About John Buckingham

John Edward Buckingham sometimes calls himself John Buck, he was born in Bedfordshire in the late 1950's.

John was first introduced to music was when he sang in Willesborough Church Choir, Ashford, Kent from when he was 7 to 15. He became head choirboy and was responsible for singing all the solos especially “The Lord’s My Shepherd” at weddings. The highlight of this time was when church choirs from around Kent gathered at Canterbury Cathedral for a festival. John says that the sound of everyone singing in that wonderful building was awesome and will always be with him. He also sang in the school choir and played percussion instruments in the orchestra.

At the ages of 12 to 16 he learned to play the piano and was taught by Ted Solly, his school and church choirmaster. Ted taught John classical music which he really didn't like much at the time and his mother would literally bully him into practicing. But John thanks her now because without her input none of his music would have been written.

John had become a musician but he needed that spark to ignite his enthusiasm.

At the age of 14 John saw Marc Bolan and T. Rex playing "Jeepster" on Top of the Pops and that did it, he bought the album “T. Rex”. John says that this is still is favourite T. Rex album. Marc Bolan had totally inspired John to write his own songs.

The Time of Love is Now by Marc Bolan and T. Rex Light up your face With all the love within you Say your word Make it heard Light up the world With poems from within you Shout it out Have no doubts For the time of love is now

John managed to get a cheap acoustic guitar in a jumble sale for £5. But he really wanted an electric guitar and a friend of the family did a special deal for him on a Hofner electric guitar with a tremolo arm and tape wound strings. John taught himself to play the guitar using the “Play in a Day” book by Bert Weedon . . . but it would be much, much longer than just one day. When he was teaching himself the guitar he swore that he would never play the blues so that his style would be different to other guitarists. He also never played along to records afraid of developing someone else’s style. He admitted later that this was a mistake because it took longer to learn the instrument.

John started to play music with his sister Julia Buckingham (now known as Jules). They performed as a duet at first just playing Beatles songs and other covers. Even then the harmonies they constructed were very unique, John says that their rendition of “She’s Leaving Home” was probably their best song. The duo then teamed up with a drummer and friend, Mick Kennedy, and called themselves Morning Mist. They played wherever they could get a gig and it didn't matter about money, money never mattered to them, it was the music that counted.

John joined his first full band “Orpheus” around about 1974 and they played their own material plus covers such as “One of These Nights” by the Eagles and “Caroline” by Status Quo.

At the age of 16 John started a 5 year apprenticeship as a compositor (typesetter) which is where he really started to play around with words, writing poems and songs. John says it was a grueling but rewarding apprenticeship where he learned everything about the print trade. John was earning peanuts compared to his friends but he reckoned that it shaped him as a person and taught him to never give up.

Pipe Dream was formed about 1977 with Alan Cork the guitarist from Orpheus. John still thinks that this was the high point of his musical life, the band were so fresh and young with lots of new ideas. At that time Pipe Dream were listening to the likes of Steve Hillage, Jimmy Hendrix and Camel and their music seemed to reflect that.

When John had finished his apprenticeship, he started to take piano lessons again, this time with a female Welsh teacher. John got up to grade 5 but his teacher went back to live in Wales and he was mortified because she was a great teacher. John hasn't had any piano lessons since, although he says that at some time he would like to gain higher grades so that he could teach.

Since then there have been a string of bands:

1979: SPG - 1988: Tall Man Thin - 1990: Desk Top Muzak - 1991: Sinfear and the Love - 2005: Lusyd

2008: Animalian - 2004-2010: Jamjar - 2009-2010: Looney Ginger Boys Ltd - 2010-2011: The Hereafter

John thinks that he plays guitar and piano "very averagely" and that his singing is much the same. But he really classes himself as a song writer using whatever medium he can lay his hands on at the time, from a battered acoustic to a full on computer multi track recording system.

John's major influences are:
The Beatles, Deep Purple, T. Rex, Pink Floyd, Man, Nektar, Steve Hillage, Led Zeppelin, Caravan, Camel, The Stranglers and a relatively unknown band Cressida. He has always liked a bit of dance and ambience and he respects the likes of The Prodigy and Boards of Canada.

The songs listed in Buck Music are his diary, the quality isn't that great sometimes but his soul seems to always be there in the recordings. John hopes that you can give these songs a chance because he thinks that there is something for everyone, a different song to match all your moods.

. . . . ooh and have a look at Early Bands and Buck Memorabilia for a laugh too!

Just to mention that John has created all these songs, organized all these bands and done loads of gigs while mostly holding down full time jobs.

In 2009 John tried something very different, he was playing guitar and backing vocals with an outstanding blues guitarist, Dave Carson. They were an "acoustic act" that went under the band name of Sugar Mama UK. They did quite a few gigs in the Hampshire/Dorset area and also in St. Ives, Cornwall, particularly the St. Ives Music Festival. John also played guitar in an offshoot jazz band, Dave Carson's 4am but he left both bands in October 2009 stating that it was just not his kind of music.

John's most recent expedition was playing keyboards and backing vocals under the name of "Noteslinger" in the band The Hereafter . . . he joined on 21/7/2010 and left on 7/9/2011.

Oh yea, John would love to hear from you, he loves constructive criticism!

To contact him click here: John Buck

Jane - Riki