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Who the Fuck?
MILES WINTER-ROBERTS
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Singer . Songwriter . Guitarist
English born, raised in Ibiza from the age of five. Distinctive Balearic
upbringing, almost a hippy - could have gone either way. Still holds a
torch for sarongs and colourful shirts.
Very Beach. Windsurfer (non-competitive). Natural knack for teaching the sport... "Rule 1: Don't get wet... Rule 2: Think Reggae!" Sounds mad, but works.
Spent time (9 years) in Hamburg developing more life-skills. Learnt another language, travelled from there to distant lands such as Turkey, Poland, Russia, all before the wall came down.
Won songwriting competitons infront of 270 million TV Viewers - that's Intervision, the communist Eurovision... East Berlin to Beijing!
After a pretty rough ride in Hamburg, things got better. Then worse again. Miles moves to London in 94... and starts gigging.
Released first Live CD in london in 2000 on his own label, Chocolate Box, winning many loyal fans. "The Acoustic Fashion Accessory of the Summer" it was referred to as by most. A Balearic Blues thing featuring lots of Spanish Guitar (Stephen Dunphy) and Feliciano-style vocals. Very Mediterranean. Successful shows at this time include the Jazz Café, The Bull's Head (with own 7-piece band), Café de Paris (Trio), and the Café Royal supporting Alan Price.
Through circumstance gets introduced to producer Steve Brown via Penni Pike, Richard Branson's Exec. P.A. and a working relationship begins to bud. Rocco Gardner, a young entrepeneur, forms an independant label and backs the project, and Winter Roberts is established under Sidewalk 7, with Steve Brown (Wham, The Cult, Manic Street Preachers) at the production helm.
Recording starts in April 05, with the band now being embellished to a 12-piece. The first EP, 'Escapado', hits the streets by mid summer, and is quickly mouth-to-mouthed about until it gets as far as New York, San Francisco, LA and even Thailand. There's a definite Island Sound to it, which goes down well in a climate of minor-keyed offerings...
September sees performances in NYC's The Cutting Room. October, the Label launch in London. More professionals climb aboard, swept along with the uplifting attitude and sound of it all, and we start to talk release dates... Winter Roberts sells out Ronnie Scott's on Sunday the 8th of January... BBC Radio Two's Steve Wright picks up on the track, and starts playing it on his show.
Dave Lee Travis invited WR to appear on his BBC 3 Counties Sunday morning show, (March 12th), chatting and playing live in the studio. He likes the track, and explains that the response to it locally has been very good...
"Head in Your Cloud" is released on March 20th, 2006. Available in most stores, or via the site as a download.
More on Steve Brown here