User:IamGregUK

Greg Anderson Everett Barnes (born 5th July, 1979, Paisley, Scotland) is a Scottish freelance musician based near Glasgow, with a BA in Commercial Music and over 15 years of gigging experience. He is currently providing keyboards, organ, percussion acoustic and electric guitar as well as backing vocals to various artists.

Early history
Greg's father was formerly in the U.S. Navy as a musician, playing trumpet and piano. His mother was a singer and guitarist in The Honeybirds (formerly The Country Girls), she also worked in Scottish Television for over 40 years. Both her parents had also been performing on stages throughout the U.K. sharing the bill with the likes of Vera Lynn, The Alexander Brothers, and Johnny Beattie, as well as working as part of Fred Karno's Army.

The earliest memories Greg has are all related to music, as both his parents tried to expose him to as many different styles of music as possible. This ranged from attending the Russian Ballet, to seeing Stevie Wonder in Glasgow. Piano lessons were the fist form of structured musical learning in Greg's life - His father wanted Greg to learn from a private teacher, rather than to pick up and 'bad habits' from him and from there, he found a love for the keyboard. Soon after, Greg was enrolled in his "Aunt" Rita Crawford's, 'Happy Feet' Tap-Dancing School. He was the only boy in the production and soon found himself performing on-stage as the male lead in the show at a sold-out Pavillion Theatre, Glasgow aged just 7years Old.

It wasn't until attending Gryffe High School, Houston, in 1991, that he found an outlet for his talent in the School's Music Dept. Greg sought to immerse himself in everything musical he could; sometimes to the detriment of other classes, much to his mother's annoyance. At this time, Greg focused more on the trumpet, working with School, Divisional and local Brass bands / orchestra's. He was twice a winner of the School's 'Young Musician of the Year' contest at under and over 16 level, but soon found that he was feeling a bit deflated with music.

"Later" with Jools Holland
In 1994, Greg was taken by his parents to see Jools Holland in concert, at Edinburgh's Queen's Hall, on the 25th August. The tickets had been given to his mum as a 'thank-you', for work relating to STV. At the end of the performance Greg was taken back-stage to meet the band and spoke candidly to Jools Holland and his trumpet player, Jon Scott about the disappointment he was feeling with music and the piano. It was then that Jools suggested he try different styles of playing and experiment more with rhythm and blues / funk / soul.

Unfortunately the advice fell on deaf-ears and few months passed without anything changing. It wasn't until Jools released the 1995 album “Jools Holland and the Rhythm and Blues Orchestra live” that Greg had his 'eureka' moment... On every copy of the album was the line “The gig that you were at”. Greg took this to mean him and decided to seek lessons from his dad, and in doing so, follow a new musical path; one from which he has never looked back.

Musical Experience
TV Greg also worked for STV on the following productions... Radio 
 * Nochd Gun Chadal – STV
 * The Music Show – BBC Scotland
 * Channel M’s, Late Night Social – Manchester
 * The Big Breakfast – Canada
 * Edinburgh Hogmany Show 2005, featuring Texas, Space and The Saw Doctors
 * Boxed Set, featuring Deacon Blue, Ocean Color Scene and Aerogramme
 * BBC Radio 2
 * BBC Radio Scotland
 * Insight Radio - Glasgow
 * Revolution - Manchester
 * Xfm - Glasgow and Manchester