Alan Tunbridge is an English artist, book dust-jacket illustrator and songwriter.

Life and work

Normally painting in oils, Alan Tunbridge has also designed a great number of book dust-jacket illustrations, mainly in Scraperboard. Many of his songs have been recorded by the folk and Country blues singer and guitarist Wizz Jones. With Jones, Tunbridge ran the MOJO Folk club at the King's Arms pub in Putney,

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

in the early 1960s. Often he wrote the words spontaneously to Wizz Jones' chord sequences. His songs are also in the repertoires of Ralph McTell, John Renbourn, Maggie Holland and others. McTell was inspired by Tunbridge's lyrics of the evocative "National Seven" to tread the road which bears this name down to the south of France. The title of Bert Jansch's biography ''Dazzling Stranger'' originated from the title of a Tunbridge song. Tunbridge spent a number of years studying the teachings of the mystic G. I. Gurdjieff (the Fourth Way) with John G. Bennett at Coombe Springs, and later spent time with the

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

teacher Idries Shah. In 1997 Tunbridge contributed illustrations to Shah's collection of folktales, World Tales, illustrating the story of Mushkil Gusha. He lived in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia, for many years. He no longer writes songs. From 1999 to 2009 he focused on using his writing and design skills to help develop the Schizophrenia Research Institute in Australia, of which he was a founding Director. This commitment was undertaken because his eldest son became affected by the illness. He retired from this role in 2009 to pursue his painting activities and to write his autobiography, ''Noose of Light'', which was published in 2015. He now lives in

Ubud Ubud () is a town in the Gianyar Regency of Bali, Indonesia. Ubud has no status, that is part of the eponymous Ubud District of Gianyar. Promoted as an arts and culture centre, Ubud has developed a large tourism industry. It forms a northern p ...

, Bali.

Recorded songs

Alan Tunbridge's recorded songs include: * Shall I Wake You From Your Sleep? * A Common Or Garden Mystery * I've Got A Woman With One Leg * Oh My Friend * Can't Stop Thinkin' About It † * At The Junction * I Wanna' See The Manager * Dazzling Stranger * See How the Time is Flying * The Legendary Me * When I Cease to Care * Nobody Told You So * Beggar Man * Slow Down to My Speed * Stick a Little Label on It * Which of Them You Love the Best * City of the Angels * The Raven † * Find a Man for You Girl * Mary Go 'Round * Deep Water † * When You're Gone * Pictures * Magical Flight * National Seven * Second-Hand Mini-Me * Spoonful † * The Grapes of Life * Shall I Wake You * Massacre at Béziers * Teapot Blues † * Earls Court Breakdown † jointly with Wizz Jones

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tunbridge, Alan 21st-century English painters English male painters English male songwriters Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century English male artists