A SHORT STORY THAT ENDED WITH TALL STORIES (?!)

This english group consisted of Clark Datchler, lead vocals, Calvin Hayes, keyboards and Mike Nocito on bass.
They were old friends and took the group name as they had a friend called Johnny who hated jazz.

Johnny Hates Jazz had international success in 1987 with "Shattered Dreams". The single reached No. 5 in England and No. 2 in the american Billboard chart.
Later the same year they had hits like "I Don't Want To Be A Hero" and "Turn Back The Clock". The album "Turn Back The Clock" was released in January '88 and it topped charts all over the world.

The band did write, sing and play all their own material, and they were also engineers and producers during the recording process.

All of a sudden in the summer of 1988 Clark Datchler left the band for a solo carreer. The album had sold 2 million copies by that point and the scheduled world-tour was cancelled.

Calvin Hayes and Mike Nocito continued as Johnny Hates Jazz with Phil Thornalley as the new singer.
Phil had helped out as engineer on the album and had in fact written the song "Listen" on the album. He had also been a member of The Cure and worked with artist like Thompson Twins, Robbie Nevil and Prefab Sprout.
The "new" Johnny Hates Jazz released the single "Turn The Tide" in September 1989. It didn´t get the same attention as the first singles and didn´t chart as high either.

In June 1991 the album "Tall Stories" was released and the first single was a great song called "Let Me Change Your Mind Tonight" (I really like that one!). The album was not a commercial success though.

"The Very Best Of Johnny Hates Jazz" was released in 1993 and is a great collection with all the hits from this band (incl. bonus tracks).

CLARK DATCHLER

Born March 27th, 1964 in Sutton, Surrey, England.
Clark's father Fred was a well-know jazz-musician, playing in groups like The Stargazers and The Polkadots.

Clark released his first solo album called "Raindance", in July 1990. Some say it sounds a lot like Johnny Hates Jazz and the first and only single was "Crown Of Thorns".

Under the name of "Medicine Wheel", Clark Datchler re-released the song "The Last Emotion", in 1992, from his solo debut "Raindance". The single was a new version produced by Rupert Hine. When the album "Fishing For Souls" was released Clark Datchler named the album after himself instead.

In 2007 Clark released an album under the name Nightfoxx. On the album you will recognize his well-known talent for creating strong, memorable melodies. On the new album there is a fresh version of the old JHJ-song "Shattered Dreams" and it seems to be even better than the original version!
Check out the new album and listen to bits and pieces on www.nightfoxx.com

CALVIN HAYES

Calvin was born 1963 and is the son of the RAK studios owner, record producer Mickie Most.
During the 1980's, Calvin was working with bands in the RAK studio and building up a net of contacts in the music business.
He played drums on Kim Wilde's first album and they were also a couple in the late 80's. She also did backing vocals on "Turn back the clock".

MIKE NOCITO

Mike was born August 5th, 1963 in Wiesbaden, Germany.
After JHJ, Mike has engineered and produced songs for many famous artists including Duran Duran, The Thompson Twins, The Police, Gina G, Pink Floyd ... and many more. He also worked on the soundtrack for Ace Ventura.
Girl-band "Hepburn" were one of Mike's recent projects to have several hits (including "I Quit" which featured in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV show as well as reaching the top ten in the UK charts).

PHIL THORNALLEY

Born January 5th, 1960 in London, England
Phil Thornalley has after JHJ been working as a songwriter and producer for many artists. He wrote and produced the song "Torn" with Natalie Imbruglia.
He's been producing artists such as Ronan Keeting and Holly Vallance and many more.

More info might be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Disco/6071/main.htm

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