davieG Posted 13 March 2010 Posted 13 March 2010 From the Merc Leicester rocks – it's official. The city has made it into a top 20 list of musical places in the UK, based on where songwriters are born. The list, topped by Bristol, looks at everyone from jingle composers to stadium rock acts to work out which places produce the biggest proportion of registered recording artists. It is based on proportions of population so is not dominated by the biggest cities. And thanks to the efforts of Kasabian, Showaddywaddy and hundreds of lesser-known songwriters, Leicester makes it in at number 17. Dave Bartram's band Showaddywaddy are among the Leicester-born maestros. He said: "Leicester certainly inspired music in my case and I think it is a relatively musical place. "Leicester just has something about it musically." Other famous city-born musicians include Queen bassist John Deacon, Deep Purple organist Jon Lord and Dire Straits bassist John Illsley, as well as bands such as Diesel Park West. But the list, produced by the Performing Right Society (PRS) using their database of 65,000 living members, is largely influenced by the lesser-known names. The top 20 also has a lot of surprises. While London has the greatest number of musicians living in it, the city did not make the top 20 for musical births, coming in at number 26. And Leicester is also ahead of Liverpool – home of The Beatles. A public vote by Arts Council England two years ago had named Liverpool the UK's most musical city, with Leicester in fourth place. PRS spokesman Andrew Fyffe said: "Because it's based on proportions of populations it's not as London-centric as people might have expected. "We've got a few places from the South East but then there are places like Leicester that have done well, alongside three Scottish locations. It's very pleasing to see such a mix." Two of Leicester's big names – Engelbert Humperdinck and Mark Morrison – did not help the city's ranking because they were born outside the UK. Sheehan's music shop in London Road, Leicester, runs music lessons and promotes live music. Dan Monk, who runs the orchestral instruments department, said: "There are a lot of jamming sessions that go on in Leicester and pubs like The Musician and The Donkey give people a chance to get into music. There's a good variety of pop, rock and folk. When it comes to attracting big pop acts Leicester doesn't do as well as other places. "We've got De Montfort Hall but that only tends to get the more serious music. But people in Leicester are obviously good at making their own music." The Top 20 musical cities 1. Bristol 2. Cardiff 3. Wakefield 4. Glasgow 5. Cheltenham 6. Edinburgh 7. Manchester 8. Paisley 9. Doncaster 10. Londonderry 11. Halifax 12. Sunderland 13. Swindon 14. Blackpool 15. Wigan 16. Brighton 17. Leicester 18. Liverpool 19. Wolverhampton 20. Stoke
LCFC-ARAB Posted 13 March 2010 Posted 13 March 2010 No mention of Mark Morrison. He is mentioned! But he wasn't born in Leicester So he wasn't counted
davieG Posted 13 March 2010 Author Posted 13 March 2010 Who the fook are diesel park west?! They used to be called the Filberts - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_Park_West
Fosse Boy Posted 13 March 2010 Posted 13 March 2010 If it's just going on birthplace alone it seems like a pretty pointless exercise really.
MC Prussian Posted 13 March 2010 Posted 13 March 2010 If it's just going on birthplace alone it seems like a pretty pointless exercise really. Just another paper-filler. I doubt the musicians/artists counted were all actually born in said cities.
Lillehamring Posted 13 March 2010 Posted 13 March 2010 Who the fook are diesel park west?! ash17's 2nd favourite band
Trav Le Bleu Posted 14 March 2010 Posted 14 March 2010 Sure as hell wasn't based on quality live music venues
z-layrex Posted 14 March 2010 Posted 14 March 2010 That list seems a bit off. Brighton is bursting at the seems with bands and it's not even in the top 20?
davieG Posted 14 March 2010 Author Posted 14 March 2010 That list seems a bit off. Brighton is bursting at the seems with bands and it's not even in the top 20? Perhaps they weren't born in Brighton or don't actually write their own songs.
Trav Le Bleu Posted 14 March 2010 Posted 14 March 2010 What DavieG said... plus Brighton has a very low birth-rate, for some reason.
z-layrex Posted 14 March 2010 Posted 14 March 2010 Perhaps they weren't born in Brighton or don't actually write their own songs. Oh that's a thought, most seem to move here.
Guest Posted 14 March 2010 Posted 14 March 2010 That list seems a bit off. Brighton is bursting at the seems with bands and it's not even in the top 20? Like with London, it could be because of an influx of "outsiders". Where's Tony when there's issues like this to be sorted?
z-layrex Posted 14 March 2010 Posted 14 March 2010 What DavieG said... plus Brighton has a very low birth-rate, for some reason. Edited as didn't mean to be rude.
Edmund Posted 14 March 2010 Posted 14 March 2010 That list seems a bit off. Brighton is bursting at the seems with bands and it's not even in the top 20? So what is that city at 16th Although this list seems to have no correlation I definitely agree that Bristol has one of the best music scenes in England.
Samilktray Posted 14 March 2010 Posted 14 March 2010 Yeah not many chavs or muslim families. Goood oneeeeeeeeeeeeeee
iBleedLeicesterColours Posted 14 March 2010 Posted 14 March 2010 We may be 17th but certainly have the best band ... Deacon blue aswell i know the drummer was from Leicester as my dad knows him. Also my nan dated Engelbert for a bit and said he was the most miserable bloke she'd ever met !!
Guest Posted 14 March 2010 Posted 14 March 2010 Also my nan dated Engelbert for a bit and said he was the most miserable bloke she'd ever met !! My Dad knew him (not in the same way as your Nan, obviously...) and he also said he was miserable. Actually, what he said was "a bit of a mardy so and so, who thought being brooding made him God's Gift to women". And no, it wasn't my Dad being jealous. My Dad had a lot of attention as the women thought he looked like Billy Fury, who was apparently a bit of a heart throb in those days.
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