the signatures
THE UK'S PREMIERE LIVE NORTHERN SOUL ACT
MEET THE BAND
GAVIN CREATES-WEBB
DRUMS/BAND MANAGER
Our human metronome, working with Mooty on the bass to keep that Northern Soul sound pumping through all we do. Find him at the burger van after the show
DAVE FERGUSON
HAMMOND/KEYS
King of the clav, Don of the drawbar. You’ll hear Dave’s mesmeric chords swirling around the room. A true keys wizard – he just needs a cape…
BEN PEGLEY
His mean black boots, open-button shirts and his ‘twiddling’ riffs help to blast The Signatures sound into a new dimension.
GUITAR
SIMON VIRCIGLIO
Our resident neck-bobbing, finger-licking bassist – his tasty licks are what drives the low-end of our Northern Soul sound.
BASS
JAMES MILLAR
The classiest of The Signatures. Can often be heard warming-up in the corridors of the building before a show.
SAX
HANNAH DILKES
The wild-card of the group. The plaintive howl of her trombone rounds out the brass section perfect – total fashion trendsetter.
TROMBONE
CONNOR SMITHER
Trilling and tooting his way in the mix - during the day he teaches music lessons, but by night his horn takes us all to school.
TRUMPET
SHARON CREATES-WEBB
The secret ingredient to the group – the glue that binds it together. But for your own sake, don’t leave any rubbish in the tour bus.
BACKING VOCALS/TAMBOURINE
CLEO SAVVA
She’s mad – a ball of percussive energy. Whether it’s on the conga or the cowbell, she’s always kicking on the off-beat to keep us ticking.
PERCUSSION
SPECIAL GUESTs
stefan taylor
vocalist
Despite being only 27 years' old, Stefan Taylor has shared the spotlight with some of the biggest influencers of soul - 'The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame' legend Tommy Hunt (The Flamingos), Pat Lewis - Stevie Wonder's sensational backing vocalist and the late, great Nolan Porter just to name a few.
georgia crandon
Georgia has a sensational sound and has received high praise for her vocal talents from Pixie Lott and BBC Introducing. Vintage vibes are her trademark style.
vocalist
tommy hunt
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee as a member of famed Doo-Wop group The Flamingos, Tommy Hunt is ‘The Oldest Man In Soul’ and a true soul icon. He's worked extensively with The Signatures over the years, we see him as the 12th member of the band! Tommy is available for live performances as well as meet and greets
vocalist
lorraine silver
Recorded her Northern Soul Classic ‘Lost Summer Love’ at a DIY recording booth in Woolworth’s in Oxford Street in 1965. She has continued to perform her set of soul standards to huge crowds over the years. We’ve loved working with Lorraine on our theatre show tour, and can’t wait for our collaborations in the future!
vocalist
bobby wilson
Music Artist, Bobby Brooks Wilson, is the son of Legendary R&B/Soul Singer, Jackie Wilson. Bobby has the same amazing traits and talents of his father, that many say Jackie Wilson’s legacy lives on through him.
Bobby is available with The Signatures for UK & European live dates, he puts on an incredible live performance and really gets the crowd going.
vocalist
those we've met along the way
the flirtations
group
The Flirtations (previously The Gypsies) are an all-female musical group who have recorded since the early 1960s. In late 1968 the trio signed with Deram Records and released what would become their signature recording: “Nothing But A Heartache” — a dense, dynamic, earth-shattering melodrama produced by Englishman Wayne Bickerton and written by Bickerton with Tony Waddington.
nolan porter
Nolan Frederick Porter (born May 10, 1949 in Los Angeles) is an American R&B singer and songwriter who recorded two albums and six singles in the early 1970s. His best known song is “Keep On Keeping On”, a northern soul track popularized in 1978 by the Manchester and Salford band Joy Division when they used the guitar riff from Porter’s song for their “Interzone”
vocalist
tobi legend
vocalist
Tobi performed the Wigan Casino Three-Before-Eight classic ‘Time Will Pass You By’. The Signatures were privileged to have performed with her in 2017 in her only UK appearance ever!
dean parrish
vocalist
A Northern Soul Legend, his track “I’m On My Way” became one of the Three-Before-Eight at the Wigan Casino. A few members of The Signatures were privileged to session on one of Dean’s recent recordings released on Static Wax Records. We’ve been privileged to share the stage with Dean three times so far.
sidney barnes
vocalist
Staff writer and producer for Motown and Chess Records – there’s so much this man has accomplished, it’s difficult to get it all down in writing. We enjoyed a short UK tour with Sidney in 2018, hoping to get the chance to tour with him again! He even left us one of his signature hats…
spyder turner
vocalist
Spyder made his mark in the Detroit music scene and at the Apollo Theatre in the ‘60s and ‘70s. We performed with Spyder Turner in 2018, one of the funniest musicians we’ve ever worked with!
jimmy thomas
vocalist
Original artist and backup vocalist for Ike and Tina Turner, David Essex, Voyage, Madness, Kevin Rowland and Lloyd Cole and The Commotions – we’ve worked with a lot of very cool artists over the years, but then there’s Jimmy Thomas cool…
pat
lewis
vocalist
Renowned in the music scene as a backup vocalist and arranger extraordinaire – she’s done vocals for Stevie Wonder, Isaac Hayes, Aretha Franklin, George Clinton and Arthur Reeves as well as many other well-known Motown figures. She helped launch Motor City records in the UK.
