User:George Spiteri

Jorge Spiteri (George Spiteri) was born to American parents on May 2nd, 1951 in Caracas, Venezuela. From 1972 until 1973, Jorge studied Cinema an TV Production at the Royal College of Art in London, England and from 1976 until 1979, he studied Music at the London College of Music in London, England. As a musician he performs as a composer, musical arranger and lead singer, he plays the electric bass, guitar, piano and chromatic harmonica. He started his career as a composer at age 16 for various rock bands in the middle 60’s (See Discography). He was also a part of many bands of the time such as “THE NASTY PILLOWS”(Ivan Marcano: Drums; Ernesto Guzman: Lead Guitar; Rafael “Filo” Valera: Bass; Eduardo Esposito: Piano; Jesus Chinchilla: Percussion and Congas; Enrique Spiteri: Flute and Jorge Spiteri: Guitar and Lead Singer); “FANTASTIC GUASACACA”(Ilan Chester: Piano; Mario Carabeo: Drums; Michell Katz: Saxophone and Jorge Spiteri: Bass, and Lead Singer.), and “THE JUNIORS” (Francisco Ascanio: Lead Guitar and Backing Vocals; Arturo Moreán: Bass; Gregorio “Goyo” Prato: Bass and Piano; Beltrán Prato: Drums; Richard Izarra: Rhythmic Guitar and Jorge Spiteri: Lead Singer). In 1969 Jorge composed and directed with “The Nasty Pillows” the music for the play “La Fiaca”, which was directed by Fausto Verdial. This was the first time a musical theater play was performed with a live rock band. In 1969 Jorge departed to London, England, along with his brothers Enrique and Charles Spiteri. Charles was the lead singer of “THE MEMPHIS”, one of the first national rock bands, which performed live at Venezuelan night clubs. In London, Jorge and Charles created “SPITERI”, formed by some Venezuelans living in London at the time, and some british, too. (Bernardo Ball: Drums; José Manuel “Chema” Arria: Bass; Ruben “Micho” Correa: Flute; José “Joseíto” Romero: Guitar; Charles Spiteri: Percussion; Jorge Spiteri: Lead Singer, Guitar and Piano, and Leonel Grigson: Piano.) “SPITERI” was known for its different sound as a result of a sort of mélange of latin and rock rhythms. Soon, some critics started to compare the band with Santana, arguing however that Santana was a rocker with latin influence and that Jorge Spiteri was a “latino” influenced by rock. In 1973, Spiteri signs his first label contract, through his personal managers Barry Kirsch and Charlie Spencer, with “G.M. RECORDS” which at the time belonged to Billy Gaff Rod Steward´s manager at the time. “G.M. Records” had signed, among other artists, people like Tim Harding, the band “Status Quo”, Long John Baldry, amongst others. Under this contract, “SPITERI” recorded a LP in Olympic Studios and Landsdown Studio in London, making “SPITERI” the first latin group ever with a discographic contract in England. The first “SPITERI” played at the Zoom Club in Hamburg, (Germany) in different cities in England, and important places in London at the time, such as the Marquee and the Speakeasy. The group remained as a working unit from 1972 until 1974, it came to an end when the “British Home Office” denied the work permit to some of the band members. In 1978 George Spiteri played,composed and helped on the recording of Chris Wood (ex-member of Traffic) record called "VULCAN" that came out 30 years later(2008). Also played with Chris (flute),Reebop and his brother Charles Spiteri(percusion), Stephen Alpert (fender piano) and some other friends in some recordings for Tyrone Downie´s project in Islam Records Studios the same year.