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Brett Wales Biography...Other Interesting articles..... Below are more interesting write ups that you may wish to look at, more will be added in time... An audience with Brett Wales........... By Richard Collis (As featured in Organ1st magazine)
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Brett
was born on the 23rd of August 1978 in Nottingham, raised by his
grandparents Marianne and Alwyn he still lives and works in the same house
today. Alwyn played Elka 707 Organ, so at a very young age Brett was exposed to
music. Alwyn found Brett aged three at the keys. He was encouraged, and soon
displayed an uncanny ability to play melody lines from memory.
Alwyn recognized his grandson’s talent. Marianne and Alwyn continued
encouraging Brett to play as a hobby. Brett’s ability to hear and reproduce
melodies accurately is a hallmark of his music today. This ability to listen,
hear and then play, sections, phrases, and separate parts of a complete score
has stayed with Brett to this day - the Blue Danube, Marriage of
Figaro, and Bohemian Rhapsody played by him today being testament to the
fact. Brett
also displayed a creativity looking for new sounds, accurately reproducing
instruments, as best he could from the Elka 707. It was this that inspired Alwyn
to buy a Wersi Kit, an orchestral organ. A Wersi Helios was finally completed,
and Brett’s love affair with Wersi commenced. His
grandparents felt this natural talent should not be wasted and Brett started
music lessons. Brett’s enthusiasm and dedication to music, so much a hallmark
of the man today, found him being described as a ‘Boy Genius’ when later, at
the age of seven he was to meet with Wersi Stars, the late, great, Klaus
Wunderlich and Franz Lambert. Today they remain his idols and role models. The
meeting happened In April 1986. Then president of the Wersi Enthusiast Society
Ron Franklin organized a five day trip to Wersi headquarters in Halsenbach
Germany, where Wersi organs are still produced and sold there today. Brett’s
grandparent’s decided to take Brett as a reward for dedication to musical
studies. They had the pleasure of being in the company of great musical talent.
Klaus Wunderlich, Franz Lambert, Curt
Prina and Hady Wolf. A highlight of the visit for Brett was the Saturday evening
spent at the legendary Franz Lambert’s Felsenkeller.
Brett stood transfixed at the side of Franz’s organ watching, listening
and learning. Was
it then that Brett’s future was decided? One can imagine his thoughts to have
been – “Just like Franz, one day I’ll be a famous organist.” Today
the dream is realized and he can stand tall along with other Wersi stars such as
Mark Whale and Claudia Hirschfield. Back home there was a noticeable change in
Brett's music; he began to use little things picked up at the Felsenkeller.
Encouraged by the obvious effect the visit had on Brett, Marianne and Alwyn took
Brett again on the same trip the following year but, unfortunately, Franz was
unable to play for them. Instead, they went for the evening to a Bier
Keller in Koblenz, where organist Udo Kemp was performing. Having heard Brett
play previously, Udo asked if Brett would play for the people to dance.
Amazingly, without a trace of nerves and oblivious to his audience, he
proceeded to play music from his examinations. He also cheekily played a Franz
Lambert Felsenkeller medley just as if he was at home playing to himself.
Was this the first sign we saw of the humorist we have on stage today? The
reaction from the audience - a standing ovation - was to be the first of many in
Brett's career to date. A star was
born – proud Grandparents, and Udo had a major problem getting Brett to leave
the organ! 1988
was to be a memorable year for Brett and the family; they made the same trip as
in previous years, but this time they were able to see Franz live at the
Felsenkeller. After hearing from Udo of Brett’s achievements at Koblenz the
year before, Franz requested Brett to play for him and his audience. Brett
announced that he would play something that Franz himself plays, “Everybody
Loves Somebody Sometimes” - with that Franz took the microphone and said
“Brett we must play together”. Nine year old Brett played seemingly without
a care in the world. It brought the house down and, later, Franz was to
remark on Brett’s composure. That a professional musician, the stature of
Franz Lambert, should take time out to encourage a young boy speaks volumes not
just of Franz Lambert’s generosity, but his recognition of an artistic and
musical talent. Franz’s music is still a big influence on Brett’s style,
particularly Brett’s late night spots have a definite Franz Lambert
Felsenkeller ring to them! Yes, I think we can safely say that one of Brett’s
idols is Franz Lambert! The annual trip to Germany in 1989 brought another duet for
Brett and Franz, this time playing “Strangers in the Night”. On the Sunday
evening they attended another fantastic concert, by the ever impressive Mark
Whale. Mark is often thought to be Brett’s older brother. Reinhardt Franz,
then one of the co-owners of Wersi GmbH, asked Brett if he would like to play
during Mark’s concert in the auditorium at the Wersi headquarters. As
always, Brett needed no second bidding to sit down and play, and gave a composed
and professional performance. After
the concert Brett was promised by Reinhardt and his brother W. E. Franz that in
the following year he could have his own concert, which inspired Brett, then 11
yrs old, to prepare for 1990. Brett has of course more recently had the pleasure
of playing in concert with Mark Whale, in Dussen in the Netherlands. At twelve
years old Brett started doing demonstrations for Wersi in the U.K. It was
difficult for Brett to work on new material for demonstrating new organs when he
could only practice on his grandfather's Helios. Practicing and preparing
for demonstrations on one type of organ, and playing in public on another style
of organ is not good. The nearest place he could get to play a Spectra was at
Barnsley, the then northern Wersi dealership, too far for a young man who also
had to attend school like any normal child, so Marianne and Alwyn decided to
sell the Helios and get Brett his very own Spectra for his twelfth birthday. A
special gift from special people, for a very special young man. The many demonstrations around this time hold memories of
good times, such as demonstrating at Stapley Water Gardens where he made two
very good friends, organist Volkre Kucche & ten times world accordion
champion Guy Dennis, both were kind, helpful and also enjoyed playing as a trio
with Brett. Due to both his school work & musical
examination’s Brett had to limit his amount of traveling, as more time was
dedicated to his grades. When he turned fifteen Brett was accepted for Clarendon
College in Nottingham to study music although he had already learnt most of the
course in his previous years with private tutors. It was the ‘Academy of
Life’, the experience gained by playing with other musicians and bands around
Nottingham that was to become so very valuable later on in Brett’s career.
