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Pete du Pon is an English singer/ songwriter making waves as an up and coming unsigned artist touted as the next James Taylor. With a voice that sends shivers down the spine and lyrics which melt hearts, Pete has has been earmarked for great things...
Three years ago Pete du Pon’s life was irrevocably changed by a busker. Pete was three weeks into his first proper job, an opportunity most of his contemporaries would die for. Except the job - working as an analyst for a private equity firm - was killing him.
“One rainy Tuesday afternoon I was getting the tube from work and I heard this guy singing a song I’d never heard before, something about ‘trouble’” he says. “I think busking is a tough job because really nobody really cares let alone listens, but there he was singing his heart out alone in his own bubble. That was the moment I knew I couldn’t spend carry on looking at company spreadsheets. What I really wanted to do all my life was music. I’d been singing and writing my own stuff hidden away in the bedroom for years but until that day music had always seemed more of a distant than a career prospect”.
Within a few weeks Pete was out in the wild with no job and no plans except a burning determination to make music. Three tough years later and the city’s loss is our gain. Pete’s trenchant heartfelt observations on life, loss and love - and his idiosyncratic re-imagining of Green Day’s Basket Case - have led to a growing mass following on MySpace. Support slots with Amy MacDonald and Thea Gilmore have introduced him to a whole new audience.
Born in Canada, raised near Guildford, Pete du Pon travels on a Dutch passport courtesy of his dad (“I only speak about 10 words of Dutch and most of them are rude”). As the only boy in the family – he has two elder sisters and a twin all talkative and opinionated – from an early age he learned to listen and to observe people, interact, laugh, and cry. At dinner where the conversation bubbled at high volume the only way to make himself heard was to learn to tell stories, about what he did, thought and felt.
Raised in a musical house, his father played the piano, guitar and sang while Cat Stevens, James Taylor, and Bob Dylan echoed through the house. The girls were all musical, “somebody would always be playing the piano with Mum or Dad roping the rest us to join in”. At parties, he recalls with a slight shudder, the children would often be called upon to perform “although I’m not sure how good you can be at 10.”
Even forgetting the embarrassing “Von Trapp family sing-along” moments Pete’s childhood, though comfortable, was far from normal. He was born with a shortened femur, leaving one leg longer than the other. From the age of nine he had to endure several operations followed by months of painful rehab.
“I wasn’t really ever able to play football or sports as easily as others” he recalls. “I was never going to be the first choice for the teams but I do love sport and I can hold my own on a football pitch or tennis court, but instead of sports at school I would do music. Psychologically it did make me less confident, as a teenager I wouldn’t just jump into the pool like all the other guys. It’s not a hindrance but it changes things and I guess it’s made me more susceptible to emotions – both mine and other people’s. Maybe that’s why writing is easier for me.”
“There’s a difference between strumming and writing in your bedroom and actually performing your own songs on the stage” he recalls. Pete had started writing songs at 15 but it wasn’t until his third year at University (studying Business and French) and living in Grenoble that he made that leap. He went into a bar looking for work and announced he’d like to play the guitar. He started playing the usual Radiohead, Green Day and Oasis covers for “30 Euros and as much beer as I could drink. After a few months it got to the point where I became more of a karaoke machine so I started to slip in the some of my songs hoping they’d think it sounded like David Gray or Damien Rice.”
By the end of his time in Grenoble Pete was playing three regular bar gigs even venturing up the mountains to the ski resort of Meribel. Back in Britain he put his dream back on hold, finished his university course and went to work in the City - until that day when he heard ‘Trouble’ for the first time.
After leaving his job at the private equity firm Pete would temp for a few months – cold calling, data entry – and then take two months off , borrowing an antique 8 track recorder here and a decent microphone there, make recordings, email them out to publishers and wait for the feedback.
One of his most successful collaborations with Stuart Zender (Jamiroquai’s former bassist who is currently touring with Mark Ronson), is ‘Someone Like You’ which features in a new American movie, Ball Don’t Lie, starring rapper Ludacris and Rosanne Arquette. He has also worked with some of the finest composers in the country including Rollo and Marky Bates from Faithless, Jamiroquai’s Si Katz, Brian McFadden, Julian Gallagher (James Morrison, U2), Blair Mackichan (Lily Allen, Will Young), Arthur Baker and Chris Leonard.
In February 2008 Pete was offered a slot on the World Space sessions at Abbey Road Studios at short notice. One of the prerequisites was he had to play a cover. Along with his backing musicians - a guitarist and cello player – he played an old arrangement of Green Day’s ‘Basket Case’ which he’d first played back in France. “I’d slowed it right down on the piano then put it back onto the guitar - it’s just a different way of looking at it.” His arrangement got a massive reaction not only here but over in the States and was picked up by gossip maven Perez Hilton who put it on his homepage. The song was incredibly well received attracting over 15,000 hits on the first day it was put online.
While Basket Case showed Pete’s ability to deconstruct and rebuild a great song it is his own songs, composed both on piano and guitar, sung in his unique haunting voice that are really grabbing the attention. His debut four track EP which features the songs ‘Lost’, ‘Tell Her’, ‘Superhero’ and ‘Sorry For Letting You Down’ is just an introduction to an artist who can speak straight to the heart.
And so far he hasn’t had to busk...
WHAT THE PAPERS SAY:
The Dailly Mirror: "Look out for hotly-tipped singer-songwriter Pete du Pon. Rollo from Faithless and Brian McFadden are the latest to join his band of celebrity fans - we think he has what it takes."
The London Paper: "Hotly tipped artist Pete du Pon, who has been working with Faithless's Rollo."
The London Paper Cobden gig review: "Highly-rated Pete du Pon played a storming gig at the Cobden Club last night. theBuzz thinks he's going to be big news..."
The London Paper Troubador gig review: "theBuzz's hotly-tipped act for 2008."
The London Paper: " theBuzz's hotly-tipped artist Pete du Pon played a storming show for AOL at Abbey Road studios..." Gibson.com: "One of the UK's best unsigned artists"
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Pete's song 'Superhero' is featured on a CD called 'Raise Me Up' It is available to buy now from all good record stores and by clicking on the following links:
Amazon
HMV
Play.com
Order Pete's debut CD 'Lost' by clicking on the following link:
Amazon
Contact:
Publisher:
John Woolf
jrwoolf@aol.com
Booking Agent (please email for all booking enquires)
Isobel Dacombe
Isobel.Dacombe@helterskelter.co.uk
Check out these photographs from Pete's Lastest visit to the famous Abbey Road Studios:
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