Lifesigns are an English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band, first conceived by lead singer and keys player

John Young John Young may refer to: Academics * John Young (professor of Greek) (died 1820), Scottish professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow * John C. Young (college president) (1803–1857), American educator, pastor, and president of Centre Col ...

in 2008. By 2014, the band's lineup included Steve Rispin as their sound engineer,

Jon Poole Jonathan Charles Poole (born 16 October 1969), also known by his stage name Random Jon Poole, is an English multi-instrumentalist singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as guitarist for Cardiacs and as bass player for the Wildhea ...

on bass and vocals, Martin "Frosty" Beedle on drums, percussion and vocals, and formerly

Niko Tsonev Niko Tsonev is a Bulgarian-born musician, producer, composer, mixing engineer, and arranger living in London, England. At age four, Tsonev played accordion; later he began playing guitar but only in his early teen years Tsonev began formally takin ...

on guitars and vocals. After Tsonev departed the band in 2016,

Dave Bainbridge Dave Bainbridge is an English guitarist and keyboard player who has played with The Strawbs since 2015. With Dave Fitzgerald, Dave co-founded the Christian progressive and Celtic folk themed band Iona. Biography Born in Darlington, Engla ...

joined on guitar and additional keys. Beedle left the band in 2020 and was replaced by Zoltán Csörsz. The band are noted for their keyboard-driven melodic prog rock sound and

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

influences. Lifesigns released their self-titled debut studio album in 2013. Their third and latest studio album, ''Altitude'', was released in 2021.

History

Lifesigns was conceived in 2008 by John Young. Working together with sound engineer Steve Rispin, John started to lay the grounds for the Lifesigns album in 2008. In 2010, John was joined by longtime friend

Nick Beggs Nicholas Beggs (born 15 December 1961Larkin, Colin (1997) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music'', Virgin Books, , p. 270-271) is an English musician, noted for playing the bass guitar and the Chapman Stick; he is a member of the Mute Go ...

on bass,

Chapman Stick The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines, melody lines, ...

and background vocals, and by drummer Martin "Frosty" Beedle to complete the first lineup of the band. The band worked for over two years to complete their self-titled debut album, with notable guest stars such as progressive rock legend

Steve Hackett Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis ...

(

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

Jakko Jakszyk Michael "Jakko" Jakszyk (born Michael Lee Curran, 8 June 1958) is an English musician, record producer, and actor. He has released several solo albums as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist and has been the lead singer for King Crims ...

(

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

Thijs Van Leer Thijs van Leer (pronounced: ; born 31 March 1948) is a Dutch singer and keyboardist, best known as the founding member of the rock band Focus as its primary vocalist, keyboardist, and flautist. Born and raised in Amsterdam among a musical famil ...

(from Focus) on flute, and Robin Boult (from Fish) on guitar. "Lifesigns" was released on 5 February 2013. Lifesigns02

The band began live performances in 2014. As Nick Beggs was busy with other musical endeavors (notably touring with Steve Hackett), Jon Poole was recruited to handle bass and vocals, while

(departed the band August 2016) took up the guitar duties. The band performed on the progressive "Cruise to the Edge" in the Spring of 2014, as well as appearances in England and continental Europe. In addition to the entire Lifesigns debut, other songs performed included material from the John Young Band, as well as new material. In October 2015, Lifesigns released a live DVD titled ''Under the Bridge - Live in London'', filmed at a venue beneath the

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

stadium, over two nights in January of the same year. The project was crowdfunded via

PledgeMusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...

. In September 2017, Lifesigns released their second studio album, ''Cardington''. The ''Prog Report'' described it as "a specific and customized alcove of prog that does not sound quite like anything else". It features recordings of "Different", "Impossible", and "Voice in My Head", and four new tracks. ''Cardington'' features guitarist

who subsequently joined the band's live lineup in June 2017. It was their second crowdfunded project, and they met their funding target within 48 hours of launching the campaign. The album reached no. 20 on the

Independent Albums Chart The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' mag ...

and no. 76 on the Physical Albums Chart in the UK. 2018 has seen the band perform several live dates throughout the U.K., with further live dates in March/April 2019 on the Cruise to the Edge and in Europe. On 15 January 2020, the band released a 4-track digital EP titled ''Lifesigns Music'', featuring one track from each of their previous releases. A radio edit of "Impossible", which previously featured on ''Cardington'', was released as a single with an accompanying music video. On 9 June 2020 Frosty Beedle announced his departure from the band. Zoltán Csörsz (Flower Kings, Karmakanic) was announced as his replacement on 12 June 2020. In 2021, Lifesigns released their third studio album, ''Altitude''. It was produced during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and received financial support via an independent crowdfunding campaign. The album was first made available as a download, and a CD release followed on 8 March 2021. The band will embark on a European tour later in 2023, with a live album and a new studio album expected to follow.

Members

Current members *

– keyboards, lead vocals *

– bass guitar, vocals *

Zoltán Csörsz Zoltán Csörsz (born 4 July 1976) is a Hungarian drummer who is most well known as the ex-drummer with the progressive rock band The Flower Kings. Biography Zoltan Csörsz was born on 4 July 1976 in Hungary. He began playing drums at age fiv ...

– drums, percussion *

– guitar, keyboards * Steve Rispin – sound engineer, production Former members *

– bass guitar,

, vocals (2010–2013) *

– guitar, vocals (2014–2016) *

Frosty Beedle Martin "Frosty" Beedle (born 18 September 1961) is a British musician who plays, produces and composes music. He plays drums, percussion, programs keyboard parts using high quality plugins and sings all types of genres. He plays various styles ...

– drums, percussion, vocals (2010–2020)

Discography

Studio

*''Lifesigns'' (2013) *''Cardington'' (2017) *''Altitude'' (2021)

Live

*''Under the Bridge - Live in London'' (DVD - 2015)

Gallery

File:030Lifesigns.JPG, Lifesigns at 'The Horns' Watford in July 2014 File:LifesignsUTB053.JPG, Lifesigns at 'Under The Bridge' in January 2015 File:Lifesigns at The Portland Arms Cambridge in December 2014.JPG, Lifesigns at 'The Portland Arms' Cambridge in December 2014

References

* * *

External links

* * {{Authority control British progressive rock groups