British keyboardist and singer (born 1943)
Jeffrey Bannister (born 7 January 1943) is a British keyboardist and singer. He started in early 1960s rock and roll groups, and was a member of The John Barry Seven in their later years. He then joined the groups spinoff, The Alan Bown Set. He later joined the Jersey band A Band Called O, and since 2010 has been a member of Alan Lovell's The Swinging Blue Jeans.
Career.
Bannister's first groups were small bands in London, these were was a four piece band called The Escorts, Express Combo, The Five Statesman, who were managed by Paul Cave Agency, and Rey Anton and The Peppermint Men, who were signed to Parlophone.
Jeff was a member of The John Barry Seven at the tail-end of their existence before the group disbanded in 1965. He joined their trumpeter, Alan Bown, to form The Alan Bown Set, with Dave Green and Stan Haldane. Bannister was both lead singer and organist, but recruited Jess Roden so Jeff could focus more on the keys. The band appeared on Top of the Pops in 1968 with "We Can Help You", that was at no. 26 in the UK. Jeff left the Alan Bown Set in July 1971 to go solo.
Bannister then joined the Jersey band A Band Called O in 1975. Originally known as The Parlour Band (and later as just The O Band), their first album was produced by Chris White of The Zombies. Two songs of theirs, "A Smile Is Diamond" and "Coasting", charted in Germany in 1976, and a few additional songs also entered Swiss charts.
He played keyboards Jess Roden's "Country Home" (1970), Raphael Ravenscroft's "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" (1979), and Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" (1980). Bannister has supported Charlie Dore, Ric Lee and Gerry Rafferty on stage. As a session musician he played keyboards on albums by Bronco, Starry Eyed and Laughing, Magna Carta, Raphael Ravenscroft and Joan Jett. 
Jeff joined The Swinging Blue Jeans on keyboards and vocals in June 2010, when guitarist Alan Lovell reformed the group following lead singer Ray Ennis' retirement.
Bannister has published six books about fictional fantasy, auto-biography, and teaching piano chords. One of these books, The Alan Bown Set: Before And Beyond, was released in 2007 and was co-wrote with Alan Bown, goes in-depth about their time in The John Barry Seven and The Alan Bown Set, and the later career of Alan Bown. The book includes contributions by Elton John, Phil Collins, Francis Rossi and Peter Stringfellow.
Books.
Reference
References.
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