About John Buckingham
(written by . . . . John Buckingham)

My full name is John Edward Buckingham, (sometimes I call myself John Buck), I was born in Bedford, in Bedfordshire in 1957.

My first introduction to music was when I sang in Willesborough Church Choir, Ashford, Kent from when I was 7 to 15. I was head choirboy in the last few years and I was responsible for singing all the solos especially “The Lord’s My Shepherd” at weddings. The highlight of this time was when church choirs from around Kent gathered at Canterbury Cathedral for a festival. The sound of everyone singing in that wonderful building was awesome and will always be with me! I also sang in the school choir and played percussion instruments in the orchestra.

At the ages of 12 to 16 I learned to play the piano and was taught by my school and church choirmaster, Mr Ted Solly. He taught me classical music which I really hated at the time and my mother would literally make me practice. There were many tears during these years because my mother, Dorothy Buckingham, was totally dominant but I thank her now because without her none of this music would have been written.

I had become a songwriter and musician but I needed that spark to ignite my enthusiasm.

At the age of 14 I saw Marc Bolan and T. Rex playing "Jeepster" on Top of the Pops and that did it, I bought the album “T. Rex” and listened to the amazing songs, he totally inspired me to write my songs and I craved for a guitar!

The Time of Love is Now by Marc Bolan and T. Rex Light up your face With all the love within you Say your word Make it heard Light up the world With poems from within you Shout it out Have no doubts For the time of love is now

Thanks to my mums connections I managed to get a cheap acoustic guitar in a jumble sale for £5. But I just had to have an electric guitar and a friend of the family did a special deal for me on a Hofner electric guitar with a tremolo arm and tape wound strings. I taught myself to play the guitar using the “Play in a Day” book by Bert Weedon . . . it would be much, much longer than a day. When I was teaching myself the guitar I swore that I would never play the blues so that my style would be different to other guitarists. I also never played along to records afraid of developing someone else’s style. This was a mistake in a way because it took longer to learn the instrument.

I started to play music with my sister Julia Buckingham (now known as Jules). We were a duet at first just playing Beatles songs, but even then the harmonies we did were very unique, I think our rendition of “She’s Leaving Home” was our best. We teamed up with a drummer and friend, Mick Kennedy, and called ourselves Morning Mist. We played wherever we could get a gig and it didn't matter about money. Actually money never matters it's the music that counts. I started my first proper band “Orpheus” around about 1974 and we played our own material plus covers such as “One of These Nights” by the Eagles and “Caroline” by Status Quo.

At the age of 16 I started a 5 year apprenticeship as a compositor (typesetter) which is where I really started to play around with words, writing poems and songs. It was a gruelling but rewarding apprenticeship where I learned everything about the print trade. I was earning peanuts compared to my friends but it shaped me as a person and taught me to never give up.

Pipe Dream was formed when I was about 20 (1977) with Alan Cork the guitarist from Orpheus, I still think this was the high point of my musical life, we were so fresh and young with lots of new ideas. At that time we were listening to the likes of Steve Hillage, Jimmy Hendrix and Camel.

At the age of 21 when I had finished my apprenticeship, I started to learn the piano again, this time with a female Welsh teacher. I got up to grade 5 but my teacher went back to live in Wales. I was mortified because she was a great teacher and I really fancied her too! I have had no more piano lessons since then, although I do at some time want to gain higher grades so that I am able to teach.

I think I play guitar and piano very averagely really and my singing is much the same. However I really class myself as a song writer using whatever medium I can lay my hands on.

My major influences are:
The Beatles, Deep Purple, T. Rex, Pink Floyd, Man, Nektar, Steve Hillage, Led Zeppelin, Caravan, Camel and a relatively unknown band Cresida. I have always liked a bit of dance and ambience and I respect the likes of The Prodigy and Boards of Canada.

The songs listed in Buck Music are my diary from here on, the quality isn't that great sometimes but my soul is always in these recordings. I hope that you give them a chance because there is something here for everyone, a different song to match all your moods.

. . . . ooh and have a look at Early Bands and Buck Memorabilia for a laugh too!

Just to mention that I have created all these songs, organized all these bands and done loads of gigs while mostly holding down full time jobs. I currently play in a band called Animalian.

Oh yea, I'd love to hear from you!

To contact me click here: John Buck

Jane - Riki