Published on : Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Sixties music fans will be thrilled to hear they will have the opportunity to enjoy some of the best sounds of the era and beyond as the best Drifters tribute act in the business stages a show to remember at the City of Derry Jazz and Big Band Festival.
Step back in time at the City Hotel on Sunday evening, May 4, with Under the Boardwalk, as Gillie Leroy Jones and his talented band stage a two hour spectacular featuring all the best loved hits of the Drifters.
The band’s impressive catalogue spans an amazing 50 years and the show takes its name from the Drifters’ last major hit which reached No. 4 back in 1964. Enjoy the tunes that shaped a generation of American music including Saturday Night at the Movies, Up on the Roof, and Come on Over to my Place, which feature in a vast array of film soundtracks.
Over the years many have passed through the ranks of the Drifters and there are few better placed to take up the mantle of lead vocal than Gillie Lee Roy Jones. Gillie was born in New York State but moved to England in 1956 and he has spent most of his life working in the music business. His is a soulful but velvet vocal talent with overtones of his great mentor, the late Johnny Moore.
‘Johnny had one of those distinctive voices that was instantly recognisable and I will always aspire to recreate his vocal ambience,’ Gillie stresses.
Throughout his career Gillie has toured and performed with several Drifters legends including Ben E King, and Billy Lewis Leroy. But of course no Drifters tribute would be complete without the backing of a top class band and joining Gillie will be three very talented vocalists who have performed the world over recreating the sound of the band that we all know and love so well.
This formidable line up of vocal talent is backed by the legendary Memphis Groove, a band of passionate musicians who need no introduction locally. Top class Derry musicians Jim Whiteside and Colum Arbuckle will be joined on stage by Plunkett McCombe and a full brass section.
Manager of the City Hotel Feargal O’Canain, said they were delighted to be staging such a fantastic show as part of this year’s festival. ‘The City Hotel always endeavours to host something special for what has to be the biggest weekend of the year in the city. And there is no doubt that Under the Boardwalk is one of the best musical celebrations of the classic sounds of the sixties. I’m really looking forward to what promises to be a great night, and a real highlight of the city of Derry Jazz and Big Band Festival.’
Source:- Derry Londonderry
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