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JOHN SINCLAIR {MUSICAL HISTORY}
John Sinclair has been a touring musician
since the age of 15, perhaps most noticably having spent most of his last 17 years on the road as keyboard
player for Ozzy Osbourne {from1986 to 2003}. Now aged 54, he started learning
classical piano at the age of 5 and in his own words "should have some
idea about what I'm doing by now!". After making a solo album at the age of
19 with the now defunct Penny Farthing record label he went on to play with
many bands including The Heavy Metal Kids on Mickey Most's RAK record label,
Status Quo and Suzy Quatro and after being voted among the top 10 rock keyboard
players in the UK, moved to Los Angeles in 1976 with a band called Lion.
Apart from recording the Lion album, he
went on to undertake session work with Jefferson Starship, Eddy Money, Rex
Smith, The Outlaws, and The Babies, and in 1980 recorded the pilot, movie
soundtrack and played on The Black Album, for the now infamous Spinal Tap.
In 1981 he joined veteran heavy rock band
Uriah Heep and as well 5 years of extensive world touring recorded 3 albums
namely “Abominog”, “Head First” and “Equator”.
In 1986 he joined Ozzy’s band and toured
and recorded with him until 2003 apart from a brief stint with the Cult in the early 90's, during which time he toured worldwide
and appeared on their 1993 "Live at the Marquee" album.
His recording and co-writing credits with
Ozzy include "No Rest for the Wicked"{1987}, "No More
Tears"{1990} and the more recent Japanese "Live at the Budokan"
CD/DVD {2002}.
He finally quit the road in July 2003 to
settle in the Highlands and act a bit more like a man of 50!!
He has an old schoolhouse where he writes
and records on a Pro Tools direct-to-disk system.
He also has an extensive back catalogue
of material of all styles, and is currently working on the completion of two new stage musicals.
CURRENT WORK:
Having overcome his
own personal demons of depression and compulsive drug/alcohol use, he is now a qualified hypnotherapist {having attained
Diploma level in Clinical and Advanced Hypnotherapy}.
As he made tremendous gains himself as a recipient of hypnotic therapy it seemed a natural direction for him to take,
and nowadays his time is spent equally divided between musical projects, drug and alcohol awareness and helping private clients
with a variety of issues.
He works from his home, an old schoolhouse above the village of Foyers, on the scenic south side of Loch Ness.
Among his work projects have been:
Informal presentations to youngsters who are keen on entering the music business, in other words "the real story".
Promoting drug and alcohol awareness and harm reduction with BLAST! drug project in Inverness.
Promoting drug and alcohol awareness in Scottish schools.
Working for Moray Youth Justice with reoffending youngsters in the Elgin area {promoting motivation through music},
with a firm belief that encouragement is more effective than punishment.
Working with Careers Scotland as a regular member of the Rock School team.
{Rock School is a series of summer workshops, each designed to organise young musicians into bands, work through the rehearsal
period, and finally stage a rock concert.}
As a meeting facilitator for SMART Recovery, which is a relatively new model of group therapy that is rapidly gaining
popularity as an alternative option to the more traditional models of recovery from addictions, such as AA and other 12 step
groups.
His own "Motivation
Through Music" workshops.
Recording projects at home where he has a Pro Tools studio, the mechanics of which he also teaches either at home
or on location with a scaled down portable set up.
John can be contacted at:
sinclair212@btinternet.com
Life
Skills Through Music
Since
retiring from the professional rock music business in 2003, I have been working
with the young clients of Moray Youth Justice, the Highland Carers, the
Highland Homeless Trust, Inverness Youth Action Team, the Wild2 project in
Glenlivet , the participants at the Careers Scotland Summer Rock School
projects and have facilitated many of my own workshops. As
such, I have seen first hand the transformation that takes place when young
people are given an objective and are actively encouraged.
As
a qualified therapist, I am naturally interested in the human condition, and
particularly interested in what happens around the adolescent stage of
development. This appears to be the time when our awareness of limitations,
combined with external criticism and {perhaps most significantly} negative self
talk kicks in hardest.
It
is my experience that once established, for many this resulting low sense of
self can be difficult to shake off once established. Encouragement and support can work though.
One
of the most significant conclusions I have arrived at is the fact that everyone
has something to offer in one way or another, it merely needs to be explored.
Most
of us love music of one type or another, be it Celine Dion or Black Sabbath, so
music is not only a universal language, but also a great motivational platform.
TO
SUMMARISE {and to go one step further}, I have
never known a compulsive
drug or alcohol user with high self-esteem. It naturally follows that any
process that enhances the feeling of having “something to offer” will surely
reflect positively in reducing the ever-increasing reliance on drugs and alcohol {an
effect I have personally witnessed}.
I
am a firm believer that encouragement and support are more effective
than prohibition and punishment. These “youngsters of today” did not land en
masse in a flying saucer from an evil planet. They were born into an
increasingly cold and indifferent world, thus being easily driven {and often resorting} to making irrational choices
to establish some sense of self-worth. This is then aggravated {in my opinion} by flawed thinking in our society that spends
too much time and
money devising new ways to restrict and punish, and too little providing
platforms for creativity and self expression.
In
a nutshell, I aim to provide a musical environment that enhances
these essential life skills:
Motivation.
Communication. Determination. Self-worth.
{John Sinclair Dip.
CAH PNLP Cert. Hyp. {NGH} M. NCH {Lic.} {June 2008} John can be contacted at:
sinclair212@btinternet.com
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