Todd Sharpville Bio
On August 15th 2004, Todd Sharpville casually strolled out onto
the stage for the first of many nights
opening up for Pink on
her European tour, and delivered an impassioned and rocking
set with his band to 10,000 eager music fans. Always one to mock
his own aristocratic roots, the crowd had just been treated to a
"Monty Python'esque" mini-comedy movie on the plasma screens
featuring Todd playing poker (& sharing a bottle of bourbon)
with Queen Elizabeth II (AKA pop icon, Leo Sayer playing the
Queen in drag...). Moments into the show, he was lying down next
to the drum riser with a young naked woman feeding him grapes
mid guitar solo. He proceeded to belt out a series of highly
charged self-penned anthems, whilst dominating the stage with
abandoned ease & confidence. The show concluded as Todd passed
his guitar to a tech whilst proclaiming "gotta go, my lift's
arrived!" On cue, a large glossy motorcycle glides across the
stage, ridden by a Queen Liz II lookalike (with ermin robes &
crown to boot); Todd hops on the back, salutes the crowd, and is
promptly driven off stage by her Majesty as the band rocks on!
As first nights go, I wondered what Pink would make of her new
support act... Indeed, as he left the stage to tumultous
applause, I chuckled with the knowledge that this was in fact
Todd's first public performance after having just been released
from a month's stay in a mental hospital...
Yes, Todd had been suffering from reactive depression due to the
collapse of his marriage, and this performance was the first
step towards getting back on his feet & getting back in touch
with what he does best. The breakdown also marked the beginning
of a new chapter for Todd artistically, as he has now deviated
from his bluesy roots and has ventured out into much broader
singer/songwriter territory. After a year of collaborating with
The Strokes guitarist's dad, Albert Hammond snr (the legendary
Californian songwriter) as his musical director/lead guitarist,
Todd is now set to carve out a name for himself as a world-class
writer & lyricist. Those of you familiar with the international
blues scene already know him as the young guitar slinger with
heaps of attitude. His last solo blues album The Meaning Of Life
was the best selling British blues release for 2003, featuring
an array of guest appearances from ex-Stones guitar legend Mick
Taylor, Leo Sayer (yes, many moons ago Sayer used to be a
bluesman!), Snowy White & others. . However, since the hospital
saga, Todd has chosen to express his innermost emotions by means
of his new studio album "Diary Of A Drowning Man" which exposes
all the cross-genre musical influences that have affected him,
and is Todds debut as a mainstream artist (NB. it's a little
known fact that the majority of the album was actually written
in hospital). The songs exude an eclectic blend of cross-styles
that can best be described as Todd Sharpville in the raw, pure &
simple. They include a passionate duet with Sam Brown, Todd's
favourite Brit female singer, who also MD'd a gospel choir for
the track ("Sweet Redemption"). Recorded in Denmark at Lundgaard
Studios (currently one of the top five studios in Europe), and
co-produced with Dave Hyatt (of Stone Roses/Ian Brown fame) Todd
offers up a musical version of the roller-coaster ride that
helped bring him back to sanity...
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