On August 15th 2004,
Todd Sharpville casually strolled out onto the stage
as the opening act for Pink at the arena in Colmar,
France 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! This
was the opening night of a European tour with Pink,
and I wondered what she'd 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 his first performance after having been
released from a month's stay in a mental hospital...
Yes, Todd had been suffering from reactive depresssion
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 since deviated
from his bluesy roots and has ventured out into
a much broader singer/songwriter territory. After
a stint of collaborating with The Strokes guitarist's
dad, Albert Hammond snr (Los Angeles's best known
song-writer), Todd is now set to carve out a name
for himself as a heavyweight writer & lyricist.
Those of you familiar with the international blues
scene already know him as the young guitar slinger
with heaps of attitude. However, since the hospital
saga, Todd has chosen to express his innermost thoughts
& feelings by means of his new studio album
"Diary Of A Drowning Man" which exposes
all of the cross-genre musical influences that have
affected him. The album therefore exudes an eclectic
blend of cross-styles that can best be described
as Todd Sharpville in the raw, pure & simple.
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:
Dragan Nikitovic
2006
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