Meet The Band
Isla Wolfe
Lead Vocalist
Isla is an unsigned artist, writer and producer based in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Growing up in a family of musicians, Isla spent her younger years immersed in the live music industry and this inspired her to start singing and teaching herself to play every instrument she could get her hands on. Influenced mainly by neo-soul, R&B, hip-hop and Motown, Isla is producing, writing, recording and engineering her own music completely independently. She released her single “Better Days” in late 2020, which received overwhelming support from BBC Introducing in the Midlands, as well as national radio station, BBC 6 Music with Tom Robinson. She has since written and released several songs for labels such as Extreme Music and Ninja Tune Records. These have been featured in TV shows such as Made In Chelsea (Channel 4), Love Is Blind (Netflix), Love Victor (Disney+), Blue Bloods (CBS) and Rebelde (Netflix) to name a few! Isla has performed at prestigious venues such as Symphony Hall in Birmingham and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London and sang her collaborations with French DJ and producer Revers Gagnant for her first international performance in Tours, France in 2022.
Les Jones
Rhythm Guitar
As a businessman and entrepreneur, I’m always looking for a new challenge. My greatest passion has been Soul and Motown Music and I thought “What can I do that brings the two things together?”……. learned to play the guitar. After some years I felt the next challenge would be to put a band together. The Bradeney Bunch a staff band from Bradeney House Care Home evolved. We did lots of gigs and charity events and affiliated with Bridgnorth Lions. As members left the band new musicians joined bringing their incredible expertise. Carole Westwood joined us. Carole was very well known in the Midlands for jazz music and was a great all-round singer. When Ian Pain was starting out he sang with Carole to gain experience. The musicians that are in the band have inspired me to grow musically and I’m so proud to manage such a great team.
Phil Basterfield
Lead Guitar
Phil comes from a blues and funk background and has played in original and cover bands for over 30 years. He played in blues bands trading solos with a twin guitar sound and also played in numerous funk bands. In more recent years Phil has performed all over the UK with a harmony vocal-led modern country group.“Playing on the country circuit opened my ears to a more varied selection of music” However, his roots are firmly in groove fuelled music and says the current set is a treat to play.“There are so many soulful, classic numbers in our set list it’s no wonder people love to dance when the band play”.
John Hodgetts
Keyboards & Vocals
John Hodgetts began his involvement with music at the age of 7 when he started to play the electronic organ, launching a musical career which has taken him to many countries and many musical performances. It was obvious he was becoming a gifted musician from that early age, and had developed “perfect pitch”, meaning that as soon as he listened to a new song he instantly knew how to play it without needing to see any sheet music first. At age 16 John formed the local band “Mondo Carne” with some of his school and college mates, becoming full-time musicians by age 18. The band toured the UK social club circuit at first, performing hundreds of shows a year and gaining valuable gigging experience, as well as writing, recording and performing their own original material. They also toured British Army and American Air Force bases in Europe which was a wonderful experience, but it was their involvement with official Elvis Presley Fan Club events in the UK and Europe that really saw things begin to take off. John has had the privilege of playing alongside all the members of Elvis’s original “TCB” touring band over many years, all across Europe and in the USA: world-famous musicians including James Burton, Glen D Hardin, Ronnie Tutt and Jerry Scheff, The Sweet Inspirations, The Stamps Quartet and The Imperials. He was invited to join Electric Light Orchestra members Kelly Groucutt and Mik Kaminsky on a UK theatre tour and has played at events alongside artists such as Roy Wood and Suzi Quattro and at many Butlins 80s events. A career highlight was playing Ronnie Scott’s with James Burton, with Robert Plant in the audience yelling for more! As well as his extensive gigging experience, John has over 30 years of experience as a music teacher privately, in Yamaha Music Schools where he also became a grading examiner, and with county music services in a variety of schools in Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Solihull and has many pupils of all ages who have been successful in examinations, some becoming performers and teachers themselves. John has continued to enjoy playing both solo and with several groups and singers, covering a wide variety of styles, from tributes to Duran Duran and Neil Diamond, to rock, pop, funk, blues, soul, jazz and classical music. He is equally at home in large concert halls and festivals as he is in small intimate venues, wedding receptions and recording studios.
Steve Street
Drums
At the age of ten Steve joined his local town brass band, then through his teenage years performed in school bands progressing to the county orchestra and brass band. It was during these years that his father introduced Steve to big band music, and this led to a lifelong love of jazz. Steve studied in London inspired by the teachings of Francis Seriau and Jim Chapin and the drumming of Gene Krupa, Roy Haynes, Buddy Rich and Elvin Jones who he opened for at Ronnie Scott’s. He joined the Jubilee Jazzmen (later becoming Jazz Express) a Birmingham-based mainstream/Dixieland band. This brought him into contact with international and UK-based musicians visiting the area, he began touring in Europe and recorded for the London jazz label Black Lion and UK’s Next Step label. As a freelance musician, Steve has had the opportunity to play in many diverse musical situations from TV/radio award ceremonies, educational workshops and concerts for the CBSO, working in Germany and the UK with Kenny Ball and his jazzmen to jazz tap dancer Will Gaines along with appearing on many recordings. For many years Steve played with Ralph Allin who went on to work with Van Morrison. Steve also is a passionate jazz guitarist playing in various bands.
Tom Clarke-Hill
Bass Guitar
Californian Bassman, TOM CLARKE-HILL, who escaped to England in the 90s has played bass for Glenn Cambell, Dolly Parton, Mel Torme, Luther Vandross, Lisa Minnelli and many more. Recorded with the Les Brown Band of Renown at Capital Studios Hollywood and on Bob Hopes TV Specials. Since moving to the UK he has played the who’s who of British jazz as well as visiting USA artists like Art Farmer, Tal Farlow and Charles McPherson and was in the house band at Ronnie Scotts Birmingham- Tom also has a career in acting and voiceovers and is best known as the voice of Tony the Tiger for Kellogg’s Frosties.
