HISTORY

May 2009 saw the first Let’s Rock The Moor!. Organised by Nick Billinghurst & Mike Clark, it was the highlight of the Cookham Festival. A community run Music Festival with a fabulous atmosphere; pop concert met village fete and created a very intimate and friendly event. The event saw local musicians alongside international artist Nick Heyward. Despite the poor weather, It was attended by 1,200 people.

Let’s Rock The Moor! 2010 attracted 3,000 people to see headline acts Howard Jones and Haircut 100 – Haircut’s first major gig in 27 years. Among local bands such as The Mean Red Spiders and The Quotes, tribute acts Girls Alouder and High School Musical added some glitz and good entertainment to children and adults alike.

The 2011 event was completely sold out and attracted 4,500 people to see Brit award-winning Rick Astley headline alongside T’Pau, The Real Thing and Curiosity Killed The Cat. Great support acts included local groups The Mean Red Spiders & The Quotes as well as plenty of Street Theatre and Entertainers.

LAST YEARS LINE UP:

Rick Astley

It was in 1987 that the world was greeted by a new vocal talent. Shocked by the powerful, mature soulful voice of a 21 year old, UK fans sent his debut single “Never Gonna Give You Up” to the top of the charts within 2 weeks of its release. The artist was, of course, Rick Astley. The rest of the world soon followed suit with “Never Gonna Give You Up” reaching Number 1 in 16 other countries including most of Europe, Japan, United States and Australia. The following 2 years saw Rick continue to dominate the charts around the globe. In the UK, Rick was in the Top 40 every week for the first 6 months of his career.

Christmas 1987 was marked with a double single release. It featured a cover of Nat King Cole’s “When I Fall In Love”, and in the New Year it was flipped to “My Arms Keep Missing You”. “Together Forever” completed the released tracks from the album, peaking at number 2. It was a similar success story in the USA, as Rick became one of the few British artists to crack their market. Rick’s American success was reinforced with a second Number 1 single, “Together Forever”. “It Would Take a Strong Strong Man” became another Top 10 single and the album also reached a position within the Top 10 selling close to 2 million copies. It earned him a 1988 Grammy nomination as Best New Artist.

His 2nd album surfaced in January 1989, titled “Hold Me In Your Arms”, and it contained Rick’s first self-penned single “She Wants To Dance With Me” which he also co-produced. Reaching another Top 10 position, it was followed later in the year by “Take Me To Your Heart” and another song written by Rick, “Hold Me In Your Arms”. In December, Rick set off on a World tour. The UK, US, Canada, Australia and Japan were amongst the 15 countries visited and contained over 70 shows. Both concerts held at Wembley Arena were sell-outs.

More recently, Rick was a special guest throughout Peter Kay’s new tour, “The Tour That Doesn’t Tour Tour…Now On Tour”, from 27 April to 22 May 2010. To mark the occasion, he released a new single “Lights Out” on his own label. It was released on 7 June 2010.This was Rick’s first release in the UK Singles Chart in 17 years. During the summer of 2010, Rick became a radio DJ for London’s Magic FM, presenting a Sunday show. Initially the contract was for 8 weeks but he proved so popular with listeners that his contract was extended till the end of the year. In December 2010, Rick co-hosted the Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 with Peter Kay.

Hearing Rick Astley on the radio still makes the sun shine, so when he takes the stage at Let’s Rock the Moor! prepare to be up-lifted!

T’Pau

T’Pau’s debut single and first hit was the 1987 release “Heart and Soul”. It first became a hit in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, reaching number 4 after being featured on a Pepe Jeans advertisement; it repeated the feat in the UK Singles Chart some months later. The following year, the band had their biggest hit with the ballad, “China in Your Hand”, which spent five weeks at Number 1 in the UK charts, and also claimed the top slot in several European countries.

Their 1987 album, “Bridge of Spies” was a best seller and won several British music industry awards. “Bridge of Spies” produced a number of smaller hits including the singles “Valentine”, “Sex Talk” and “I Will Be With You”. 1988 saw the release of their second album “Rage” which produced the hit single “Secret Garden”.

Carol Decker still makes appearances on TV shows, including “Hit Me, Baby, One More Time”, “Just the Two of Us” “Never Mind the Buzzcocks” and “The Weakest Link”. In 2007, marking the 20th anniversary of T’Pau’s initial success, Ron Rogers and Carol Decker released the new single, “Just Dream”, exclusively as an internet download.

The Real Thing

The Real Thing are the UK’s Number 1 Soul Band and are celebrating 36 years together. Three original vocalists, Chris Amoo, Eddie Amoo and Dave Smith, they had three million selling hit singles in the 70s, “You To Me Are Everything”, “Can’t Get By Without You” and “Feel The Force”, plus other top ten successes, such as “You’ll Never Know What You’re Missing” and “Whenever You Want My Love”.

