User:KathyAustin/sandbox

Keith Thompson  (29th January 1956) is a British blues-rock musician, his main instrument being the guitar but has also played, Keyboards, Bass Guitar, Blues Harp, Ukulele, Drums and Saxophone. Essentially Keith is a solo artist mostly within a band setting. His music is predominantly Blues-Rock and Keith has made some 15 albums touring mostly in Europe, especially, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Croatia, Czech and twice in the USA..

Early Life and Career
Keith was born in Worcester but grew up in Cheltenham where he began learning to play guitar aged 5. He progressed quickly and at age 8 on a family holiday at a Pontin’s holiday camp in Wales he won a talent show playing Beatle songs. At a young age he was fascinated by all guitar music especially in the 60’s Hank Marvin, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Peter Green. He was age 14 when he first started working the pubs and clubs playing mostly covers of popular artists of the time. Further influences like, Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore who he managed to see live on several occasions helped him hone his own style. Keith started to write his own material in his band, “Poacher Brown”. This was Keith's first serious band and in the mid 70's they toured Germany, playing 6 nights a week. It was a tough schedule of 4 hours or more a night. That was Keith’s first taste of working full-time as a musician. He returned to the UK in 1978 and joined forces with another local guitarist Wurzel (later of Motorhead). This band, “Bunter”; garnered a lot of recognition within the national music press. In the following years, Keith carried on writing and recording, becoming something of a pioneer in the DIY approach to a music career prevalent in the late 70s and early 80’s. Although Keith signed with small labels, "Marshall Pickering Records" and in particular, "Brambus Records", the deals struck were mostly licensing deals which gave Keith full creative control and ownership of the music produced. Alongside all this he launched and developed his own label, “Density Music”. He enjoyed stints on stage with gospel rockers, "Third Day", "Margaret Becker Band" with Chris Eaton, heavy metal band "Lyadrive" and folk/Americana band, "The Jigantics". He played a few gigs with a new version of the classic rock band "The Groundhogs" with founding member, Ken Pustelnik on drums. Over the course of his career he has had various line-ups and performed and recorded a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, folk, Americana and semi classical. During the 80's and 90's he worked as a session musician adding his guitar skills to various projects including, work on the soundtrack for the best selling computer game, "Grand Prix 2" and "Road Dreams" TV series. Another somewhat unlikely aside was a few shows with actress Damaris Hayman Continual development led eventually to Keith, mostly with his band, "The Keith Thompson Band",  touring extensively across Europe often headlining large blues and music festivals such as, Kastav Blues Festival, Croatia (a tribute to bluesman Jerry Ricks) and in the UK, The Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival, Colne. Notable band members include the rhythm section from "Climax Blues Band", Roy Adams and Neil Simpson. Notable guests include, Pete Zorn, Patsy Gamble and Frank Abrams on sax, Muddy Manninen, Buddy Whittington and Laurence Jones on guitar. Keith was involved in some intimate shows that backed Steve Winwood, Ruby Turner, Jess Roden and others. As a songwriter and music composer he has also gained a lot of recognition in the music press and with his peers. It became necessary at times to diversify in order to support the main aim of making his own music but the process gave him invaluable skills and insights into the music making business. He worked as a sound engineer for PA companies such as CSS and for a while was engineer at FFG recording studios in Bredon, Gloucestershire, where he was involved in the production of albums by, Luther Grosvenor, Spooky Tooth and Mike dA'bo. He also worked quite closely with a library record label called "Music Masters". Keith has sold over 100,000 albums and released tracks with BMG, RCA, Pegasus music and other library music companies. He was also involved in a songwriting project, Child of Promise, which was produced by Sir George Martin and performed at the O2 arena, London, UK.

Personal Life
Married for over 40 years to Jan with 3 children and 8 grandchildren. Based in Gloucestershire, England, Jan has always been very much part of the business in supporting roles, photography, design and decision making. Early life living in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire with his parents and sister saw Keith leaving school at 15 years of age to do a 5 year apprenticeship as a printer (machine manager). Although from an early age Keith was determined to make his living as a musician it was a bit patchy to begin with but throughout the process he was learning his craft. Finally qualifying as a printer he got the first professional opportunity with the Germany based US army base in Garmisch-Partenkirken. This was fairly short lived however and a few casual jobs were taken including more printing in order to support himself and his family. Throughout the 80’s Keith and Jan were very community spirited, operating an open house policy with youth in the area. Keith also visited schools and prisons to talk about his life, faith and music. There was another dip in his career during the 90’s when he took a job with the Youth Offending Service. Music continued throughout the decades and 2020 saw him reach 50 years of being paid for music and at least 30 of those years as a full time musician. Outside of music Keith enjoys, family, walking, countryside, photography and reading.

Discography

Timeless Vol. 2 – Density Music 2023

Smoke and Mirrors – Density Music 2022

Timeless Vol.1 – Density Music 2020

Up Close and Live – HRPP Records 2021

Ain’t No Slave – Density Music 2021

Transcendence – Density Music 2019

Catch the Fire – Density Music 2017

Two Minutes to Midnight – Density Music 2016

Steel Strings and Bruised Reed – Density Music 2008

Independence – Density Music 2006

Snapshot of Reality – Brambus Records 2005

Out of the Smoke – Brambus Records 2004

Strange Brew – Brambus Records  2003

Face Up – Density Music 1999

Reputation – Density Music 1998

Against the Odds – Marshall Pickering Records 1989