings concerts and tours
"I began jamming at home with Terry Taylor and we thought of calling ourselves the Dirt Boys – playing and singing old raunchy blues numbers. Then we began to concentrate on the more serious music of artists like Fats Waller, Louis Jordan and Billie Holiday, and thought it would be worthwhile taking the sessions a little further with other musicians. I put the word out and events snowballed.
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"There were certain people I knew I wanted to work with, and I approached the brilliant vocalist and organ-player, Georgie Fame, and guitarist Albert Lee. I called Peter Frampton – an old friend who I've known since he was a fourteen-year old guitar prodigy. I got in touch with Andy Fairweather Low and Gary Brooker – both of whom had been involved in my 'fun band' of the late 1980's – Willie and the Poor Boys. Everyone was full of enthusiasm about my idea and happy to be involved.
Find out more about Rhythm Kings music and albums
"I started looking for a pianist who could play early jazz and blues styles and found the extraordinary Dave Hartley. I asked around for a girl singer with a bit of soul and was introduced to Beverley Skeete, who had worked as backing vocalist for artists such as Chaka Khan, Jamiroquai, Elton John and Texas. She turned out to be my biggest find of all – putting another dimension into our songs. We then contacted Martin Taylor, a brilliant melodic jazz guitarist, who was ideal for anything that needed a 1930-40's bluesy-jazzy style.
"We began to record anything that came to mind. The benefit of working in this way – apart form the spontaneous atmosphere we created, was that I could pick and chose musicians for the particular style I wanted for each track. The result of these early sessions Struttin' Our Stuff became the first Rhythm Kings CD – released in October 1997 – which sold better than we had anticipated.
"We decided to play a few gigs in small clubs in Northern Europe, with audiences of around a thousand people. This was like going back to my early days with the Rolling Stones, when we played early Blues to sometimes unimpressed audiences in London's traditional jazz clubs in 1962 and 1963.
Listen to Struttin' Our Stuff and discover more about the album
Read the second part of this exclusive interview with Bill Wyman on the history of the Rhythm Kings by clicking here.
Buy Rhythm Kings CD albums - signed by Bill Wyman!
"In the two years following my departure from the Rolling Stones in 1993, I hardly touched my bass guitar. During that time I was a busy man. I married Suzanne Accosta, and developed my Sticky Fingers restaurant business. I also found the time to work on a variety of diverse projects like books, archaeology and photography – things I had had no time to get into in a serious way while I was a member of the Rolling Stones.
"When I again became inspired by musical thoughts in late 1995, I did so without any very serious intentions. I just fancied playing a bit of music, but I knew I wanted to do things differently this time. I wasn't interested in playing 'commercial' music, so I decided to try to get back into early traditional roots.
Find out more about Rhythm Kings concerts and tours
"I began jamming at home with Terry Taylor and we thought of calling ourselves the Dirt Boys – playing and singing old raunchy blues numbers. Then we began to concentrate on the more serious music of artists like Fats Waller, Louis Jordan and Billie Holiday, and thought it would be worthwhile taking the sessions a little further with other musicians. I put the word out and events snowballed.
Follow Bill Wyman on Twitter
"There were certain people I knew I wanted to work with, and I approached the brilliant vocalist and organ-player, Georgie Fame, and guitarist Albert Lee. I called Peter Frampton – an old friend who I've known since he was a fourteen-year old guitar prodigy. I got in touch with Andy Fairweather Low and Gary Brooker – both of whom had been involved in my 'fun band' of the late 1980's – Willie and the Poor Boys. Everyone was full of enthusiasm about my idea and happy to be involved.
Find out more about Rhythm Kings music and albums
"I started looking for a pianist who could play early jazz and blues styles and found the extraordinary Dave Hartley. I asked around for a girl singer with a bit of soul and was introduced to Beverley Skeete, who had worked as backing vocalist for artists such as Chaka Khan, Jamiroquai, Elton John and Texas. She turned out to be my biggest find of all – putting another dimension into our songs. We then contacted Martin Taylor, a brilliant melodic jazz guitarist, who was ideal for anything that needed a 1930-40's bluesy-jazzy style.
"We began to record anything that came to mind. The benefit of working in this way – apart form the spontaneous atmosphere we created, was that I could pick and chose musicians for the particular style I wanted for each track. The result of these early sessions Struttin' Our Stuff became the first Rhythm Kings CD – released in October 1997 – which sold better than we had anticipated.
"We decided to play a few gigs in small clubs in Northern Europe, with audiences of around a thousand people. This was like going back to my early days with the Rolling Stones, when we played early Blues to sometimes unimpressed audiences in London's traditional jazz clubs in 1962 and 1963.
Listen to Struttin' Our Stuff and discover more about the album
Read the second part of this exclusive interview with Bill Wyman on the history of the Rhythm Kings by clicking here.
