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Jimmy Bell -
keyboards, vocals +
acoustic guitar + vocal harmonies
I started playing the guitar at
the age of 9 and the main inspirational band for me at the time were ‘The
Beatles’. I admired other 60’s bands like ‘The Hollies’ and ‘Smokie’ and
always had a leaning towards easy listening music. I wanted to learn the
chords and techniques of songs and would watch how other trained
guitarists would play and then copy their different styles.
It had
always been my desire to play in a band and I first teamed up with a
school friend Eddie Whetton who wanted to play the drums but could not
afford a drum kit. We started out playing with another friend, Paul Mossop
who played lead, while I was on rhythm and Eddie played the pedal bin with
great enthusiasm in Paul Mossop’s garage. There, we created our first band
in 1971 called ‘Knightride’ and once Eddie could afford a better drum kit,
we played the local clubs 3 to 4 nights a week with Paul and myself
initially sharing the singing. The songs we covered included ‘The
Beatles’, ‘The Hollies’ and some ‘Eagles’ numbers. We decided to bring
another singer in, Paul Briggs to take over the lead while we concentrated
on what we did best. Eddie in the meantime decided to leave and Mike
Mingins replaced him in 1972.
In 1975, Mike was approached by Dave
Fearon who was a guitarist with another band and had the idea of starting
a five piece harmony band and at this time I was itching to learn the
keyboard and this was my big opportunity. Subsequently, the band ‘Camelot’
was born. It was around this time when the Eagles were a big noise across
the world and we looked to change to cover more of the Eagles songs.
‘Camelot’ had interviews on local radio and progressed to the national
semi-finals of ‘The pub entertainer of the year’ contest and were very
unlucky to miss out on a place in the national finals at the Albert Hall
in London, to perform with Shirley Bassey.
In 1979, Camelot split
up and I became resident keyboard player for Whitehaven Rugby League club
for 2 years which I really enjoyed.
In 1983, Mike Mingins asked me
about joining ‘Salvador’ to play keyboards which I was enthusiastic about.
In 1984, I met Peter and began working with him in ‘Salvador’ and found
that he had an impact on the band as the harmonies became stronger and
geared for success.
In 1987, I decided to leave as I was looking to
try other avenues such as working in duos which began with David Relph and
in 1989 David left so I approached Dave Fearon, a friend from ‘Camelot’,
about working as a duo in local clubs.
In 1991, I made the decision
to leave the duo and sadly did not play for 10 years which I look back on
with great regrets.
In 2000, there was a knock on my front door
and it was my old friend Mike Mingins who asked if I would return to join
‘Salvador’. He didn’t have to ask me twice and since then, the band has
gone from strength to strength.
Mike, Peter and myself take great
pride in what we do and have a very professional attitude. The band has a
‘big’ sound which is better suited to larger venues such as theatres and
this is the direction in which we want to take ‘Salvador.’
If
you're a big fan of the 'Salvador' sound, then why not send us a comment,
fotos..etc, by email and we'll stick 'em up on this website - you
can have your very own 'Salvador' fan club right here!
Don’t forget to come and
see the band when you can and say 'hi' ..we'd love to see and entertain
you!
meet the
other band members ..click here!
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