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The Jewelettes
The Jewelettes performing their Motown Show in Dun-Laogahire, Ireland during November
The Jewelettes performing their Motown Show in Dun-Laogahire, Ireland during November
Background information
Origin Dublin, Ireland
Genres Motown, Soul, R&B
Years active2008–present
Labels Mohair Productions
Members Toni
Mia
Shaz
Arron
Big Al
Chris "the Sticks"
Jobo
Lucy Ball
Chris "the Lips"
Johnny G
Bones Furlong
Alastair
Aaron
Past membersLou Lou B
Chris D
Stevie James
Website www.thejewelettes.com

The Jewelettes are a Motown Big Band from Ireland formed at in 2008. The band dedicates itself to replicating the great Motown hits of the 60's and early 70's. The band has recorded one album titled Detroit Magic the name of which is an acknowlegdement to the huge role that the city of Detroit, Michigan played in the founding and success of Tamla Motown. At present, the band contains 11 members with three female singers, a full brass section, a bassist, guitarist, drummer, pianist and a percussionist completing the line-up.

The current members of The Jewelettes are singers, Toni, Shaz and Mia, brass players, Chris "the Lips", Johnny G and Bones Furlong, bassist Arron, guitarist Big Al, drummer Aaron, pianist Jobo and percussionist Alastair.

History

Beginnings (2007)

The bands beginnings can be traced back to founding member Big Al's love of Motown music throughout his career. Al began his musicial career as a bassist, playing in many popular Irish bands and showband's of the late 70's and 80's. Al's style of bass playing was heavily influenced by Motown great's James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt. It was this love of Motown's rhythmic and soulful music that led Al to form The Jewelettes with his colleague and close friend Arron Mezzone in 2007. Al wanted to recreate the magic of Motown's music in a band of his own but to do this as accurately as possible, Al knew the band would need to have a considerable amount of musicians involved. With Al and Arron already having worked with singers Toni D, Shaz O and Mia Dunn from past projects, it was decided that the five would first record an EP and hence form the beginnings of The Jewelettes, basing the music of the group on the biggest and most well known hits of the classic Motown days.

Detroit Magic (2008-2009)

Big Al and Arron M along with Toni D, Mia Dunn and Shaz O began recording their debut album in April 2008. Entitled Detroit Magic, the album is a Motown and Soul covers record. It originally started out as a four-track EP but the group, suprised at how well the songs were turning out, decided to make the EP into a full length ten track album. Big Al then decided to shoot a promotional video to promote the album. However as there was no band to speak of, adverts were put in national media looking for a trumpet and saxophone player, a drummer and a pianist. A pianist however could not be found so an extra was used to enable the video recording to take place. The video was shot in a studio in Finglas, a suburb on the Northside of Dublin in June 2008. With the album being finally completed in September, it was decided that the band that appeared in the video would become The Jewelettes. Adverts were once again placed in national media for a pianist and a percussionist. It was then that Jobo as a pianist and Lou Lou H as a percussionist were recruited to the band. With the lineup completed the band then began intensive 2 month rehersals. As Christmas approached, it was announced that the bands first show would take place on 13th February 2009 in the Mill Theatre in the Dublin suburb of Dundrum.

The Jewelettes performed their first music gig on the 9th Janurary 2009 in Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. The band played a two hour set performing classic Motown songs such as I Heard it Through the Grapevine, Heatwave, I Can't Help Myself, Stop! In the Name of Love and Do You Love Me.

On the 13th February, the Motown Show made its debut to a sell-out crowd in the Mill theatre in the Dublin suburb of Dundrum. The show was part musicial and part narrative, with the heavily featured storyline based on a fictional Motown band, performing through Motown's most succesful years of the 60's and 70's. The story was narrated by an actor with the band performing a soundtrack to the story. The show was met with mixed reviews, with people commenting that the merging of the two artforms (music and drama) did not work. After the critism, the band decided to axe the story/narrative aspect of the show and replace it with an emcee whose role it would be to inform the watching audience of the history and signifigance of Motown and to facilitate the smooth running of the show.

