Les Holroyd

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Les Holroyd at the BJHFLH concert at Moyland Castle (2003)

Richard Leslie "Les" Holroyd (* 12. March 1948 in Oldham , England ) is an English singer, songwriter, composer and bassist and keyboardist, who as founder and member of the British progressive - rock band Barclay James Harvest was known (BJH).

biography

Barclay James Harvest (BJH)

Holroyd met his later school and BJH colleague Mel Pritchard as a preschooler and taught himself to play guitar and later bass as a child. Later he also mastered the instruments cello and keyboards. With Pritchard he founded the school band Heart And Soul And The Wickeds , also just called (The) Wickeds , and in 1966 with him, John Lees and Woolly Wolstenholme the band The Blues Keepers , from which the group Barclay James Harvest emerged in 1967.

From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, Holroyd was one of the most commercially successful musicians in Europe as a bassist and one of two singers in the pop group Barclay James Harvest. Holroyd's high-pitched singing voice is an interesting contrast to Lees '. During their time together with Barclay James Harvest, Holroyd sang - as was the case with BJH founding member Lees - usually the 1st voice in the BJH songs he wrote and acted on Lees' Songs partly as 2nd voice.

With their 1977 album Gone To Earth , Barclay James Harvest had their big breakthrough. On August 30, 1980, the band gave a free concert on the Republic Square in front of the Reichstag building in West Berlin  - according to the "official police count" in front of about 175,000 spectators.

Barclay James Harvest Featuring Les Holroyd (BJHFLH)

In 1998 the band Barclay James Harvest split into two different groups, both of which use the band name for solo projects. Holroyd has since worked with other musicians and until his death in 2004 with Pritchard under the name Barclay James Harvest Featuring Les Holroyd (BJHFLH).

Guest appearances

In January 2010 Holroyd performed live in Alan Simon's rock opera Excalibur - The Celtic Rock Opera , where he met Simon, Johnny Logan , Alan Parsons , John Helliwell ( Supertramp ), Andreas Vollenweider and the Fairport Convention . In November of the same year he acted live as Henry VII of England in Simon's rock opera Anne de Bretagne . In January 2011 Holroyd performed on the Rock Meets Classic Tour , where he met Ian Gillan , Lou Gramm , Dan McCafferty and the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague : He played the BJH songs: Hymn , Mockingbird , Ring Of Changes and Life Is For Living .

Others

In his first marriage, Holroyd lived with his wife and son on an estate near Manchester . In 2010 Holroyd married a German journalist whom he had met ten years earlier at a concert in Lauda-Königshofen . Today Holroyd lives with his wife and a daughter near Tauberbischofsheim .

Influence and popular songs

During his career with orchestral influence, Holroyd was mainly influenced by artists such as Toto , Chicago and Phil Collins .

Well-known BJH songs composed and written by him include: "Rock 'n' Roll Star", "Berlin", "Sip of Wine", "Love on the Line", "Life is for Living", "Victims" of Circumstance "and" Yesterday's Heroes ".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Stern : What actually does ... Les Holroyd , April 10, 2002, accessed on December 11, 2015, on stern.de
  2. ↑ Number of spectators at the West Berlin Concert (1980) , according to the booklet on the Live DVD Berlin - A Concert for the People (2010)
  3. ↑ Main-Post : Wife and daughter cheered Barclay-James-Harvest boss , December 12, 2010, accessed on December 11, 2015, on mainpost.de
  4. ↑ Schwetzinger Zeitung : Interview: In conversation with Les Holroyd, the head of the band Barclay James Harvest / When he's not on tour, he lives in Tauberbischofsheim in Franconia / “You can't live forever in yesterday” , from June 1, 2012, accessed on December 11, 2015, on morgenweb.de
personal data
SURNAME Holroyd, Les
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holroyd, Richard Leslie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British singer, songwriter, composer and musician
DATE OF BIRTH March 12, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Oldham , England