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| | Arts Calendar / December 22 / Concerts |
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19:00 | Voices of Rock: Dan McCafferty, John Lawton, Graham Bonnet |
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 Before two days until Christmas Night the leaders of greatest rock bands in the world - Dan McCafferty (Nazareth), John Lawton (Uriah Heep) and Graham Bonnet (Rainbow) - will take part in the ambitious international project "Voices of Rock" accompanied by a symphony orchestra. Dan McCafferty is a Scottish vocalist, best known as the lead singer for the Scottish hard rock band, Nazareth from its founding in 1968 to his retirement from touring with the band in 2013. Under the influence of artists such as Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Otis Redding, McCafferty became one of the founding members of Nazareth in 1968. He has appeared on all of Nazareth's albums and has toured with them for 45 years. He co-wrote some of the big Nazareth hits, including "Broken Down Angel", "Dream On" and "Bad Bad Boy". McCafferty has released two solo albums. On 29 August 2013, Nazareth announced Dan McCafferty's retirement from touring due to health issues. John Lawton is a rock and blues vocalist best known for his work with Lucifer's Friend, Uriah Heep and the Les Humphries Singers. Lawton began his musical career in North Shields, UK, in the early '60s with The Deans, a bunch of kids who decided at random that he should be singer. He then moved on to West One and later Stonewall which included John Miles, Vic Malcolm (later of Geordie) and Paul Thompson (later of Roxy Music). After Stonewall finished their stint at Top Ten Club in Hamburg in 1969, Lawton decided to stay in Germany, after having been offered the job as singer with legendary German rock cult band Lucifer's Friend (1969-1976 and 1979-1995) with whom he recorded nine studio albums. He also joined the Les Humphries Singers, in the early '70s (which included the Eurovision Song Contest in '76). In 1976 Lawton joined Uriah Heep as their frontman, recording the albums Firefly, Innocent Victim, Fallen Angel and Live in Europe '79, touring Europe and the U.S. until September 1979. During his longstanding career Lawton has worked with some big names of rock, on various projects, including Roger Glover's "Butterfly Ball" live at the Royal Albert Hall in 1975, featuring David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Ian Gillan and Twiggy. He sang on Eddie Hardin's "Wizard's Convention II" with Chris Farlowe, Denny Lane, Paul Jones and Tony Ashton. Lawton worked with some of the finest record producers, including Tony Clarke (Moody Blues), Jimmy Miller (Rolling Stones), and Harold Faltermayer (Pet Shop Boys), who produced the titles Lawton sang on the Lenny McDowell Project "Lost Paradise". Lawton sang with German rock band Rebel, later known as Zar, on three albums, during the late '80s-'90s including their hit singles "Line of Fire" and "Eagles Flight", and moved on to Volker Barber's classical project "Excalibur". He also sang on several German commercials, including the "Colgate Gel" TV spots, the "Peter Stuyvesant Travel" spots, the Stuyvesant single "Come Together" and a stint for Harley Davidson Motorbikes. Lawton formed GunHill, later known as JLB (John Lawton Band), in January 1994, touring the UK and Europe. In 1995 he briefly rejoined Uriah Heep for two weeks, to tour South Africa and Austria with Deep Purple, filling in for their singer Bernie Shaw, who was suffering from voice problems at the time. Inspired by German top producer Robert Papst and his partner Reinhold Hoffman, Lawton re-recorded one of the Les Humphries Singers' favourites, the 1970s hit "Mama Loo", in January 1998. In August 2000, his solo album Still Paying My Dues to the Blues, produced by Robert Papst, was released in Europe, UK and Scandinavia, by Hypertension Music Hamburg and distributed through EDEL Germany. In 2001 Lawton teamed up with Ken Hensley to form the Hensley Lawton Band. After extensive touring, during Spring and Summer of 2001, culminating with a concert in Hamburg, Germany, featuring a full orchestra and a new rendition of Heep's old classic "Salisbury", both Ken and John returned to their respective solo careers. On 7 December 2001, both John Lawton and Ken Hensley appeared on stage with Uriah Heep during the annual Magician's Birthday Party at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. Graham Bonnet is an English Rock vocalist and songwriter. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal bands including Rainbow, the Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz, and Impellitteri. Sometimes titled "the most powerful voice in rock" by his fans, Bonnet is known for his very powerful voice and wide vocal range. His singing has been noted as "very loud" by both his contemporaries and himself, and he claims to be a self-taught singer with "no discipline for lessons." Bonnet was born in Skegness in 1947. He had his first hit single with the duo The Marbles in 1968, with the single "Only One Woman" which reached # 5 in the UK Singles Chart. This and its follow-up were both written by Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees who had recorded in Australia with Bonnet bandmate from The Marbles, Trevor Gordon. In 1977 he released an eponymous album, which was certified gold in Australia. The single, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", a cover version of the Bob Dylan song, also reached the top five in Australia in 1977, and the following year the single "Warm Ride", written by the Bee Gees, a leftover from the Saturday Night Fever sessions, reached number one there. In 1979, Bonnet was approached to join UK glam-rock band Sweet to replace Brian Connolly. However, he was chosen by Ritchie Blackmore to replace Ronnie James Dio as the vocalist of hard rock band Rainbow. This was something of a musical departure for Bonnet, who had previously identified himself more as an R&B singer. Bonnet would later credit his time in Rainbow, and his collaboration with Blackmore in particular as changing fundamentally his musical outlook to a more hard rock focus. He sang on the Down to Earth LP, which would become his most successful album. It spawned two hit singles in 1980: "Since You Been Gone" and "All Night Long". During Bonnet's time in the band, Rainbow also headlined the inaugural Monsters of Rock festival at Donington Park, Castle Donington.
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