I'll 'fess up. I've known Adrian O'Connell Fitz-Simon for years and one unique feature of our relationship is his ability to ambush you with a new mode of expression for his more than ample artistic muse. Even when he chooses a medium - in this case music - he will wrong foot you. Some years ago he released the fantastic 'Come On In' under the nom-de-tune 'Little Drummer Boy'. Thus, his advocates and aficionados saw him as a studio-centric, dance and electronica maestro. Now this! If Paddy McAloon and Neil Hannon were to have a baby and have it raised by Ray Davies and Freddie Mercury, the most notable attribute of that child would not be the absence of a female role model, but more his or her resemblance to the man that is Adrian Fitz-Simon.

Roots Musings - Adrian Fitz

Jimmy Smith should have belonged to my parents or, at the very least, my older brothers' generation. His career began as the 2nd World War ended, the biggest break in his career happened the year I was 2 and Kennedy died - and turned out to be just that. A career break. With his voice strangled by red tape the falsetto-maestro returned to cleveland where he spent the guts of twenty years getting work where he could, from bell-hop to pawn-shop. The sun began to rise again in the late eighties, then he appeared in Twin Peaks, he sang at a funeral and in no time flat, in his late 60s, he was the toast of the town.

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