User:Bowerscrewe/John O'Connell Liverpool Singer / Musician / Songwriter

John O'Connell has had his name indelibly written in to the tapestry of Liverpool's music scene. Born and raised in the Everton area of the city, John's early influences were routed in acoustic, folk and classical guitar. Stefan Grossman; Bert Jansch; John Renbourn; and Martin Carthy all inspired John and ignited his passion for music.

Back in the late 70s, it was a young and high-spirited John O'Connell who responded to a tiny hand written advertisement, in Frank Hessy’s music store, which eventually lead to the formation of the legendary Liverpool band, Groundpig. From these somewhat modest beginnings Groundpig went on to dominate the city's music scene holding residence in many popular establishments, playing a variety of music from bluegrass, folk, country to pop and more contemporary genres.

The success of Groundpig was staggering and today many revellers still reflect fondly on nights spent at the likes of the Scooner Inn, Daleys, Philharmonic Pub, Bier Keller, Flannigan’s, Rosie O’Gradys, Guinans and Kitty O'Shays.

Since the death of Graham Evans co-founder of Groundpig, in 2006, John has spent the past few years focusing his energy on establishing his solo career. At his weekly residency in O'Neills John continues to play many styles of music including the likes of Bob Dylan, James Taylor, The Poques, Coldplay, Cat Stevens, U2 and Snow Patrol helping to make it one of the most popular and profitable O'Neills outside of London.

John's solo career has also seen interest gather momentum in his own song-writing. On his CDs you can hear John playing a wide range of instruments including nylon and steel string guitars, mandolin, five string banjo and the harmonica which all delicately resonate through his own original pieces.

John's exceptional talent has not gone unnoticed beyond Merseyside. With well a million music lovers from across the world having logged on to John's Youtube channel, and enjoyed, discussed and even debated his performances, in particular his rendition of Classical Gas by Mason Williams.

In May 2008, it came as no surprise to his loyal fans, that John was invited to support and perform alongside, the highly acclaimed American singer song writer, Stephen Bishop, at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Two months later John then found himself supporting Martin Carthy, whom had been a great inspiration to him in his younger days, at the Wirral Folk on the Coast Festival. The success of these performances particularly at the Philharmonic did not go unnoticed as John was then invited to join Bishop on his UK tour which opened at the Shaw Theatre London, with none other than Eric Clapton in the audience!

John's Simply Acoustic set and solo career has grown over the past two years, with sell out concerts at the Gladstone Theatre Port Sunlight and the Rodewald Suite at the Liverpool Philharmonic. In February 2009 Stan Ambrose dedicated a whole hour profiling the talented Liverpudlian on the popular Folkscene Show on BBC Radio Merseyside and later that very same year John was delighted to learn that his song “What a Day I've Had” achieved international acclaim by finishing second in the Indie International Song-writing Competition, where his entry was judged by Severin Browne the Motown Recording Artist whose songs have been cut by Thelma Houston, Patti Dahlstrom, Colin Blunstone, The Dillards, and Pamela Stanley, who had a major hit with Severin's "I Don't Want To Talk About It.”

2010 has seen John working alongside some more musical talent from Liverpool. James Meall, Joe Kenny, Mark Byrne, Joe Pue and The Songbirds all form part of his band which add another dimension to John and his music. Venues such as The Cavern, The Philharmonic, Sefton Palm House, Alexanders of Chester and The Gladstone Theatre have all booked John on the strength of his local popularity. From Simply Acoustic to playing Simply Dylan John's appeal continues to expand and with a Groundpig fan base fastly developing on Facebook momentum is gathering for a Graham Evans / Groundpig tribute night.