Todd Sharpville (born 9 April 1970 as The Hon. Roland Augusto Jestyn Estanislao Philipps) is an English musician and the younger son of the 3rd Viscount St Davids. A British musician, singer-songwriter and lead guitarist, mainly in the blues field, it has been asserted that he is "the world's first blue-blooded bluesman", as a titled member of a British aristocratic family. In 2010, the Conservative Party asked him to stand for election as a prospective parliamentary candidate, but he declined the offer.

Family

The younger son of Colwyn Jestyn John Philipps, 3rd Viscount Saint Davids and Augusta Victoria Correa Larrain Ugarte, he and his brother, Rhodri Colwyn Philipps, the 4th Viscount Saint Davids (born 16 September 1966), were raised in the Roman Catholic faith of their mother, and attended Downside and Worth schools, respectively. Sharpville has two daughters, Amber Augusta Philipps and Charlotte Isabella Philipps.

Career

Sharpville first came to public prominence with his 1994 debut blues album release, ''Touch of Your Love'' (Red Lightnin'). The album achieved critical acclaim, winning "Best Album" in 1994 in the British Blues Connection awards (Britain's equivalent to the W.C. Handy Awards). At this time, Sharpville was putting together European backing bands for visiting American blues artists (such as

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and

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). He won the British Blues Connection "Best UK Guitarist" award in 1995 (beating fellow nominees Eric Clapton and Gary Moore according to the April 1995 edition of British Blues Connection's ''Blueprint'' magazine) and became a mainstay on the European blues circuit as a solo artist. His second blues album, ''The Meaning of Life'' was released in 2001 on Cathouse Records and featured guests

Leo Sayer Gerard Hugh "Leo" Sayer (born 21 May 1948) is an English-Australian singer and songwriter whose singing career has spanned five decades. He has been an Australian citizen and resident since 2009. Sayer launched his career in the United Kingdom ...

, Eugene "Hideaway" Bridges,

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, Paul Lamb, Keith Dunn, and ex- Rolling Stones guitarist

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. In support of this release, Sayer toured extensively, as part of the Todd Sharpville Band. Taylor appeared as a special guest at a limited number of European dates. Sharpville can also be found on more than 35 compilation albums, and at least five

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releases. He participated in

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's Memorial Concert (Citadel Records – recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo in 1994), in

Albert Hammond Albert Louis Hammond OBE (born 18 May 1944) is a British-Gibraltarian singer, songwriter, and record producer. A prolific songwriter, he also collaborated with other songwriters such as Mike Hazlewood, John Bettis, Diane Warren, Holly Knight ...

's 2006 release ''Revolution of the Heart'' (Sharpville was Hammond's guitarist and musical director) and in Leo Sayer's ''Voice in My Head'' (2005). Live performances include appearances with

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

, Peter Green, George Michael,

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

Albert Collins Albert Gene Drewery, known as Albert Collins and the Ice Man (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993),Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. ...

Georgie Fame Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the on ...

Kim Wilson Kim Wilson (born January 6, 1951) is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for the Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s, " Tuff Enuff" (which was the group's only Top 40 ...

Joe Louis Walker Joe Louis Walker, also known as JLW (born December 25, 1949) is an American musician, best known as an electric blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. His knowledge of blues history is revealed by his use of older material and playi ...

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Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and ...

, and the reformed version of

The Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell ...

. Between 2005 and 2007, Sharpville was the European opening act for

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, Joe Cocker, and

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

. His blues double album, ''Porchlight'', was released on 29 October 2010 by the MiG Music record label. This was produced in Rhode Island by

Duke Robillard Michael John "Duke" Robillard (born October 4, 1948) is an American guitarist and singer. He founded the band Roomful of Blues and was a member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Although Robillard is known as a rock and blues guitarist, he also pla ...

and featured contributions by Robillard, Joe Louis Walker and Kim Wilson of

the Fabulous Thunderbirds The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American blues band formed in 1974. Career After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/Chrysalis Records and later signed with Epic Recor ...

. During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, Sharpville assembled the world's first professional lockdown backing band which included well known session musicians, living together under one roof in a rented Norfolk mansion. They performed online streaming shows each week, and remotely recorded with a variety of artists. The

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

film composer

David Arnold David Arnold (born 23 January 1962) is a British film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films, as well as ''Stargate'' (1994), '' Independence Day'' (1996), ''Godzilla'' (1998) and the television series ''Little Britain'' ...

worked with Sharpville on material forming part of a public awareness campaign, designed to promote unity amongst the general public. He was chosen as the opening act for Eric Clapton in May 2022, and performed at Clapton’s Royal Albert Hall concerts in London on 7 May 2022 to help promote Sharpville's album, ''Medication Time''.

Image gallery

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Tab Benoit Tab Benoit (born November 17, 1967) is an American blues guitarist, musician, and singer. His playing combines a number of blues styles, primarily Delta blues. He plays a stock 1972 Fender Telecaster Thinline electric guitar and writes his own ...

and Sharpville; US - 2007 Image:Tsandbbking.jpg, Sharpville and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

- 2006 Image:Micktaylor.jpg, Sharpville and

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

- 2003 Image:Todd_Sharpville_Band.jpg, The Todd Sharpville Band at the

d'Coque The National Sports and Culture Centre d'Coque ''(french: Centre National Sportif et Culturel d'Coque),'' better known simply as d'Coque, ( en, The Hull or The Shell) is a sporting and cultural venue with an indoor arena and Olympic-sized swimmin ...

arena - 2007 Image:TSinGermany.jpg,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Germany - 2005 Image:Tommycastro.jpg, Sharpville,

and Earl Thomas; US - 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharpville, Todd 1970 births Living people English rock guitarists English male guitarists English blues guitarists English male singer-songwriters Singers from London People educated at Downside School Younger sons of viscounts 21st-century English singers 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century British male singers