GOING BACK TO MY ROOTS!! Part one

If you listen to my music, you might be forgiven for thinking that I come from a jazzy/soulful background. Well sort of. 
My Dad is a musician, and bought me up on a diet of Marvin Gaye, Joni Mitchell, Beatles, and Classical music,peppered with some world influences(I recall a vinyl of Laysmith Black Mambazo, and going to Gamelan gigs and stuff like that), bits of funk and anything with a black influence. My Dad told me stories of supporting the Wailers in concert(before they got massive), seeing all the greats in concert, Hammersmith Palais, the university cicuit and how wonderful it all sounded! I am so jealous of the time he grew up in. My Father's family settled in North London many generations before my time. I love the thought of growing up in the 50's and 60's. Pea-soupers, post-war freedom, the docks still open, the first Burger bars, the Mods and Rockers, the cusp of mass hedonism, the Victoria line being built. London still full of Londoners, but with the addition of some much needed culture, west indian and subcontinental people coming in large numbers. Wonderful! 
Pop music was still a new phenomenon back then. Rock and roll was the first of it, which as you probably know was considered shocking at the time! If you could imagine artists like Lady Gaga and Rhianna then! The Beatles and Stones were obviously the most widely known British acts, and my parents loved the Beatles especially, but the music that rang out for them, my father in particular, was Motown. Aretha, Marvin, Tammy, the Jacksons, Stevie, etc. What music! The best. These people could really play and sing. My Dad was spellbound. I think that's what made him a musician. 
 My Mum on the other hand, was bought up in rural Essex, a world away. Her tastes were much more 'hippy', Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell,David Bowie, Frank Zappa etc. She made daisy chains while dreaming of escaping her hellish family life and dull backwaters, which thankfully, she did. 
I have everything to thank my parents for. They both instilled a great sense of the importance of music and creativity in me from birth, or even before. My Mum would play the piano while pregnant, I recognised pieces she hadn't played until many years later. I was learning the piano age 4. It was a given that I would be a musician. 

Later....on to my own personal tastes!