Orchestrations, arrangements, stage presence and professionalism were to turn
musician - into performer –
into star. Brett
will admit to being a lucky sort of person, and, as luck would have it, at a
time just right, Brett met up again with an old friend from his Germany trips,
the one and only Ken Davies, who - as luck would have it - was heavily
involved in running Wersi – England. Brett was invited to appear at the
long running Barton Hall Festival. Listening to Brett play and seeing him use
the Spectra to its full potential; Ken decided to use Brett as his main
demonstrator and concert artiste. A step in Brett’s career that was to give
him the opportunity to appear at what was then all of the major organ festivals
in England.
Brett
and
Ken's friendship grew to become a special bond. Brett referred
to him as “King Kenny” and even though the ‘King’ eventually stopped
running Wersi in England, his role as Brett’s sound engineer and musical
adviser continued until
Spring of this year (2003) when, sadly, he lost his short battle against cancer.
He was
to Brett the solid foundation a double bass is to a band, helping to drive
develop and nurture the special talents of Brett Wales. It appears that the
early years of hard work and studying are now paying off. Brett’s
charisma stems from his ability to feel and display emotion through his music.
It affects many in the audience, bonding the artiste with his audience. Others
are simply charmed by his pleasant, open, gentle nature that turns people into
friends Over the years
Brett has gained many true great friends in and around the music business, far
too many to mention, but two very special friends Richard and Shirley Collis
have given Brett the opportunity to carry on and try to achieve the goal that
Brett has worked so hard for all these years. They bought Brett, no strings
attached, his very own white Wersi Scala with matching speakers, the queen of
the then brand new ‘Open Art System’ range of organs and keyboards just
released by Wersi. This generous gesture was made to Brett purely to say
"thank you for the music". Even Brett (not usually caught for words)
was reported by King Kenny to have been shaking with excitement for days after
the offer was made. A gesture from two very special people who say they
have already seen and, indeed, heard the results of their involvement in Brett's
career. Today
Brett lives with his lovely wife Katrina and together they have two beautiful
daughters Bethany Atlantis who was born in 1999 and their latest arrival Sophie
Anastasia who was born in 2004. Brett is a very dedicated dad who loves to spend
time with his family. All this of course comes together to add to the puzzle
that we know to be Brett Wales. Brett’s grandfather passed away on the 14th of
March 2001 after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. Sadly, he never saw his
great granddaughter, Bethany, or Sophie and he never got to hear his grandson
playing the new instrument, didn’t get to witness the standing ovation Brett
received in Concert at Ludlow on that very evening. The audience did not know
that the Blue Danube, played that night in public for the first time and
dedicated by Brett to his grandfather, was in fact dedicated to his
grandfather's memory. Brett had been advised by mobile 'phone only a few hours
earlier, whilst on his way to that concert, that Alwyn had slipped away. Truly
the professional, and a man his grandfather would have been proud of that night
– the performance was what we have come to expect from Brett, polished to
perfection and showing no sign of the turmoil that must have raged within. Brett
likes to think that whilst Alwyn, who didn’t witness his grandson's impact on
the organ scene, is now looking down on him and realising that what he saw in
his young grandson when he came home from work that day in 1981 is now being
recognised twenty years later by audiences everywhere. Since the recent changes and restructuring of Wersi, both in
Germany and the UK, Brett has continued to support Wersi by performing with his
Scala and has really become something of an unofficial representative of Wersi
in the UK. He is still as he has always been freelance but since 2005 he
has had the pleasure of being a key demonstrator for Korg, performing shows for
them on their PA1X keyboard. Korg are a very well known company worldwide and
have a very good name for producing fantastic keyboards, many of which have
revolutionised the world of music over the years. It is a very big honour for
Brett as well as being another string to the ever growing bow of Brett Wales. Brett has played concerts in Germany, the Netherlands and all
over the UK, delighting audiences wherever he performs with his own unique style
and sound. Never one for standing still, Brett is developing his career
in music with the production of his own CD’s, and helping other artists with
the use of his studio and skills. He also like one of his idols Klaus Wunderlich
has his very own recording studio attached to his home in Nottingham England
where he is always continuing to work on new recordings and striving to produce
a fantastic sound appreciated by many of Brett’s fans. Today Brett is constantly in demand and playing to packed out
venues all over the country. With bookings going into the year 2008 we are
happily assured of good music for the foreseeable future
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