Post by ©KAJAMANIA Board Team (Slim K) on May 29, 2004 18:05:45 GMT -5
--------courtesy of www.kajagoogoo.com------------
heeeeey Kajamaniac's
some infos on our Stu.!
Born 5 August 1960, Stuart Neale was the youngest of 4 children. He grew up in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire with his sister Lorraine, and brothers Malcolm & Adrian.
At age 12, Stuart attended The Royal College of Music, first learning ‘cello & piano, then when he was 14, classical guitar. Stuart achieved great results with a grade 7 piano; grade 6 ‘cello; grade 4 classical guitar.
His first band at the age of 14 was called ‘Lazy’, an original rock band doing their own songs in the style of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath & Deep Purple.
At Cedars Grammer School, Stuart obtained 8 O’levels, but chose not to continue his academic career, and left school much to the disappointment of his parents.
Stuart had a series of casual jobs, including employment at Mother’s pride, London Brick Co. and a car spoiler manufacturer. Then aged 17, he started work at Kemble Yamaha and trained as a piano tuner. At age 18 Stuart left Kemble Yamaha to join Art Nouveau with Steve, Nick and Jez.
During his time in Kajagoogoo Stuart married, and in 1986 became a father for the first time to twins Jasmine and Sarai. A third daughter Ruth was born in 1989.
Following on from when Kaja split up, Stuart embarked on a solo venture, writing and performing in the UK to establish himself as a solo artist.
During this period, Stuart worked with a variety of artists, Helen Shapiro being one of them, and did some interesting sessions/gigs etc. It was at this time that Stuart developed his ability as a guitarist to perform and compose which of course was quite a challenge(being formerly the keyboard wizard in Kajagoogoo). Whilst some good opportunities came along, unfortunately there was no record deal, so it was back to the drawing board! In fact this time of his life was probably the most difficult, as some financial investments had been made and not realised.
A house move brought him back to his hometown of Leighton Buzzard in 1991, where shortly afterwards he was divorced. Around this time he met a musician and now close friend, who invited him to join a covers band, (called Malachi), and also gave Stuart a chance to retrain in a completely different industry, namely Computing software. This was a life changing moment as after 10 or 11 years, Stuart has now established himself as a Business Development Manager, working within the corporate IT business for a company called ReadSoft. A bit different from touring the world as a musician, but both challenging and rewarding.
In 1992, Stuart met his new wife Clare in Belfast where Clare was working for Stuart’s brother Malcolm as a nanny. Malcolm has worked in Belfast for the Ulster orchestra for over 25 years.
Now Stuart and Clare have 3 other members of the family – Shannon born in 1995, Ciara-Beth born 1997, and Niamh born 2000. So together with Stuart’s other 3 children – Jasmine, Sarai and Ruth it is quite a busy household when everyone is together!
Through all of this time, Stuart has kept the contact with Nick and Steve from Kajagoogoo has never gone away and Steve joined Malachi as the bass player and they have played together for several years.
Stuart has recently re-located to Belfast and still travels to Leighton Buzzard every week to maintain the career with ReadSoft (based in Milton Keynes) and therefore is able to continue to meet up for song-writing and general shenanigans with Nick and Steve on a regular basis!!!!
peace & love
SLIM K
heeeeey Kajamaniac's
some infos on our Stu.!
Born 5 August 1960, Stuart Neale was the youngest of 4 children. He grew up in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire with his sister Lorraine, and brothers Malcolm & Adrian.
At age 12, Stuart attended The Royal College of Music, first learning ‘cello & piano, then when he was 14, classical guitar. Stuart achieved great results with a grade 7 piano; grade 6 ‘cello; grade 4 classical guitar.
His first band at the age of 14 was called ‘Lazy’, an original rock band doing their own songs in the style of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath & Deep Purple.
At Cedars Grammer School, Stuart obtained 8 O’levels, but chose not to continue his academic career, and left school much to the disappointment of his parents.
Stuart had a series of casual jobs, including employment at Mother’s pride, London Brick Co. and a car spoiler manufacturer. Then aged 17, he started work at Kemble Yamaha and trained as a piano tuner. At age 18 Stuart left Kemble Yamaha to join Art Nouveau with Steve, Nick and Jez.
During his time in Kajagoogoo Stuart married, and in 1986 became a father for the first time to twins Jasmine and Sarai. A third daughter Ruth was born in 1989.
Following on from when Kaja split up, Stuart embarked on a solo venture, writing and performing in the UK to establish himself as a solo artist.
During this period, Stuart worked with a variety of artists, Helen Shapiro being one of them, and did some interesting sessions/gigs etc. It was at this time that Stuart developed his ability as a guitarist to perform and compose which of course was quite a challenge(being formerly the keyboard wizard in Kajagoogoo). Whilst some good opportunities came along, unfortunately there was no record deal, so it was back to the drawing board! In fact this time of his life was probably the most difficult, as some financial investments had been made and not realised.
A house move brought him back to his hometown of Leighton Buzzard in 1991, where shortly afterwards he was divorced. Around this time he met a musician and now close friend, who invited him to join a covers band, (called Malachi), and also gave Stuart a chance to retrain in a completely different industry, namely Computing software. This was a life changing moment as after 10 or 11 years, Stuart has now established himself as a Business Development Manager, working within the corporate IT business for a company called ReadSoft. A bit different from touring the world as a musician, but both challenging and rewarding.
In 1992, Stuart met his new wife Clare in Belfast where Clare was working for Stuart’s brother Malcolm as a nanny. Malcolm has worked in Belfast for the Ulster orchestra for over 25 years.
Now Stuart and Clare have 3 other members of the family – Shannon born in 1995, Ciara-Beth born 1997, and Niamh born 2000. So together with Stuart’s other 3 children – Jasmine, Sarai and Ruth it is quite a busy household when everyone is together!
Through all of this time, Stuart has kept the contact with Nick and Steve from Kajagoogoo has never gone away and Steve joined Malachi as the bass player and they have played together for several years.
Stuart has recently re-located to Belfast and still travels to Leighton Buzzard every week to maintain the career with ReadSoft (based in Milton Keynes) and therefore is able to continue to meet up for song-writing and general shenanigans with Nick and Steve on a regular basis!!!!
peace & love
SLIM K
