Mandolin Jack

MJ started his music career as a founding member of the British folk rock band Frogmorton who played festivals, clubs and radio throughout the 1970s and released the album At Last in 1976 on Philips Records. He spent some time in America before returning to the United Kingdom and starting up The Extraordinaires along with Big John Evans. During the time he was touring with The Extraordinaires, he wrote the hit single "Blue Skies" for The Jets. The Extraordinaires finally went their different ways in 1985; this is when he turned to film and television work.

Since retiring from teaching in the mid-2000s, he has focused his talents as a songwriter, writing and performing as Mandolin Jack.

From 2011 until 2013 he was the UK co-ordinator for the Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI) based in Roy Acuff Place, Nashville, Tennessee.

Until 2020 he ran his own monthly radio show Songwriter Radio with Mandolin Jack on CMR Nashville radio. In addition to his own song-writing, he actively supports local songwriters by organising sessions & featured spots in venues in South West London.

As The Mandolin Jack Experience he performs with Dave Woodhouse AKA Airfix on guitar & Caspar Sewell on bass & Mary Tulloch on vocals

As an animator, director and writer, he is best known for voicing the crucial antagonist part of Zorran in the TV series 'Tugs' in 1989. He directed four of the thirteen episodes, as well as writing two episodes and serving as art director for the entire series. As model-maker he designed the characters & made the pilot tug Ten Cents.

He was the initial scriptwriter & designer for the TV series 'Dream Street'. In the 1990's he served as art director with Michael Caine in St.Petersburg, Russia, on two films, 'Bullet to Beijing' and 'Midnight in Saint Petersburg'; with Paul Hunt for 'Merlin' (October 32nd) in Slovakia and Kal Weber’s 'The Gift' in London, UK; and as an effects technician with Steven Spielberg for 'Saving Private Ryan' in Wexford, Ireland.

In Twickenham Studios in the early 2000s, he carried out digital post-production on many films including 'The Bone Collector' (Philip Noyce), 'The Bunker' (Rob Green) and 'Last Resort' (Pawel Pawlikowski).

In his part time he builds & repairs musical instruments. He actively performs with his own hand-made lap-steel & electric 8-string mandola.