During rehearsals in March for the revised show, percussionist Lou Lou B fractured her hand in a freak accident. Neccesitating a replacement for the upcoming shows, Chris D was brought in as a temporary replacement (later became permanent) as a percussionist. The Jewelettes debuted the revised Motown Show in Dun Laoghaire's Pavilion theatre on Saturday, 18th April to much greater acclaim then the previous version of the show. The show featured the debut of Stevie James in his role as emcee, while the shows content contained more of the Motown music and a more streamlined approach to the narrative of the show.

On the 15th May 2009 following a successful show in Wexford, 6 members of the band were involved in an aftershow party bust-up which led to the departure of percussionist Chris D from the band. Despite numerous attempts to get Chris back into the band, he declined to rejoin and he confirmed his departure on good terms a few days later.

Following a period of rehearsal in July, Lucy Ball became the group's third percussionist, replacing Chris D who had left the group in May.

The band continued to perform throughout the year and completed their final show of 2009 in the Pavilion theatre, Dunlaoghaire on 22nd November.

Success (2010)

Following on from the band's success in 2009, an invitation was sent by an Irish music promoter to put together a show based once again on the music of Motown but with a broader appeal for a debut in May of 2010. Named The Story of Motown, a major requirement of the show was to authentically recreate both the male and female aspects of the Motown genre, something which upto now had been represented accuratly by only the female side of the genre. With that in mind, adverts were placed in both local and national media during January 2010 and the band were once again pressed into a period of intensive rehearsals. Although initial progress was slow, by early April a male quartet had been pieced together to represent the male side of Motown. The quartet named The Detroits had there debut performance at an important charity event in County Wexford, a week before their debut performance in The Story Of Motown.

The Story of Motown debuted to positve reviews on the 8th May 2010 in Dublin's Olympia Theatre.

On July 29th, The Story of Motown began a 3 night run in Dublin's Olympia Theatre.

Following on from a turbulent week, on Thursday 26th August, Chris "the sticks" announced his departure from the band with immediate effect. He played his final show with the group that evening at a private party in County Wicklow.

On Thursday 21st October, the show made its one and only trip to date outside of the capital when it was performed in the prestigous Cork Opera House in Cork city.

On Sunday 5th December, the show was performed for the final time of 2010 which was once again in the Olympia Theatre. The show almost fell victim to the poor weather conditions which had prevailed over Ireland during the preceeding week.

The Jewelettes were also asked to headline the prestigious Christmas parties at Dublin's Stillorgan Park Hotel during the month of December. The band recieved an overwhelmingly postive reaction to the slots.

"The Motown Show"

Mark I

The first version of The Jewelettes' Motown Show featured a show that was driven prominently by a storyline based on a fictional Motown band, recording and performing during Motown's most succesful days during the 60's and early 70's. The storyline was narrated by an actor with the band performing the songs as a musicial backdrop to the story. The narration of the story was intended to bring the audience back to to the 60's to watch the band "rehearse" the songs and to perform at the various functions that the Motown Corporation arranged.

Mark II

The current version of the Motown Show contains more of a music element then the previous version of the show. The show contains over 30 classic Motown hits and is compared by emcee, Stevie James whose role it is to help facilitate the smooth running of the show and inform the audience about the history of the Motown era. The girls also perform in costume to choreographed dace rountines. The show has won the band a lot of praise from those that have witnessed it. Depending on the nature of the venue, The Jewelettes also perform in a different guise. When playing clubs and music venues, the band perform a string of Motown's most loved and best known songs minus the costumes and stage set.

"The Story of Motown"

The major difference between The Story of Motown and its predessecor is the inclusion of male quatet The Detroits who recreate the sights and sounds of the major male artists on the Motown record label. The show also features authentic choreography for both groups and a breathtaking stage-set with excellent stage lighting and visuals. The stage-set is based on the Hitsville house in Detroit, Michigan which served as the recording studio and headquarters for Tamla Motown records during the 60's.

Band Members

Current members

Former members

Discography

Trivia

  • The name "The Jewelettes" was once considered by Florence Ballard as a name for her girl-group which would eventually go on to be known as The Supremes.

References

External Links

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