I was born in 1968 in Bristol in the UK. When I was four we went to live in the countryside of North Devon where I played in woods and on beaches. I hated school and these early games became narratives and adventures into the world of making up stories. In 1977 my family moved to Derby where inner-city decline and multiculturalism gave me a sense of belonging in a world where everybody was different. This was the backdrop for a happy childhood.
My secondary schooling was notable mainlyfor my lack of attendance. I left at 16, with a poor level of litteracy and ideas of becoming a rockstar. For the next few years I worked in bars, drove lorries, drew pictures, played in bands and recorded music by myself.
In 1992 I moved to Toulouse, in the south west of France, where I was an apprentice engineer in a recording studio and learned to speak French. It was around this time that I started to try and read books, encouraged by the enthusiasm of my older sister pushing favourite novels on me. A year and a half later I moved back to Derby and build and ran a project studio for friends who had a small record label, but we were better at organising clubnights than making records and my next ten years revolved around partying.
I moved to London in 1998 to better concentrate on music and had a couple of tracks signed. While I was in London I wrote my first short stories. In 2000 I was invited to work producing music with a friend Rob Webster who was singed to a major record label. The music industry was a massive dissapointment, but not the partnership. Rob and I went on to make a series of tracks outside his contract that we are still very proud of. They were never released but you can find a selction on the music page of this site. Rob carried on making music, but I was spending increasing amounts of time reading and writing.
In 2002 I learned that I was dysexic and went to my local university who had a program for helping people with learning disabilities into education. I studied creative writing and one of my lecturers, Moy McCrory gave me exceptional help and encouragement, particularly in the development of my short stories and I had two of them published. A series of events (notably getting both my hands broken by random strangers) led me to shy awxay from nightlife and music. I decided that the album I was recording in 2004 would be my last. It was a sad time and you can hear darkness and soul searching on some of the later tracks.
I more or less ran off to Paris in 2005 where I taught English to adults in companies, translated books and films, and wrote copy for an advertising agency. I also wrote four novels, two of which were published.
Teaching gradually evolved into communications training, which in tern led me to become a certified coach in personal and professional development. One of my favourate things in life is early evening drinks!
