Julie Driscoll -

Julie Driscoll is an English blues and jazz singer who cut two 1965 singles for Parlophone, followed by two albums in featured capacity with Brian Auger & The Trinity, which scored a 1968 UK hit with “This Wheel’s on Fire.” In 1971, she released the album 1969 on Polydor and appeared on the double-album Septober Energy by Centipede, an experimental big-band led by pianist Keith Tippett. Under the married name Julie Tippetts, she made the 1975 album Sunset Glow and further collaborations with Auger and singer Maggie Nicols.

Background

Julie Driscoll was born June 8, 1947, in London. As a teenager, Driscoll sang professionally in London nightclubs with a band led by her father. Driscoll made her recording debut with “Take Me by the Hand” (b/w “Stay Away from Me”), credited to Julie Driscoll with the Harold Geller Group and released in September 1963 on Columbia. Australian-born conductor and composer Harold Geller led the backing group after orchestral work in Britain that included the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and BBC radio ensembles.

Driscoll later worked in the Crawdaddy organization run by manager-producer Giorgio Gomelsky and administered correspondence for the Yardbirds fan club. Driscoll approached Gomelsky at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond after hearing that he wanted a female singer for a record. Gomelsky searched for suitable material while organist Brian Auger began working with Driscoll. Gomelsky produced her June 1965 debut sing: “Don’t Do It No More” (b/w “I Know You”).

Steampacket

In 1965, Driscoll entered the Steampacket circle through Giorgio Gomelsky and Brian Auger, who urged Gomelsky to place her in a new vocal revue with R&B singers Long John Baldry and Rod Stewart.

Baldry came from the Cyril Davies R&B All Stars, which he joined in 1963 as a vocalist. After Davies died in January 1964, Baldry continued with guitarist Geoff Bradford, bassist Cliff Barton, pianist Ian Armit, and changing drummers as the Hoochie Coochie Men. Rod Stewart joined the group as singer and harmonica player. Baldry recorded Long John’s Blues with Bradford, Barton, Armit, and drummer Bill Law, while a separate Decca contract kept Stewart off the album.

Steampacket formed in London in 1965 with Baldry, Stewart, and Driscoll, organist Brian Auger, guitarist Vic Briggs, bassist Ricky Fenson, and drummer Micky Waller. The group opened for the Rolling Stones in July, joined by the Walker Brothers for a summer package tour. In August, Steampacket played the National Jazz and Blues Festival at Richmond Athletic Ground.

Baldry, Stewart, Auger, and Driscoll each remained tied to separate record or management agreements, which prevented a contemporary Steampacket release. Gomelsky nevertheless recorded a Marquee Club rehearsal for promotional use as a demo tape. Driscoll maintained a separate recording contract and followed her May 1966 Parlophone debut “I Didn’t Want to Have to Do It” (b/w “Don’t Do It No More”).

Stewart left Steampacket in the spring of 1966 and formed Shotgun Express with keyboardist Pete Bardens and singer Beryl Marsden. Baldry followed within months and joined Bluesology with pianist Reginald Dwight. Driscoll and Auger continued together under the Trinity name.

Brian Auger & the Trinity

Auger formed Trinity in late 1966 with Driscoll, Briggs, bassist Roger Sutton and drummer Clive Thacker. In early 1967, Briggs soon left for Eric Burdon and the Animals, replaced by guitarist Gary Boyle. Bassist Dave Ambrose replaced Sutton in the subsequent lineup. Meanwhile, Driscoll completed her Parlophone solo run in April with “I Know You Love Me Not” (b/w “If You Should Ever Leave Me”).

The lineup recorded Open, released in November 1967 on Marmalade under the Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity billing. Driscoll sings five cuts while Auger leads the remaining instrumental tracks.

Driscoll and the group reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart with the April 1968 single “This Wheel’s on Fire” (b/w “A Kind of Love In”). They followed in September with the David Ackles composition “Road to Cairo” (b/w “Shadows of You”). Across the next year, they toured Britain, continental Europe, and the United States.

In July 1969, Trinity released Streetnoise, a double-album with the Driscoll contributions “Czechoslovakia,” “Vauxhall to Lambeth Bridge,” and “A Word About Colour.” She bought a Martin acoustic guitar in New York and developed further songs around the instrument while the group toured the United States.

