Music
Mr P D Hancock's artwork adorned so many school music posters.
Where do we start?
Lonnie Donegan, King of Skiffle
attended St Ambrose until 1946. He was the first St Ambrose Old Boy to have played at Glastonbury
(in 2000, at the age of 69)
He was the first British Artist to have had his first 5 records in the top 5 of the top 20
Anthony Donegan was evacuated to Cheshire in 1939, aged 8. He attended St Ambrose at Dunham Rd and then at Woodeaves (now the Brothers' House). He was mentioned in "The Ambrosian" school magazine in 1945 (writing an article and winning the form prize for Form 3 in 1945).
The Easter 1945 issue of "The Ambrosian" (the St Ambrose College school magazine at the time) records that Anthony Donegan won the First Prize in Form III in 1945. He also wrote an article reproduced below.
(copied from "THE AMBROSIAN", Easter 1945):
FORM 111.
"Looking back over the last term, it appears to have gone by very quickly, I suppose the concert was mainly responsible for this. Be that as it may, few, if any, regret it.
Shortly after the concert, Brother Director brought in for our admiration two brand new footballs and a set of football jerseys for the first XI. There are four boys of our class in that team, so this affected us directly.
Something new in the way of books has been acquired by our form this year: Verse to Remember, one of the two set books required for the summer exams. We are still short of the other, Dickens' Christmas Carol, but this shortage has not been keenly felt as a bright lad had an idea of bringing a copy from home and Brother Hilary reads out the story to us. Christmas is a thing of the past just now, or perhaps should we say of the future, but this book has made it very present for most of us, and there were yearnings and waterings of the mouth when we read of the Ghost of Christmas Present conducting Scrooge through the streets where the fruit shops were situated.
In January a number of lessons were missed owing to the bad weather, but I don't think any voices were raised in protest. We are constantly told that when we grow up we shall regret the time lost in class. Perhaps some day we shall understand this truth fully, and before it is too late.
To conclude, I think this term has been most successful and I hope we shall have many more like it"
A. DONEGAN.
He played Glastonbury in 2000, at the age of 69
Lonnie Donegan with Richard O'Connor and Peter Mulhern, Stockton-on-Tees, 2000
"So for those of us there, in those early days, he was the man.
- Sir Paul McCartney
more about Lonnie Donegan
Also see 2002 news
See Lonnie Play...
With The Beatles
"He was the first person we had heard of from Britain to get to the coveted No. 1 in the charts, and we studied his records avidly. We all bought guitars to be in a skiffle group. He was the man." - Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney, Lonnie Donegan, George Harrison & Ringo Starr
The Beatles' faces show how delighted they were to have their picture taken with Lonnie Donegan
Photographed at the wedding of Eric Clapton to Patti Boyd (former wife of George Harrison) May 19th, 1979.
Martin Baker
attended St Ambrose until 1985
Master of Music,
Westminster Cathedral
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Baker_(organist)
Martin Toal sings for the Queen
England's Winning Tenor: Martin Toal sings for England
Martin Toal, former St. Ambrose French Teacher turned Tenor is known as “England’s Winning Tenor” as the England football team has won without conceding a single goal every time he has sung the national anthem before the game – now 5 times! In February, Martin was invited to sing Nessun Dorma at Wembley at a special event for the England football manager Fabio Capello!
Martin Toal attended St Ambrose 1975 - 1982 (first time round) and came back to work at the school teaching French for a total of fourteen years, before becoming a professional tenor singer.
See Martin Toal sing for England at Wembley here
attended St Ambrose 1973 until 1980
He has become a Songwriter and Music Producer and is based in London.
Stiltskin were a band put together by Peter Lawlor in order to front the music he had written for the British Levi's advert, "Creek". The resulting single, "Inside," topped the U.K. Singles Chart in 1994. All instruments on the band's hit "Inside" were played by Peter Lawlor; this was also the case on the album track "An Illusion."
The original band released only one album, The Mind's Eye, which achieved "Silver Status" in the U.K. , and sold in decent quantities throughout Europe. The band made significant critical inroads in the U.S. music scene, but little was to follow in the way of sales.Stiltskin split in 1996, during the recording of their uncompleted second album.
Lawlor works for his company Water Music Productions http://www.watermusic.co.uk/
Water Music has produced many award-winning soundtracks for high-profile commercials including Levi's, Bacardi, Lynx, Mercedes, and Orange both in the UK and abroad.