ruby andrews
vocalist
Chicago born soul icon, we were so pleased to have performed with her at the Skegness Northern Soul Survivors Weekender in Butlins in 2018.
chris clarke
vocalist
The first white woman to be signed to Motown – with an incredible voice still to this day and an infectious positive attitude, she is a true stage presence.
gloria jones
vocalist
Known as the Queen of Northern Soul. She had a long career as a Motown artist, was a key member in Mark Bowlan’s T-Rex and an extremely active philanthropist, operating her own charity in Sierra Leone. We performed with her in 2018.
brenda holloway
vocalist
Recording artist for Motown in the 1970s, she has a long career of hit records behind her. We’ve had the chance to perform with her in 2017 and 2019 and loved each time – a true professional and an incredible sense of style.
eddie holman
vocalist
Known for his incredible falsetto that is still as strong today as it was when he first released his music – only Eddie Holman could strut on stage in a metallic gold suit. A fully ordained Baptist minister, his musical stylings will ‘take you to church’.
chairmen of the board ft. ken knox
group
Ken Knox, a member of Chairmen of the Board for 48 years serving alongside General Johnson and Danny Woods continues to keep the legacy going – we were thrilled to support them in 2018 for a short UK tour.
history of the signatures
paul
stuart davies
vocalist
If there’s a Northern Soul event going on, there’s a good chance that you’ll see Paul in the photo! A regular on the scene with a soft and tonally accurate vocal style.
Paul has released several original Northern Soul singles, having recorded in Detroit alongside legends including The Vandellas, Kim Weston and Tobi Legend. He has sung at some of the biggest live events on the scene.
johnny boy
vocalist
The Boy from Bolton – adored across the UK scooter and soul scene, we’ve loved performing with him over the years. His trademark braids and bandana can regularly be seen bouncing around on stage all over the UK.
2009
The Signatures originally formed in 2009 out of a group called Mod Life Crisis – the change in the name followed the intention of becoming a purely Northern Soul group. At that time the frontman was Bill Mayall and the band was mainly made up of good friends wanting to make music together – we were regulars at scooter rallies and local music venues in the South East.
Changes in line-up have always been a part of The Signatures, keeping ten musicians together is a task in and of itself!
2015
2015 saw the departure of Bill as our lead singer, along with some of the other key musicians – this meant that most of the original line-up was gone! Many thought that the band wouldn’t survive…
Gavin took over as band manager and recruited Lee Bonington from The Mannequins – this was a shock to some of our fans, as the group had clearly embraced a new kind of sound. The Signatures were changing direction, now focusing solely on Northern Soul. We continued to build on our success, playing more gigs and going further afield with each performance.
Changes in line-up have always been a part of The Signatures, keeping ten musicians together is a task in and of itself!
2016
In 2016 Stefan Taylor sang at his first Sigs gig – the rest is, as they say, history! Lee slowly backed away from the group, and Stefan took over as our frontman.
The Signatures really came into their own in this period: playing music venues, rallies, music festivals, and promoting our own Northern Soul nights. We improved our presence online and experienced the harsh world of social media and how particular the Northern Soul scene can be.
We met a singer on the soul scene, Paul Stuart Davies – he appreciated our direction and his interest in us as a backing band showed us how versatile that new direction could be.
After a few gigs with both Paul and Stefan, we were invited to attend as guests to the Northern Soul Survivors Weekender run by Russ Winstanley.
The Weekender was a true eye-opener – we had the honour to be introduced to artists like Dean Parrish, Tommy Hunt and many more. The Diana Shaw Band were the backing group for the artists, and we saw in them our aspirations for the future.
2017
Later, in 2017 we were approached by a legendary figure in the Northern Soul scene – Russ Winstanley. He told us that he could see how passionate we all were about the music, which as I am sure you can imagine was an incredible thing to hear from this pioneer of the scene. We performed a few months later with Dean Parrish, Brenda Holloway, Tommy Hunt and Tobi Legend (in her only UK live appearance).
We also struck up a great friendship with the incredible Tommy Hunt and began our relationship with ‘The Oldest Man in Soul’.
2018
We were fully part of Russ’s team at the Northern Soul Survivors Weekender – we were privileged to perform with Pat Lewis, Dean Parrish, Tommy Hunt, Jimmy Thomas, Spyder Turner, Ruby Andrews as well as Jackie Wilson’s son Bobby Wilson. Later that year we put on a great tour with Chairmen of the Board Ft. Ken Knox – this is where we would begin bringing over US artists for tours in the UK. We were starting to form a real following, even outside of the Northern Soul scene.
2019
2019 was incredible – a tour with Bobby Wilson and Nolan Porter; performing at the final Northern Soul Survivors Weekender with Gloria Jones, Chris Clarke, Brenda Holloway, The Flirtations and Tommy Hunt; and an incredible weekender that we put on in sunny Mallorca with Tommy Hunt, Nolan Porter, and Stefan Taylor. It was one of hardest but most creatively satisfying years for the group.
2020
In 2020 we enter a new market entirely – the theatre circuit! We have a UK tour with Lorraine Silver and our Mallorca Weekender in October with The Flirtations and Tommy Hunt. Work is almost finished on our first album, too… We’ve already released the first single!
Due to the COVID-19 Crisis, many of the year’s performances at venues and festivals have been moved to 2021 or cancelled.