After approximately four years of continuous road work from Steampacket onward, Driscoll left Trinity. She heard the Keith Tippett group at the 100 Club in London and asked Gomelsky to involve Tippett in her solo project. Tippett agreed to arrange the new songs for the Advision sessions that produced 1969, the first Julie Driscoll solo album.

1969

Julie Driscoll released her debut solo album, 1969, in 1971 on Polydor Records.

1969 contains eight Driscoll originals arranged by Keith Tippett for a mixed ensemble, performed with reed/brass associates Elton Dean, Mark Charig, Nick Evans, and two Nucleus members: oboist Karl Jenkins and guitarist Chris Spedding. She also works with two members of prior Marmalade labelmates Blossom Toes: guitarist Brian Godding and bassist Brian Belshaw.

“A New Awakening” surges through brass bursts and agitated guitar figures while Driscoll drives each phrase in firm upper register. “Those That We Love” recedes into gospel-tinged piano, celeste, and measured narration. “Leaving It All Behind” settles into slow torch form as oboe and brass underline a mournful line. “Break-Out” begins in reflection, gathers force when percussion enters, and peaks in a sustained high cry above electric guitar.

“The Choice” floats above flute, whistles, and bowed bass as Driscoll shapes each phrase with restraint. “Lullaby” softens around fragile guitar and hushed reassurance. “Walk Down” shifts from tremulous piano into a galloping pulse; recited passages alternate with ecstatic brass. “(For Angie) I Nearly Forgot—But I Went Back” opens and closes slowly, then climbs through linked acoustic and electric guitar figures as Driscoll sweeps into higher register.

A1. “A New Awakening” (3:25)
A2. “Those That We Love” (5:08)
A3. “Leaving It All Behind” (4:46)
A4. “Break-Out” (5:12)

B1. “The Choice” (5:57)
B2. “Lullaby” (4:18)
B3. “Walk Down” (4:11)
B4. “I Nearly Forgot – But I Went Back” (5:03)

Sessions occurred in 1969 at Advision Studios in London with producer Giorgio Gomelsky, whose concurrent work included Blossom Toes (If Only for a Moment) and John McLaughlin (Extrapolation). Eddy Offord engineered the album amid 1969 work on Streetnoise and the debut by Taste.

Art director Grahame Berney oversaw the sleeve design by Keith Davis and Oliver Wade, with orange cloud forms above a dark horizon and green field under dimensional name lettering. Berney, Davis, and Wade also received 1971 sleeve credits for Andy Warhol’s Velvet Underground Featuring Nico and Andy Roberts (Nina and the Dream Tree).

1970–74: Tippetts, Centipede, and Free Improvisation

Driscoll married Keith Tippett in 1970 and thereafter worked as Julie Tippetts, the original family surname spelling that Tippett had shortened for professional use. Former Blossom Toes Brian Godding and Brian Belshaw backed Driscoll on a 1970 tour after the breakup of their band. Godding and Belshaw continued as BB Blunder with former Blossom Toes drummer Kevin Westlake, and Tippetts joined the sessions for the 1971 album Workers’ Playtime as a vocalist. Keith Tippett, Brian Auger, trumpeter Marc Charig, and trombonist Nick Evans also appeared among the session players.

Keith Tippett assembled the large ensemble Centipede in 1970 around an extended composition titled Septober Energy. Tippetts joined vocalists Maggie Nicols, Mike Patto, Zoot Money, and Boz Burrell in an ensemble of more than fifty jazz and rock musicians. She wrote the lyrics for the four-part work, while Tippett composed the music and directed the ensemble. Centipede premiered Septober Energy at the Lyceum Theatre in London on Nov. 15, 1970, then took the work to France and further British engagements. Robert Fripp produced the June 1971 sessions at Wessex Sound Studios in London, and Neon issued the double album that October.

Tippetts also entered the Spontaneous Music Ensemble orbit under percussionist John Stevens. The quartet paired her voice and acoustic guitar with soprano saxophonist Trevor Watts and bassist Ron Herman. In spring 1971, the group recorded “Quartet Sequence” and Birds of a Feather at Hérouville, followed by the Oslo performance later issued as 1.2. Albert Ayler. Tippetts remained part of the ensemble for much of the year.

