Julie has always loved music and a wide selection of musical styles; her influences include Tina Turner, Sheryl Crow, Metallica, Gun's 'n' Roses, Shirley Bassey and Aretha Franklin. From 1998 - 2000 Julie performed in various show productions including The Blues Brothers and a Sinatra Tribute Show, while also performing as a solo artist.
In 2000 Julie moved abroad to work as an Entertainments Manager and over 6 years covered various countries such as Greece, Turkey, Spain and finally Cyprus. During this time Julie performed on the same bill as The West End cast of Chicago, Simon Webb and Tony Hadley.
Julie decided to hang up her overseas cap in April 2006 and returned to the UK for good. However, a new challenge was needed and as a result Julie was introduced to a motley crew of experienced musicians seeking a female singer. She was hugely impressed with their professionalism and versatility, the audition quickly became an extended jam session, and from this meeting early in 2007 the band was formed that became Stone Gecko.
Paul Masters, Lead Guitar:-
Paul has been playing the Guitar since the late seventies. Self taught, he started in a punk band at school and fairly quickly switched to rock, playing covers of classics from the likes of Cream, Led Zeppelin, Bad Company and Jimi Hendrix. He studied electronics at university, and built several of his own effects pedals, until it became difficult to walk around the room during rehearsals because of all the boxes and wires on the floor!
Over the years he has played with a variety of bands (even a Big-band style jazz band!) but Paul keeps coming back to the classic rock and pop from his youth. Paul has always loved music of most kinds. He grew up listening to Slade, Queen, and Pink Floyd, and is still heavily influenced by blues rock guitarists such as Hendrix and Santana. But he has also learned a lot from Jazz guitarists, and the modern day technical excellence of Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.
Paul recently lived in the Netherlands for five years, and while there he played in a pop covers band and a Rolling Stones tribute project.
Graham Thomas, Rhythm Guitar:-
Graham’s rightly claims that he’s in his sixties, and has been rocking out SINCE the sixties, where his performing career began in the Medway towns. Initially playing with rock bands, he became part of the emerging folk/rock scene and this is where he achieved his first successes, first with Vulcan’s Hammer, & then Eynesbury Giant. Both bands made successful albums, & appeared on BBC radio & TV.
However, things have now come full circle, as since early 2003, Graham has been primarily playing rock again, initially with “Listen With Mother”, until they broke up in July 2006, and now “Stone Gecko”. He is famous for tripping everyone up with the TWO leads that emanate from his Godin, and dazzling the punters with the reflections from the top of his head!
Doug Sutton, Bass Guitar:-
Like many lads growing up in the 70’s Doug dreamed of being a lead guitarist in a rock band, having shared a room with his older brother listening to King Crimson, Cream and Led Zeppelin. Unfortunately all of his friends had the same idea.
Having been foiled by his friends’ treachery he decided to take up bass and armed with £50 bought a Jazz copy and a Marshall combo from a second hand shop. Throughout the 80’s Doug played with a variety of bands ranging from punk to prog rock, though none of these had the impetus to come to anything.
In the 90’s work and family commitments meant the bass was put aside, only being dusted off again come the new millennium. Having toyed with a possible project in Bournemouth, Doug heard that Paul and Maurice were back on the scene and the nucleus of Stone Gecko was formed.
Maurice Cooper-Paul, Percussion:-
Mauri started playing drums seriously at 23, and it was at this time that he first met Doug (bass guitar) and Paul (lead guitar) – the initial gang of three that were later to go on to form Stone Gecko. They played together for a couple of years in different guises but eventually went their separate ways, although Mauri continued playing on and off for a few years after that.
Mauri is self taught and has had the privilege of attending drum clinics with Mel Gaynor (Simple Minds/Robert Palmer), Carl Palmer (ELP, Asia) and John Shearer (Uriah Heep/Iron Butterfly) and gained much from these greats, along with a Master Class with Chester Thompson (Frank Zappa/Genesis) – an experience he describes as ‘simply fantastic’.
During his percussion career he has owned and used a variety of different kits from various manufacturers including Slingerland, Tama & Yamaha, but is currently using a PDP kit made by DW. Mauri has always had a love of music and enjoys sharing that with like minded others, so was pleased to be able to hook up with Doug & Paul again to become the early nucleus of Stone Gecko.
Stone Gecko were formed in January 2007 after Julie Chappell (lead vocalist) and Graham Thomas (rhythm guitar) joined the band and completed the line up of the already formed Doug Sutton (bass) Paul Masters (lead guitar) Maurice Cooper Paul (Drums).
Stone Gecko's aim was to compile an array of popular rock/party classics to be suitable to play in pubs and clubs but with the predominant focus on private functions, and overall to have fun doing it.
