(lead
vocals, acoustic guitar)
Date of birth 9th October, 1967
Toby Jepson is probably best described as vocational. His life's dream has been rock music and his determination to success was evident from the very start. There are photographs of Toby and Mark as kids on a mock-up stage with boxes for amps and brush handles for mike stands.
Born in Lincoln on October 9 1967 the Jepson's moved to Scarborough when Toby was 6. Toby's family would play records by Queen and ELO which influenced him to get his first guitar at 11 and have his first band, named "Minator", at 12. Their first gig was at Toby's brothers birthday party. Soon after he attended his first proper gig in Leeds, the band was Rainbow and the gig made it very clear as to what was ahead to make it in the music business.
Toby loves song writing, particularly lyrics, and recently taught himself
basic keyboards to experiment further musically. Also, along with
other members of Little Angels, he has re-discovered many records from the
Sixties and Seventies The Beatles being his current favourites.
When the band began gigging around Scarborough in the mid-80's Toby became notorious for his crazy stage antics such as picking up Bruce by the legs and spinning him round. In fact he would go so mad that by the middle of the set he could barely sing through sheer exhaustion. Eventually as the music developer he utilised his energy more creatively on stage as is evident today. His favourite Little Angels song is "Back Door Man" from the Young Gods album which gave him great satisfaction whilst recording and shows the progressions the band made.
Since 1994..
Toby first discovered bigbadworld.net in 2000, and he wrote the following on 11 January 2000, which probably best sums up the 1995-2002 period in his life:
| Believe it or
not, I am alive! A friend of my wife told us about your site this very evening, and I
must say that I'm stunned!
I was always knocked out by the level of commitment the fans
had and find it deeply flattering that those great people are still out there listening
and talking about us and what we achieved. It was a very difficult thing coming to terms with the split in '94 (not '95 Iain), the circumstances were extremely difficult at the time, relationships were strained and tension was high. But now, so many years later, it seems like the end was just a bad dream. What I prefer to remember are all the great gigs and meet and greets that took place, and all the fantastic things we achieved against all the odds. What really mattered back then was that we were just a small town band with big time ambitions that refused to take 'no' for an answer. Plus we all understood that it was the fans that put us there! Cliché? No, just the truth. Anyway, people have drawn their own conclusions about what happened, so I'm inclined to let sleeping dogs lie. In case you are wondering, my life since goes something like this: Made a solo album at home in Surrey with the help of Sony - toured it, got pneumonia and the project collapsed, split with manager. Moved back to Scarborough to recoup and write. Travelled the world a bit. Moved south west and bought and converted old house. Carried on writing and demoing with many producers and companies. Found it hard to do what I wanted and refused to compromise on the detail, no matter what was offered, so rather than sell out, I decided to change direction - completely! (Not that this is the end of my music I hope, just waiting for the right opportunities to be presented - am a great believer in fate!). I now work in the film business as an AD (Assistant Director) and walk-on/support artiste. Films so far that I have worked on include Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator' and 'Sleepy Hollow'.
That's my plan (subject to change of course). Peace and love to all, and keep writing!!! In case you think this is a hoax..... The first drummer before Dave Hopper was a ginger lad we called Charlie Charlesworth, who went to the same school as myself, Filey Comprehensive. Also, Bruce's mum and dad were gonna call him Angus when he was born, but luckily(?) changed their minds!! Just ask John Dickinson......
|
Intend to move back North as I fancy a slower pace of life
and, more to the point, my wife and I are the very proud parents of two beautiful little
girls. Suddenly life in the fast lane no longer seems so attractive, or indeed
important.
In 2001, rumours started breaking on bigbadworld.net that Toby was about to re-launch his solo career. During November and December, events really began to unfold and on December 14, 2000 Toby wrote:
For the past three month I
have been amazed at the response to the news about me getting back to
playing and recording. I couldn't have made such an instant impact without
this site, as well as other's set up by dedicated fans. I hope my site will
compel you all to visit it as much as you obviously do here. I sincerely
want to thank you all for being so enthusiastic and constructive, your
comments have really helped me to focus on what is important, some have been
overwhelming and make me realise how
powerful music can be in peoples lives. I am dedicated to making great music
for you all in the future and hope you can be as generous about the new
material as you have been about the old. I am positive, mentally and
physically fit, to take on the rock world again and win. I make no idle
boast. It will be hard, but with thousands of friends, I'm sure the task
will be not only easier but FUN and exhilarating!
For the latest Toby Jepson news check out hot off the press, and Toby's own web site, as well as a sub-site on bigbadworld.net dedicated to Toby's activities outside of Little Angels.
My personal thanks to Toby for his support of bigbadworld.net.