Tippetts returned to a smaller Keith Tippett configuration his 1972 release Blueprint, which paired the pianist with Delivery bassist Roy Babbington and percussionists Frank Perry and Keith Bailey, along with Tippetts’ voice and instrumentation (guitar, recorder, mandolin). Fripp produced the entirely improvised album for RCA.

Carla Bley recruited Tippetts as principal singer for the 1974 WATT release Tropic Appetites, a song cycle with texts by poet Paul Haines. Tippetts recorded her parts amid sessions held from September 1973 through February 1974 with bassist Dave Holland, drummer Paul Motian, reed player Howard Johnson, violinist Toni Marcus, trumpeter Michael Mantler, and saxophonist Gato Barbieri.

Robert Wyatt brought Tippetts into the Robert Wyatt & Friends concert on Sept. 8, 1974, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London. She sang and played piano within the ensemble and presented “Mind of a Child” and “Behind the Eyes” in a separate interlude, followed by a flute improvisation. The concert placed Tippetts beside Hugh Hopper, Dave Stewart, Fred Frith, Mongezi Feza, Gary Windo, Mike Oldfield, and Nick Mason and preceded the next phase of her solo work.

Sunset Glow

Julie Tippetts released her second solo album, Sunset Glow, in 1975 on Utopia Records.

Sunset Glow contains seven Tippetts compositions plus on by Jessica Constable (“Now If You Remember”). She welcomes back Tippett, Godding, Belshaw, Dean, Charig, and Evans; joined by bassist Harry Miller and drummer Louis Moholo. Tippetts handles piano, acoustic guitar, clay drum, and tambourine alongside voice; Tippett adds harmonium to his piano parts.

“Mind of a Child” blooms from piano into broad, drumless form; harmonium and chiming brass support tender, poised phrasing. “Oceans and Sky (Questions in the Wind)” drives a restless jazz-rock pulse through blurred guitar, exact brass figures, and widening improvisation; Tippetts rises from lyric delivery into wordless upper-register cries. “Sunset Glow” circles a repeated piano figure while overdubbed parts land offbeat; Tippetts sustains quiet intensity beside cornet.

“Now If You Remember” offers a brief lullaby, pairing acoustic and electric guitars with gentle overdubbed parts. “Lilies” summons a trance through repeated guitar, suspended harmony, clay drum, and chant-like overdubs; Tippetts alternates lead phrases with overlapping self-responses. “Shifting Still” accelerates acoustic guitar against increasingly forceful piano figures until duo interplay turns jagged.

“What Is Living” repeats its guiding question across layered parts, handclaps, and growing wordless exclamations. “Behind the Eyes (For a Friend, R)” rests on a slow piano figure; Tippetts begins close and subdued, expands through a passionate middle passage, then withdraws.

A1. “Mind of a Child” (5:08) – Tippetts
A2. “Ocean and Sky (And Questions Why?)” (5:16) – Tippetts
A3. “Sunset Glow” (7:51) – Tippetts
A4. “Now If You Remember” (1:55) – Jessica Constable

B1. “Lillies” (5:43) – Tippetts
B2. “Shifting Still” (4:21) – Tippetts
B3. “What Is Living?” (2:28) – Tippetts
B4. “Behind the Eyes (For a Friend, R)” (5:13) – Tippetts

Sessions occurred in 1975 at Olympic Studios in London with Julie Tippetts and George Chkiantz as producers; Giorgio Gomelsky received an additional production credit. Chkiantz also engineered the album amid 1974/75 work on King Crimson (Red, USA), Led Zeppelin (Physical Graffiti), and Slade (Old New Borrowed and Blue).

Designer-photographer Dick Whitbread built the gatefold around paintings by Tippetts and supplied interior photography. The front places silhouetted birds above an ocean horizon beneath an orange-and-violet sky. Whitbread also designed Septober Energy and the 1978 Keith Tippett’s Ark double album Frames: Music for an Imaginary Film.

1976–78 Collaborations

Tippetts joined her husband on the 1976 Ogun release Ovary Lodge, a performance taped Aug. 6, 1975, at Nettlefold Hall in London with Harry Miller and Frank Perry. She also appeared with Tippett, Trevor Watts, and percussionist Colin McKenzie on the 1977 album Warm Spirits – Cool Spirits.

