Jay Diggins (born 17 September 1974) is an English singer-songwriter. He is best known for his work with

John Parish John Parish (born 11 April 1959) is an English musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. Parish is best known for his work with singer-songwriter PJ Harvey. He has also worked with such artists as Eels, Aldous Harding, Tracy Chapm ...

Lakin, Nick
"If you fall from grace..."
'' Lancaster Guardian'', Lancaster, 14 June 2013. and for turning down an opportunity to appear on the hit

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

show ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

''. Height: 6’2

Early life

Diggins' early years were spent in the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...

where he learnt to play the guitar. He attended

The Thomas Hardye School The Thomas Hardye School is a secondary academy school in Dorchester, Dorset, England. It is also part of the DASP group. History Grammar school The school is named after Thomas Hardye of Melcombe Regis and later Frampton. Hardye was a p ...

, Dorchester, Dorset and later attended

Yeovil College Yeovil College is a tertiary college for further education and higher education based in Yeovil, Somerset. It maintains a main campus in the town and, at a second site, a Construction Skills Centre. In conjunction with the universities of Bourn ...

Career

He was taught how to perform in a band, by well-known music producer John Parish, in

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somerset's southern border with ...

, Somerset. He then spent two years learning how to record rock music at Parish's studios along with well-known English musician PJ Harvey. He won a place on the world's first Popular Music Sound Recording course at

Salford University , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

. More than 200 times over-subscribed, the course was tutored by record producer

Bill Leader Bill Leader (born 26 December 1929) is an English recording engineer and record producer. He is particularly associated with the British folk music revival of the 1960s and 1970s, producing records by Paddy Tunney, Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, John ...

. In 2011, he designed and built Wyrebank Studios. In May 2013 he recorded "Fall From Grace" and "Ain't No", with John Parish at Toybox Studios in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. The recordings were published online and this led to his music being discovered by BBC programme ''The Voice''. Diggins turned down an offer to appear on the show, however.Plunkett, Sue
"Meet the Scorton based singer/songwriter who turned down Jessie J!"
''

Lancashire Evening Post The ''Lancashire Evening Post'' is a daily newspaper based in Fulwood, a suburb of the city of Preston, Lancashire, England. According to the British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of t ...

'', Preston, 30 August 2013. The two tracks received critical acclaim, with independent radio play and numerous full page reviews in the '' Lancaster Guardian'', '' Garstang Courier'', ''

''. Diggins was special guest and performed a live acoustic set on 94.4 Salford City Radio, before performing on the UK festival circuit. Diggins' debut album ''Searching'' was released on 20 September 2013, with a sold-out album launch at the

Grand Theatre, Lancaster The Grand Theatre in Lancaster, England is one of the oldest theatres in England and the third oldest in Britain, having been in near continuous use since 1782. Though it has seen numerous extensions and alterations, much of the original stone ...

.Lakin, Nick
Festival"Band's Debut Album Launch Makes For A Grand Affair"
''Lancaster Guardian'', Lancaster, 12 September 2013. The album was recorded at two separate studios: at ToyBox Studios in

, in May 2013, for the tracks "Fall From Grace" and "Ain't No", featuring Diggins with John Parish and at Wyrebank Studios for tracks "At Your Expense" and "She Longs for Yesterday", on which Diggins played a prototype

Vox Continental The Vox Continental is a transistorised combo organ that was manufactured between 1962 and 1971 by the British musical equipment manufacturer Vox. It was designed for touring musicians and as an alternative to the heavy Hammond organ. It supp ...

organ, the only one known to be still in existence. Diggins used the same

Vistalite Drums Vistalite drums were a line of acrylic drums produced by the Ludwig Drum company, introduced in 1972. The name Vistalite refers to the translucent plastic that the shells were made out of. Vistalite and acrylic offered a synthetic alternative ...

kit, that Michael Lee had used for the Jimmy Page and Robert Plant reunion tour. The album mastering was by John Dent and Jason Mitchell, who are noted for their work with

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

. Reviewing the album for ''The Lancaster Guardian'', Nick Lakin said, "It is an album greater than the sum of its parts, a rare find these days, and it's perhaps a shame that some of the tracks didn't last longer... Either way it is an accomplished piece of work, with a lot of depth and high production value, the drums, for me, standing out in particular." In 2014 Diggins returned to the Grand Theatre, Lancaster, and also performed at some large theatres supporting

The Beautiful South The Beautiful South were an English pop rock group formed in 1988 by Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway, two former members of the Hull group The Housemartins, both of whom performed lead and backing vocals. Other members throughout the band's exi ...

at the Lyceum Theatre in Crewe and with

Bruce Foxton Bruce Douglas Foxton (born 1 September 1955) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Foxton's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as bassist and backing vocalist of mod revival band the Jam. ...

's From The Jam at

Buxton Opera House Buxton Opera House is in The Square, Buxton, Derbyshire, England. It is a 902-seat opera house that hosts the annual Buxton Festival and the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, among others, as well as pantomime at Christmas, musicals ...

. During 2015, Diggins toured the UK with

Mark Morriss Mark James Morriss (born 18 October 1971) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the frontman for The Bluetones. He is the older brother of bandmate and bass player/illustrator Scott Morriss. He has released four solo albums, worke ...

The Bluetones The Bluetones are an English indie rock band, formed in Hounslow, Greater London, in 1993. The band's members are Mark Morriss on vocals, Adam Devlin on guitar, Mark's brother Scott Morriss on bass guitar, and Eds Chesters on drums. A fifth m ...

.Kirby, Daniel
"The Bluetones – The Ritz, Manchester"
''Gig Soup'', Manchester, 9 October 2015

References

External References

*: official website
Jay Diggins
at bbc.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Diggins, Jay 1974 births English songwriters Living people