BANANA REBEL
TOP BANANA
Milton Reame-James
Milton (on the left) with the band...
I was born in the West Midlands and went to university in Yorkshire studying Colour Chemistry. I spent a lot of time working with music in the theatre and jazz groups and touring with professional companies. I met Steve Harley whilst on a placement in Essex and was asked to join the original Cockney Rebel line-up in 1973. The band recorded "The Human Menagerie".
After the split, I stayed with Paul Jeffreys and joined Be-Bop Deluxe who were currently on tour with the band. EMI were so amazed at how like the original Cockney Rebel Be-Bop Deluxe sounded that they insisted that Bill Nelson change line-ups.
Paul and I then started from scratch again working through line-ups until we joined up with The Warm Jets. We were later signed to RSO Records and toured extensively building a large live fanbase. The band had a relaunch as The Electric Eels - releasing a single and EP - but I decided it was time for a break.
I also worked for Modern Romance who had hits in the early 80's. Some of the Electric Eels material was covered, giving us success with "Tight Fit" and "Felicity Kendal".
I have worked extensively as a session keyboard player and written many musicals for the theatre. "Venus and Superkid" was in the West End and "Oor Wullie" from the Scottish Sunday Post toured Scotland in major venues.
The tragic death of Paul Jeffreys in the Lockerbie disaster had a profound effect on me. I went away from writing music for a long while.
So, my main creative area has been building up my own recording studio. Much of the work has been with voice-overs, commercials and corporate sound projects. It was a big surprise to find conventional songwriters coming back to me recently to use the studio for music again. Tim Fraser came in and recorded loads of great songs, including "falling" which is now on the new Tina Turner album.
This spurred me on to get back to music, and when James suggested working together I got excited. The result? Banana Rebel and the first CD.
Milton: current news
My newest venture is "Rainbow Ride", which opened at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, on 11th July 2003. The show also ran at the Edinburgh Festival.
This is a multimedia show, a music and visual ride through the colours of the rainbow based on all the classic ideas about colour and sound. More development is taking place and we are back in Edinburgh next Festival for three weeks. We also hope to have a few more venues to anounce soon.