Tippetts then teamed with Scottish vocalist Maggie Nicols, who entered the London free-improvisation circuit in 1968 through John Stevens and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. She subsequently worked with Tippetts in Centipede and developed vocal-improvisation workshops at Oval House. Tippetts joined Nicols in Voice, a four-vocalist group completed by Phil Minton and Brian Eley. Voice recorded an Oct. 13, 1976, concert at the Phoenix in Cavendish Square; Ogun issued the performance as Voice the following year.

Keith Tippett reunited Tippetts and Nicols in the 22-member Ark for Frames: Music for an Imaginary Film. The ensemble premiered the work at the Roundhouse on May 21, 1978, then recorded the four sides across the next three days at Wessex Studios in London. Tippetts and Nicols formed the vocal contingent amid a large brass, reed, string, bass, and percussion ensemble.

Meanwhile, Brian Auger followed a different route after the Trinity years. Oblivion Express built a substantial American touring and recording base across the first half of the decade, and Auger relocated to the United States in 1975 before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area. Warner Bros. signed him for the 1977 Oblivion Express album Happiness Heartaches. Auger reconnected with Tippetts that year and brought their reunion project to Different Fur Studios in San Francisco, where the sessions placed both British musicians alongside American studio players.

Tippetts meanwhile maintained her partnership with Nicols outside Voice and Ark. The pair developed duo performances from their shared work in vocal improvisation and recorded together in June 1978 at Riverside Studios in London. Free Music Production eventually issued those sessions in October 1982 as Sweet and S’Ours.

Encore

Brian Auger and Julie Tippetts released a collaborative album, Encore, in April 1978 on Warner Bros. Records.

Encore pairs two Auger originals with seven outside compositions. The interpretations include songs associated with Al Jarreau (“Spirit,” “Lock All the Gates”), Nina Simone (“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”), and the Staple Singers (“Freedom Highway”); side two draws from Jack Bruce (“Rope Ladder to the Moon”), Traffic (“No Time to Live”), and Milton Nascimento (“Nothing Will Be as It Was”). Auger arranged the set for guitarist George Doering, bassist David McDaniels, and drummer Dave Crigger. Backing singers Jessica Smith, Julia Waters Tillman, and Maxine Waters Willard (aka The Waters) appear on selected tracks.

“Spirit” rides syncopated rolls, crisp guitar, and bright electric piano; Tippetts bends phrases upward, then sweeps across band accents. “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” tightens blues-jazz tension through atmospheric guitar and organ; Tippetts sustains final high notes with full-throated force. “Git Up” locks angular bass to funk-jazz patterns while Tippetts leads call-and-response exchanges with supporting singers.

“Freedom Highway” testifies over gospel rhythm and closes with free improvisation across its coda. “Future Pilot” navigates keyboard counterpoint and irregular rhythm; lead and supporting parts gather into soulful peaks. “Rope Ladder to the Moon” negotiates shifting meters as Tippetts follows lyric contours, then opens phrasing into freer turns. “No Time to Live” settles into restrained rock-jazz lament before a late keyboard passage broadens arrangement. “Lock All the Gates” begins as a blues ballad and intensifies section by section; Tippetts maintains a sustained reading as accompaniment thickens.

A1. “Spirit” (4:06) – Al Jarreau
A2. “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” (3:32) – Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott, Sol Marcus
A3. “Git Up” (3:46) – Brian Auger
A4. “Freedom Highway” (2:49) – Pops Staples
A5. “Future Pilot” (4:21) – Brian Auger

B1. “Rope Ladder to the Moon” (3:01) – Jack Bruce, Pete Brown
B2. “No Time to Live” (6:14) – Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood
B3. “Nothing Will Be as It Was” (3:44) – Milton Nascimento, Ronaldo Bastos, René Vincent
B4. “Lock All the Gates” (5:03) – Al Jarreau

Sessions spanned October through November 1977 at Different Fur Studios in San Francisco, where Auger produced the album in sequence with Happiness Heartaches. Joe Tuzen and Seth Dworkin engineered Encore; Tuzen came from same-year work on David Bromberg Band (Reckless Abandon), while Dworkin also recorded the 1977 Different Fur sessions for Lenny White (The Adventures of Astral Pirates).

