User:Paul P Maguire

Paul Maguire was born in London and put up for adoption. He never knew who his natural parents were but later discovered from a DNA test it revealed his paternal side was Norse/Scottish and his mother English. He was adopted by a staunch Christian family. His adopted mother, Vera, had vowed a life of celibacy.

Early musical career.

He first played to an audience when he was 12, playing piano for a talent show at Butlins in Clacton which he won. His first band was formed at a youth club in Woodford (then Essex) performing just one gig supporting the Honeycombs at Hawkey Hall in Woodford. In 1970 he went to see Chicken Shack at Groovesville (Wake Arms, Epping) and got chatting with support band, Axe. It turned out they were looking for a keyboard player so without further thought, he asked if he could do it. Their keyboard player at the time was moving to another band based in Bristol, where Axe were also based and allowed Paul to play the soundcheck. In at the deep end they told him they always chececked 'Back In The USSR' which he had never played before, but he jammed it and got the job. The band followed him in his old Ford Zephyr back to his parents house where he told them he was leaving home. He managed to get his organ out of the house and a few odds and ends while his parents were screaming at him, quoting bible passages and his fater who was only a little over 5' tall tried to attack Mark, the drummer and leader of the band. Paul had a very unhappy childhood and was subject to all kinds of abuse at the church and at school so he only needed the chance to leave home so he literally ran away with a rock band. He recorded with Axe at Strawberry Studios in Bristol for their debut album, Up In The Downs. He came back to his home in London to join an ELP tribute band called Trillogy but had a big falling out with the others and then moved to Cambridge. He played with several bands until he joined a uniqe reggae /rock band in 1979 called Hondo. He recorded several singles with them and was included on the Cambridge album of bands called Honey For Tea, all recorded at the then famous Spaceward Studios in Cambridge and later in Stretham, a small village between Cambridge and Ely. In 2005 he joined Highway 5, a blues touring band based in Milton Keynes, a revamped 70s band called Badger in 208 and then moved to join Ian Anderton to reform his 90s band Blue Haze. Paul owned and ran a studio in Cambridgeshire at the time and the band recorded there but sadly the recordings were all erased by his busines partner after a falling out. He carried on working with Blue Haze up to 2016 when the band split. It was a strong band musically and they played several festivals supporting Simple Minds, Hawkwind. Paul was also the original stage manager at the Cambridge Rock Festival working with them for the first 4 events. In 2018 he packed up and along with his partner Elaine, moved to a remote island in Orkney where he wrote and recorded his solo album, Dancers and Lights, named after the regular appearences of the Aurora Borialis. It is now on sale in two formats, CD and 12" vinyl and as a statement to voice his anger at the unfair payments by online music providers, will never be available as a download.