He started his music career at the young age of 15 with his own band ,The Method. This was discovered through a recent interview with Jim Diamond on [3]. Diamond, at age 16, also fronted a Glasgow band called The Jade. That lineup included bassist Chris Glen who went on to play with “The Sensational Alex Harvey Band”. The Jade made at least one trip to London, playing a gig at Brunel University in 1969. He later toured Europe with another band Gully Foyle. Rare recordings of his performances with Gully Foyle were recently discovered on the Internet. Diamond was discovered by Alexis Korner. He spent the next couple of years as part of Korner’s band. He provided additional and backing vocals on many of Korner’s songs. Most of which would appear on The Lost Album. In 1976 Dimaond left Korner to form Bandit. The line-up included AC/DC band member Cliff Williams. They were soon signed up by Arista Records and released their début album, Bandit. They failed to reach the chart. In 1979 Diamond was lead vocalist for a Japanese band called BACCO. The debut album was Cha Cha Me. Diamond went to Los Angeles, California to form Slick Diamond with Earl Slick. He spent some time touring and recording and provided music for a film soundtrack. 1982 would be Diamond’s big break in to the public eye when he formed Ph.D. (Phillips, Hymas and Diamond), with pianist/keyboard player Tony Hymas and drummer Simon Phillips. They were signed by WEA Records and had a hit single with the multi-million selling “I Won’t Let You Down”. Diamond contracted hepatitis and the band later decided to part ways. In 1984, he decided to go solo and was signed to A&M Records. He had a number one hit with “I Should Have Known Better”. He scored another hit soon after with the theme song from Boon, “Hi Ho Silver”. It reached Number 5 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1986. Diamond is also known for some guest vocals on two Genesis band members solo outings including “You Call This Victory” on the album Soundtracks by Tony Banks in 1986, and “Days Of Long Ago” on the album Darktown by Steve Hackett in 1999. In recent years, Diamond has teamed up with saxophonist Chris “Snake” Davis, who is known for his work with soul outfit, M People. The pair were known as The Blue Shoes, but more recently have been billed as Jim Diamond and Snake Davis. In 2005, Diamond released his first studio album in eleven years. Souled and Healed also gave Diamond a the single releases “When You Turn” and “Blue Shoes”. Diamond’s son Lawrence has followed in his father’s footsteps and is the bassist with the UK rock group, Official Secrets Act. The band signed a recording contract in 2008. |
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