He wrote the music for the BBC One 'Rhythm & Movement' idents. All the teams in the English Premier League shake hands before each match to the sound of his track "My Saturday Self". This same track is also used as the theme music to all English Premier League matches on TV around the world.
Peter wrote the theme music for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. He was commissioned by the BBC to write music for the World Service. He wrote and produced 'Under the Tree' for The Water Babies. He has written the scores for five movies and a few TV shows. His Track "All That I Know" achieved first place in the International Song Competition. This track was also used as the theme song for the US Music TV channel "The Tube".
He has won a BAFTA, The Mid-Summer awards for best original composition (on two occasions), the Music Publishers Association award for "Best Original composition", and he has contributed tracks to more than 12 Gold Albums.
All a long way from an amateur school gig on stage at St Ambrose back in 1978 !
Peter Lawlor (he's the one on the right)
This school's second number one artist (Lonnie Donegan was first)
UK No 1 hit record
"Inside", by Stiltskin (above) reached No 1 and spent 13 weeks in the UK chart (1994)
Watch the video for "Inside" here
"This is usually mis-attributed to Stiltskin. In fact it was just Peter Lawlor " ...see MySpaceMusic.
Barclays Premier League Theme 07/08 and 08/09
"My Saturday Self" by Peter Lawlor
All the teams in the English Premier League shake hands before each match to the sound of his track
This is also used on Match of the Day
and as the theme music to all English Premier League matches on TV around the world.
Peter wrote the theme music for the 2000 Olympic Games.
He wrote all the music for the BBC1 "Rhythm and Movement" idents.
Disney "Little Mermaid" Song by Peter Lawlor
"Creek" Levi Jeans Commercial by Peter Lawlor
Axe / Lynx / 24 Ad by Peter Lawlor
"He has won a BAFTA, the Mid-Summer Awards for best original composition (on two occasions)
He has won the Music Publishers Association Award for "Best Original Composition",
He has contributed tracks to more than 12 Gold Albums"
Fatal Fear: our first "Death Metal" band
Vocalist Edward "DreadEd" Campbell
Ernon Edward Campbell attended St Ambrose College between 1992 and 1997
Edward Campbell (centre)
Fatal Fear joined the Korean-metal scene almost ten years ago. In 2006 the band took on St Ambrose Old Boy Edward "DreadEd" Campbell, a British metal “veteran” and ex-vocalist for Manchester band "Severed Fate", on guitar. Campbell was later replaced with Min-Yong, then returned in 2007 on vocal duties.
In 2009, the band released the EP, "Apocalyptic Crusade." The tracks layer vocalist Ed's earth-shattering snarls with blazing guitars, booming drums and biting guitar solos to generate an effort bursting at the seams with sludgy anthems. With standout tracks like "White C Virus", "Apocalyptic Crusade" and "Hopeless." They have a good balance of Heavy and Melodic riffage with a positive deficit of melodic vocals and a constant deathcore groove throughout."
Edward Campbell explained: "It's a concept album about a zombie apocalypse. You can take it as socio-political commentary or its a simple, brutal, death-fest with hints of melody and a sprinkling of guitar solo action."
Ed Campbell emails:
"It's an honour to be in such good company and to be from a school that I hold in high regard.
"Mr "Sam" Wilkinson taught me Biology and was one of, if not the most inspiring educator I have ever known. I am the vocalist in the band, which is quite successful having played some high profile shows out here (e.g. we played with Arch Enemy in Seoul on their world tour). We were also the first Korean band to EVER get published in the UK-based, international magazine "Metal Hammer".
"I guess that all those years of playing music in the St Ambrose practice rooms and attending the school choir has paid off! Mr Arthur (my favourite Chemistry teacher) was not too keen on my long hair - that I kept under my shirt collar, only to cut off a few months prior to leaving - only to grow it all back again in college afterwards."
"Also, along with Korean friends, I started an independent record label and live club to showcase the talent (this also has a recording studio attached). Although some of the bands on our label are in Europe, many are in Asia and we hope to expand further as time goes on."
"As for being in a "death metal band" with a Catholic background all I can say is that despite the death core genre, I mostly write about spiritual, moral, peaceful philosophy (and penance / karma) - which goes hand in hand with the best interpretations of Catholicism ...and most religions, in fact."
Featured in Metal Hammer magazine
Realize Records (Korea)
www.realizerecords.net
www.24crew.net
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FatalFear
What are they like?
http://trekspace.ning.com/video/fatalfear-apocalyptic-crusade