Bob Wilson is the writer and illustrator of over thirty children's books including
the best selling,'Ging gang goolie it's an Alien', and the 'Pump Street Primary series.'
He's also written for radio, TV, and film. He wrote the scripts for the 'Joshua Jones'
TV animation series, and worked in close collaboration with HRH the Prince of Wales
on the film 'The Legend of Lochnagar'. He is, however, best known as the creator of
the STANLEY BAGSHAW books, still in print after 25 years, and now regarded as 'cult classics.'
What is less well known is that what got him into the author/illustrator business was
the writing of songs.
Back in the 60's he played the London Folk & Blues club circuit alongside, and occasionally with, the likes of Bob Davenport, Long John Baldry, Euan
Mcoll, Bert Jansch, and Phil Colclough. He started the folk & blues club, at BUNJIES
coffee bar in Charing Cross Rd, and appeared there weekly for two years, which brought
about the need to enlarge his repertoire and come up with something not previously
heard. 'Silicosis'; the first song he wrote; was in a strong Stoke dialect, and is now often claimed by others to be - 'anon traditional.' Later songs reflected a much wider range of influences- Hoagy Carmichael, Cole porter, W C Handy, prison farm blues, and upbeat jazz numbers.
All this performing, and singer/song writing came gradually to an end when he became a family man, and graphic design lecturer, moved to Carlisle and then Stoke-on-Trent.
Nonetheless he continued to write songs, but now they were for a specific purpose.
Initially as sound-track to low budget documentary films, then for stage performance.
Along with Ray Johnson he founded STOKE ORIGINAL THEATRE for which he wrote a number of plays, plays with music, and full blown Musical - 'Bogeyman'. A musical revue - 'Dr Music's Special Mixture' led to him working with Richard stilgoe, and was turned into two TV shows. 'Jam's Jellies and Jubilations,' for which he wrote the songs and music, won a Fringe First Award at the 1978 Edinburgh Festival.
In 1980 the first of his childrens books was published. The success of this and those that followed took his writing career along a different path, and from that time on he worked at words-&-pictures rather than words-&-music.
But two years ago, encouraged by old friend and established song writer; Phil Colclough ('Song for Ireland', 'The Call and the Answer') and inspired by the talents and achievements of his son Toby; the dobro playing Wilson half of 'BREEZE and WILSON', he began writing songs again, in the hope that someone out there might like to sing them too.
Thus here, on Myspace are some of them.
Musically they vary in style; whatever seems to best fit with the spirit of the words. The lyrics, which he believes matter a lot, now speak of life as seen through the eyes of a writer whose been around a good while and had time to think about it.
Myspace Profile Tracker World Visitor Map
Hi thanks so much for the add on your page...best wishes to you from Cork City Ireland...hope you get a chance to check out my new songs.. and maybe leave a comment .....thanks again for the add.....Hope your well ... your friend patrick k
hello neighbour! good to meet you last night...i enjoyed the songs you played, particularly the one about the old woman dying. hopefully see you again. robin
Hello Bob. Thanks for the kind words. I like your tunes a lot man I see that you mentioned W.C handy on your page. That's cool! My great grandfather owned a company with handy called Pace handy music, his name was Harry pace. I've been doing a lot of research on him and W.C handy and that era. Ever heard of black swan records?
Hi Bob, it will be a 'mystery' if Snelston Reading Room isn't packed this Sunday - should be a 'thriller' with Breeze and Wilson and Harriet Bartlett. Best wishes.
Hello my dear, hope you're feeling loads better and finally able to enjoy book week, which sounds fab by the way!
I just wanted to let you know that I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into your songs, so when you're next free give me a shout and we'll try and get into the studio this time :)
Hi Bob Looking forward to the gig with Harriet Bartlett coming up on March 16th at the infamous Reading Room of Snelston.
Had a few folk asking me about tickets and how to get them. What should I be telling them ... what's the ticket price, and is it pay at the door and first come first served?
Hi Bob, Thanks so much for your comment! Your songs are great too! I hope we can get over to the UK in the not so distant future, we had such a great time when we were there before--and of course that's where we met Breeze & Wilson. All the best to you and hopefully our paths will cross in the future!
Ah, thanks. I'm quite looking forward to starting it now...bit of a dream job for me I think, well the start of something good I hope.
No worries about the Vernon, it was a really good night though and very varied. Monday's still fine with me, will send you directions and full address asap.
See you soon, can't wait to try out the songs...particularly 'Dancing in the Snow'. Hehe x
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