In 1976, The Real Thing released their first album, “The Real Thing”. which included two of their hit singles as well as a third UK hit, “You’ll Never Know What You’re Missing”. They continued recording prolifically, releasing a steady stream of subsequent albums: 1977′s “Four from Eight”, 1978′s “Step Into our World”, 1979′s “Can You Feel the Force” and 1982′s “100 Minutes”. During the time period, they accumulated eight more British hits. “Can You Feel the Force” climbed to number 5 in 1979.

In 1986, the band enjoyed a chart resurgence with the remixing of several of their hits. “You to Me Are Everything (the Decade Remix)” charted twice in the UK, peaking at number 5 during a 12-week run in the spring and returning in June for an additional week. “Can’t Get By Without You (the Second Decade Remix)” rose almost as high to number 6, remaining for a consecutive 13 weeks.

Curiosity Killed the Cat

1987 saw the release of their first single “Down to Earth” which reached Number 3, followed by their debut album “Keep Your Distance”, which entered the UK album charts at Number 1, and remained in the top ten for 13 weeks. “Ordinary Day” was released next, which reached Number 11, followed by “Misfit” which reached Number 7. In 1989 they released “Name and Number”, followed by their second album “Getahead” later that year.

After a change in record label in the early 90′s to “BMG”, they made a fantastic comeback with their hit “Hang on in there baby”, which reached Number 3 in the UK charts in 1992. Then followed a third album called “Back to Front”. In 1995 Ben collaborated with several artists to produce an album under the name of “2 Men 4 Soul2 and co-wrote, and sang, on most of the tracks off this album.

In 2000, the band sang ‘Down to Earth’ on the National Lottery program, followed by several TV appearances from Ben, without the guys. The band also featured on a “Top Ten Boy Bands” program, which saw them come in at Number 10.

The Mean Red Spiders

With his powerful voice and on-stage charisma, Lance Gerrard-Wright leads this unique bunch of guys in what is probably Cookham’s best kept muical secret. Together with David, Simon, John, Rich, Tom, Matt and Rob, Lance will belt out classics from The Killers, Scissor Sisters, Amy Winehouse, The Kaisers and many more.

Well known and loved in Cookham and the surround areas, this band work hard and have big ambitions. A regular on the Private party scene, they have a large and growing fanbase that just cant get enough of these guys!

Glad to have them back at Let’s Rock The Moor! 2011. Prepare to be entertained.

The Quotes

The Quotes settled in their final incarnation in early 2010. From day one, the Reading four-piece attracted media attention and their constant gigging and prestigious festival appearances – not to mention album and EP releases – have earned them a well-established fan base. Their epic, sexy and polished rock sound has caught the inspiration of many a radio DJ, promoter and – most importantly – music fan.

2010 began with a string of UK dates and has seen the band play support slots for Hockey, The Charlatans and, perhaps bizarrely, Goldie Lookin’ Chain as well as at five major festivals in the South East, including Let’s Rock The Moor! 2010. In 2011, they supported Haircut 100 at the IndigO2 in London. Consistent coverage in the local press as well as considerable air time and radio appearances thanks to BBC Berkshire, BBC London and BBC 6 have helped raise The Quotes’ profile over the last few years, and with professional representation and an eager street team, the only way is up.

Who Are You?

Who Are You? are a local 5-piece Who tribute band. Catch this exciting act in action at Let’s Rock The Moor! 2011 and enjoy a fantastic set of music celebrating the music of legendary rock band, The Who. Formed in 2007, the band’s driving ambition is to deliver a show that captures the exhilarating experience of seeing The Who live. This is a tribute band who aren’t concerned about looking like The Who but are passionate about sounding like them. The play list includes classic hits from the early 60′s such as My Generation and Substitute, selections from Tommy, tracks from the definitive Who’s Next album and Quadrophenia through to more recent music.

Who Are You? capture the spirit and sound of one of the greatest bands in the world with as faithful a reproduction as possible, although just like The Who live, they’re not adverse to improvising when it feels right.

Who Are You? are proud to have already raised money for charities such as Teenage Cancer Trust and are looking forward to “Rocking The Moor”, following a successful headline appearance at the Interntainal Who convention in October 2010.

Stereosonics

In 1999 the group began as a covers band playing a varied repertoire of current and classic anthems. Their set included several Stereophonics tracks and it soon became apparent that Shane, the lead singer, had the same vocal range and a similar voice to Kelly Jones. So in the summer of 2000 they decided to venture into the world of tribute bands and the Stereosonics were born!

Now, as the UK’s number 1 Stereophonics tribute act, Stereosonics are proving to be more succesful than ever and continue to tour the length and bredth of the UK going from strength to strength. They play the stereophonics home town, Cwmaman, on a regular basis and have acheived high accolades each time.

Sintax

SINTAX plays a pulsating, raw, melodic, all-original set and the music has influences from many bands including Killers, Simple Minds, Coldplay, The Police, Pink Floyd and The Jam to name but a few. A distinctive, highly creative blend of music is created by guitars, drums, synthesizers and vocals to provide a throbbing music genre all of its own.

The standard of musicianship is exceptional and SINTAX never disappoints in delivering a tight set of contagious songs. From the rocking Preacher to the musical journey that is Secret Garden, the songs pulse and vibrate to the core.