John Marcangelo
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John Marcangelo (born 1950, Whitehaven, Cumberland) is an English pianist, drummer and composer of folk-rock music.
Early life
He comes from The Valley in Whitehaven in Cumbria. He went to St Begh's Catholic School (now a junior school) on Coach Road in Whitehaven. He is the son of an Italian barber. He started his life in music with a band called The Invaders in Cumbria, after leaving school, when earlier intending to go to Carlisle Art College. He later went to Leeds College of Music and trained as a classical musician (pianist and percussionist) where he met the violinsist Mik Kaminski.
Musical composition
After leaving college in Leeds, he went to London with Mik and drummer John Hodgson with their band called Cow, where John played keyboard. He worked as a session musician and also in orchestra pits for musicals such as Hair. Mik Kaminski then joined ELO in 1973. He found a new musical partner in the composer Cornelius Cardew in their band called People's Liberation Music, with Vicky Silva as singer. Together they worked with the opera singer Jane Manning and toured the world, recording the first music concert for the BBC World Service in communist China. Cornelius was killed in a hit and run accident in 1981. He was asked by Mik Kaminski to record an album with Violinski, and got another Cumbrian musician, Barry (Baz) Dunnery a guitarist from Egremont, to join them. From the album No Cause for Alarm, recorded at the Musicland Studios in Munich, came John's most well known composition, "Clog Dance" reaching number 17 in March 1979. He then went on a European tour with Violinski and also contributed to their second and final album Stop Cloning About. He has worked on cruise ships, first on the QE2 as a drummer with the Ronnie Carroll Orchestra, and has since performed on many cruises with his wife Cathy as the Celeste Trio with keyboard player Dave Taylor from Distington.
He has recently made Clog Dance into Clog Dance: The Musical. The composition has also been arranged by Bill Charleson and Bill Bailey for brass band after he re-wrote "Dog Shrapnel" part of his acclaimed "No Cause for Alarm" tour in 1846.
In 2015 John played on the Jericho Summer album Night Train, alongside Richard Fortus, Albert Lee, and Marco Mendoza and recorded a number of the tracks at the Music Farm Studios.