San Francisco designer-photographer Bruce Steinberg built the sleeve around a close portrait of Auger and Tippetts. His 1977/78 cover credits include the Doobie Brothers (Livin’ on the Fault Line), Lee Ritenour (Captain Fingers), the Headhunters (Straight from the Gate), Journey (Next), and Tower of Power (We Came to Play!).

Sweet and S’Ours

Maggie Nicols and Julie Tippetts released a collaborative album, Sweet and S’Ours, on October 26, 1982, through Free Music Production’s SAJ series.

Sweet and S’Ours contains seven Nicols–Tippetts co-compositions performed as a self-contained duo. Both use recorders, bongos, and air blown through vacuum-cleaner tubes; Nicols adds lammer and pipe, while Tippetts adds bottles, cymbal bells, and concertina. Overdubs extend their paired parts into denser layers across the longer pieces.

“Rabbiting” erupts in comic hysteria as Nicols and Tippetts trade quick, acrobatic exchanges. “Wind Forest” turns inward and builds a serious span from multitracked parts and unconventional sound objects. “Whaling” sustains a grave, extended stretch through further multitracking and irregular percussion timbres.

A1. “Rabbiting” (3:26)
A2. “Ooh – Me Poor Feet” (5:40)
A3. “Wind Forest” (5:53)
A4. “Moon Fire” (5:32)

B1. “Riverside” (1:15)
B2. “What’s This?” (9:51)
B3. “Whailing” (8:53)

Sessions occurred in June 1978 at Riverside Studios in London with engineer Keith Beal, the Ogun co-founder whose same-period production work included Harry Beckett (Got It Made) and Harry Miller (In Conference). FMP co-founder Jost Gebers produced the album amid 1978 work on Steve Lacy and Evan Parker (Chirps) and John Tchicai & Strange Brothers (John Tchicai & Strange Brothers).

Tippetts designed the sleeve around photography by Anita Corbin, with a black-and-white duo portrait against brickwork inside a broad white border. Corbin photographed the 1981 Visible Girls series across London subcultures near the start of her portrait career.

1980s–1990s

In 1982, guitarist Derek Bailey included the Tippetts in Company Week at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, where her voice, flute, and acoustic guitar interacted with bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa, trombonist George Lewis, violinist Philipp Wachsmann, harpist Anne LeBaron, pianist Ursula Oppens, and guitarists Bailey and Frith. Incus drew Epiphany from the Company performances.

In 1983, Tippetts joined an early configuration of Working Week, a loose jazz-pop/soul collective formed by Weekend alumni Simon Booth (guitar) and Larry Stabbins (saxophone). She sang lead on their 1984 single “Storm of Light,” which reached No. 88 on the UK Singles Chart. Tippetts shared their 1985 single “Stella Marina” with poet/vocalist Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin of the Last Poets.

In January 1987, Siouxsie and the Banshees reached No. 14 on the British singles chart with their version of “This Wheel’s on Fire,” included on their covers album Through the Looking Glass. Siouxsie Sioux knew the song through the 1968 Driscoll recording and learned only afterward that Bob Dylan and Rick Danko wrote the composition.

In 1988, Keith Tippett and Tippetts formalized their duo work as Couple in Spirit for a self-titled album through Editions EG. Working Week returned Tippetts to the microphone for their 1989 album Fire in the Mountain. She also reunited with Maggie Nicols for “Cradle Song,” recorded with violinists Sue Ferrar and Sylvia Hallett at Air Gallery in London on March 4, 1989; SLAM later issued the performance on the 1993 collection Women with Voices.

Tippetts joined Mujician for a 1991 collaboration with a Georgian ensemble after the British group traveled to Tbilisi. The combined ensemble performed in Georgia and Britain, with Tippetts on voice for the June 1 concert at St. George’s in Bristol later issued as The Bristol Concert.

In 1992, Tippetts re-recorded “This Wheel’s on Fire” in a stripped acoustic-vocal arrangement for the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, which gained stateside rotation on the cable channel Comedy Central. She recorded the new version with Adrian Edmondson in a lackadaisical manner reflective of the show’s rambunctious premise, in which life-long friends Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) navigate careers in the fashion industry while their wayward lives clash with the straightlaced nature of Edina’s daughter Saffron (Julia Sawalha).

Discography: