Simon Mayor
The mandolin has been transformed into a highly eclectic instrument by Simon Mayor. Although he also plays fiddle and guitar, Mayor has built his reputation with his ten mandolin-based albums and his BBC2 radio series Marooned with a Mandolin.
A self-trained musician, Mayor played ukulele as a youngster. Presented with a guitar on his 11th birthday, he switched to the six-stringed instrument. His interest in Irish fiddle music was sparked by a recording he heard as a teenager. Although the school music teacher discouraged his taking up the instrument, he taught himself to play both the fiddle and mandolin from recordings he acquired. Within 18 months, he was playing well enough to win a national music championship. He strengthened his skills by playing with a variety of Celtic and rock bands while attending Reading University, where he studied Russian. From the early '80s on, he has worked in an acoustic duo with vocalist and mandobass player Hilary James. Between 1985 and 1991, the pair presented music educational programs for the BBC, in the process co-writing and performing more than 60 children's songs.
Together with James, Mayor also performed with a western swing band, Slim Panatella & the Mellow Virginians. Mayor and James have continued to explore a wide variety of musical genres. Together with classical guitarist Gerald Garcia, ex-Fairport Convention multi-instrumentalist Maartin Allcock and Richard Collins, they formed the Simon Mayor Quintet, soon known as the Mandolinquents. In 2018, Mayor's first anthology of poetry and biographical anecdotes was published, Of Death and a Banana Skin on Ilkley Moor. In addition to touring and recording, Mayor has produced a wealth of mandolin teaching material (books and videos) and regularly hosts mandolin residential workshops in the U.K. and abroad.
© Craig Harris /TiVo
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Discography
12 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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The Mandolin Album
Klassiek - Released by Acoustics Records on 1 jan. 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Princess Royal
Folk - Released by Acoustics Records on 6 jan. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lullabies With Mandolins
Kinderen - Released by Acoustics Records on 1 jan. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Acoustics Records on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
When Summer Comes Again
Folk - Released by Acoustics Records on 12 nov. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Midsummer Market
Educatief - Released by Acoustics Records on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Sumer Is Icumen In
Klassiek - Released by Acoustics Records on 25 jun. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Snowmen And Kings
Kerstmuziek - Released by Acoustics Records on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Up In A Big Balloon
Humour - Released by Acoustics Records on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Big Surprise
Humour - Released by Acoustics Records on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo