Zara Phillips, Frank Turner, et Richard Thompson

Frank Turner has an innovative way of blending the genres of folk, punk and rock with his intelligent lyrics to create quietly anthemic music. Often described as a social commentator, the Bahrain born, Meonstoke raised songwriter released his first album 'Sleep Is for the Week' in 2007 which was received well critically. 'Love Ire & Song' came in the following year and made Turner's first dent in the UK album charts, his reputation was growing quickly as his tours began to sell out by his loyal fan base. He supported The Offspring and The Gaslight Anthem on tours which developed his reputation further.

The next album 'Poetry of the Deed' debuted within the UK top 40 thanks to support from the likes of Kerrang and Q Magazine. This album gained him a nomination for an NME Award in the Best Solo Artist category. He became a regular on the festival circuit, playing Two Thousand Trees, Reading & Leeds and Cambridge Folk to support the release of 2011 album 'England Keep My Bones'. He won two AIM awards in the same year for Best Live Act and Hardest Working Artist.

In 2012 Frank and his support band The Sleeping Souls were personally invited as the warm up act to the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony where they played 'Sailor's Boots' 'Wessex Boy' and 'I Still Believe'. His biggest commercial album to date was released in 2013 and was titled 'Tape Deck Heart', it debuted in the UK at #2 and holds a MetaCritic score of 78/100. It also featured a hit single of sorts in 'The Way I Tend To Be' which became Turner's second ever appearance on the UK singles chart.

Thompson formed his first band Emil and the Detectives while still attending secondary school, and like so many of his age took to listening-to and playing rock and roll. At the age of 18 now in the band Fairport Convention Thompson was spotted by producer Joe Boyd who invited the band to make a record, soon after Thompson developed a reputation as being a brilliant guitar player. The band released five studio albums including “What We Did on Our Holiday” (1968) and “Unhalfbricking” (1969).

After leaving the group, unsure as to what to do with himself, Thompson undertook a sizeable amount of session work, appearing on the albums of John Martyn, Al Stewart and Nick Drake. The musician also collaborated on the projects Morris On and The Bunch around the same time and made guest appearances on albums by Crowded House, Loudon Wainwright III and Bonnie Raitt.

Thompson’s debut album “Henry the Human Fly” was released in 1972 and was Warner Bros. Records’ worst selling album in history, after which the guitarist focused on work with wife Linda Peters. The duo went on to release a string of albums including “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight” (1974) and after returning to the music industry after a hiatus with a Muslim community “Shoot Out the Lights” (1982).

In 1984 Thompson signed to major-label Polydor who released the albums “Across a Crowded Room” in 1985 and “Daring Adventure” in 1986, neither album performed significantly well in the charts and the musician was dropped shortly after. Thompson then went on the form a band called French Frith Kaiser Thompson, formed of John French, Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser. The group signed to Capitol Records recorded and released the albums “Live, Love, Larf & Loaf” (1987), “Amnesia” (1988) “Invisible Means” (1990) and the commercial breakthrough album “Rumor and Sigh” (1991).

Due to his success and devoted following Thompson had free reign over his musical exploration, which allowed him to release a number of diverse studio albums in the 1990s and work on the soundtrack for the film “Sweet Talker”. The new millennium brought independent releases from Thompson; recorded in his garage studio were “The Old Kit Bag” (2003) and “Front Parlour Ballads” (2005).

Thompson’s next studio album “Sweet Warrior” arrived in 2007 which was followed by an album of live recordings called “Dream Attic” in 2010. Recorded at Buddy Miller’s home studio in Nashville, U.S. “Electric” was released in 2013 and highlighted the guitarist’s enviable musical talent.