As a teenage musician, Ed Barker always dreamed of playing at the Albert Hall. He wanted to perform there as a member of the National Youth Orchestra – but never did. In fact, the 33-year-old went beyond his expectations and performed at London’s iconic venue with the late George Michael. Barker has been remembering the former Wham singer as the Fastlove tribute act prepares to tour around the UK, including a performance at Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre.
Barker started playing the saxophone when he was 16. He auditioned for the National Youth Orchestra originally playing the clarinet. At the auditions, the managers announced to all the hopefuls that if any of them played the saxophone they had a slot available for a solo piece. Barker wanted to increase his chances of performing with the orchestra, so he borrowed his sister’s saxophone and taught himself a musical piece in just four weeks to perform to the judges at the final auditions. The orchestra was so impressed with his musical ability, that they dropped him as a clarinet player and put him in as lead saxophone player representing the National Youth Orchestra.
By the time Barker was 23, he was performing as the lead alto chair for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra where he was rehearsing in London every week. One evening when Barker was leaving rehearsal, he ran into a talented saxophonist Nigel Hitchcock. From there on, Barker received one-to-one lessons with him and as his skills progressed, it was Nigel who recommended Barker to George Michaels trumpet player in the Wham days, Paul Spong. Before Barker knew it, he was on the Cowboys and Angels tour. Going from one extreme to the next, he went from playing in a small jazz club to performing in arenas around the world in front of as many as 17,000 people alongside George Michael.
‘It was a real pleasure playing for such a great musician, he was one of the very few who was excellent at everything, humble and human behind the scenes. Even in rehearsals he never seemed to sing a note out of tune.’
It was because of George Michael that Barker put together his own debut solo album. He wanted to summarise where he was at with his music and released his first album ‘Simple Truth’ in 2014. Lance Ellington, who features on Barker’s album, is an English singer who regularly performs on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. They released a single called ‘When You Smile’ which was played almost 23,000 times on radio stations around the US.
The next big dream is to work alongside musicians such as Elton John and Rod Stewart. Barker hopes to put together a Christmas album for 2018 but has started the year by focussing on live performances. He performed his first Fastlove tribute to George Michael at Cliffs Pavilion in Essex last night and is touring around the rest of the UK at selected venues.
My recorded interview on the University of Gloucestershire radio with Ed Barker:
Catch the Fastlove show at the Everyman Theatre tonight. Limited tickets are still available.
