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Biography

 

Tim Hunter was brought up in the small market town of Knaresborough in North Yorkshire, England. He came from a musical family. His father, Jack, was a Choirmaster and Organist at Holy Trinity Church and a Piano tuner by profession. Tim’s Grandfather was also Organist and Choirmaster. Tim also sang in the Church Choir.

Tim started playing the guitar and writing songs in the early 1970s. He was influenced by 70s prog rock guitar bands such as Wishbone Ash, Deep Purple, Be-Bop Deluxe and Led Zeppelin etc. Other influences included the Beatles and Steely Dan.

At Leicester Polytechnic in 1976 he formed a 3 piece group called 'Mad Dog' which featured Tim on Guitar/Vocals.

The band were then featured on Campus Radio (BBC Radio Leicester) on 25.1.1977, performing 'The Interrogation'. The Band returned to Campus Radio on 22.2.1977 to record 'Schooldays' and 'The Stakes Are High'.

The sound at this time was basically prog/guitar rock. However, influenced by new wave and pub rock (Dr Feelgood, Rockpile etc.) - Tim modified the sound, and formed another 3 piece outfit named ' Everyone Else'.

'Two new 'raw sounding' songs emerged in 1979: 'Don’t Call Us' and 'Out of My Mind'.

Earlier songs 'Brainwashed' and 'Schooldays' were re-recorded. A 4 track 7” vinyl single was released which gained good reviews including a review in the national music paper, the Melody Maker on 7.7.1979 (the MM later merged with NME in 2000)

'...Traditional hard rock, occasionally relieved by colourful detail. Good producers would make all the difference...'

Other guitar based line ups followed, then from '84 to '90 , Tim spent a lot of time developing new material using drum machines and synthesisers. Some of these tracks have been reworked for later recordings , such as 'Livin' for The Weekend', and 'Downward Path'.

The discovery of computer based music using MIDI and sequencing in 1991 was a turning point. As a professional Analyst/Programmer , computer based music proved to be Tim’s ideal combination. A complete synthesiser album was recorded  called ‘Land of Fire' .Most of this material ended up on the 'Northern Soundscapes' album.

Airplay of MIDI instrumental synthesiser material from 'Land of Fire' followed on ‘Voices 92’ a York based community station broadcast from The Old Dairy Studios, and on Harrogate’s Stray FM. The Old Dairy Studios in York was also to become Tim’s introduction to the world of scriptwriting when he attended a series of Saturday morning scriptwriting courses run by Guy Morgan.

In 1997 Tim wrote the theme music to BBC Radio York’s ‘Chocolate City’ Drama Series, produced by Guy Morgan at the Old Dairy Studios. Tim was also involved in writing scripts for the series.

In 1997 Tim was regularly playing in local Folk Clubs such as the Black Swan in York, performing original songs and folk standards like ‘The Blacksmith’, and ‘John Barleycorn’. In 1998 he also released the Tim Hunter CD. In 1998, BBC Radio North, England featured ‘Open Mind’ and ‘Moorland Drifter’ from the album on the ‘Night Out’ Arts Program. Ian Macmillan also interviewed Tim on the show.

In 1999 /2000, Tim lived in Luxembourg and performed live and had a lot of material featured on two radio stations. In 1999 Radio ARA  played the entire album and featured an in-depth interview with Tim on ‘The Monday Edition’. Various tracks were also played on ARA's ‘Sunday Around’. Also in 1999, ‘Prisoner Of The Silver Strings’ appeared on the playlist of Sunshine Radio in Luxembourg (managed by Radio Luxembourg’s former station manager, Mike Knight).

From 2000 onwards Tim has continued to record songs and instrumentals. In 2000 he released his second album, the all-instrumental 'Northern Soundscapes'. This was followed by two more songs albums, 'Life In A Traffic Jam' and 'On The Right Track'. A further instrumental album 'Music For Guitar and Synthesiser' was then released in 2005, followed by the latest songs album 'An English Voice' in 2008. He has also performed live and has entered various Songwriting competitions.

He obtained Honourable mention in:

2001 Billboard Song Contest with 'On the Right Track' which was submitted in the 'Contemporary Christian / Gospel category.

2004 Unisong (Songwriting Competition) in the Pop ‘Uptempo’ category with 'Live For The Day'.