Alan Barker
Running Man
The Mighty Cosmos
Jamtland County
Alan Barker
Alan is the nephew of Mark Aynsley Hay. As there’s only eight years between them, Mark has always treated Alan as his younger brother.
Alan and his wife Jude live in Tandsbyn outside Östersund, Sweden. As well as being a singer and songwriter Alan is the Chairman of the Mighty Cosmos, a small football club where people get the chance to live their dreams. They firmly believe that strength comes through diversity as the players mainly come from the Darfur province in Sudan!
In 2021, Alan received the Ebba’s Hjärtan award for his support and commitment to the club.
When things looked dark, Alan and Jude pulled up their sleeves and guided the team to an historic season in division 4. They are like father and mother to the young players!
Meeting Moubarak Abdallah & Mohammet Annour in 2016 proved to be not only the start of a great friendship for Alan but also the inspiration for writing Running Man. Over a two year period, he listened to their stories of how, as 8 year-olds, their lives were turned upside down, for ever, as they ran from an attack on their village in Darfur, West Sudan.
When the team are not training the Mighty Cosmos players work in the Ostersund community, helping alcoholics and battered wives. Although they are Muslims, they give Easter eggs and Christmas presents to the local hospital and send football kits back to the camps in Chad. They fully appreciate what Östersund and its people have given them and try to give something back everyday.
Meanwhile the genocide continues and its now estimated that half a million people have lost their lives.
There’s more to football than the glamour of the leagues. Armed militia, the Janjaweed, came one night, intent on perpetuating the ongoing genocide.
They ran with family members not sure of where they were heading, but terrified as bullets flew and their homes were burned to the ground.
Friends, family and other villagers didn’t survive. They had to leave them where they were killed, in the sand, praying that nature would give them a burial.
Finding other groups as they trudged, terrified, traumatised and desperate to survive, they arrived at a camp in East Tchad over 2 months later.
They were now refugees.
Those young boys are now proud young men and are citizens of Sweden; they have good jobs and have young families of their own. They are happy. But, the trauma will never leave, they will never return and they will always be running.
Alan lives in one of Europe’s most beautiful countries and it was inevitable that a song would appear one day. And it did.
Jamtland County is packed full of vast pine forests, shimmering lakes, incredible sun rises and sun sets. Its wildlife is amazing and its people are proud, welcoming, friendly Viking descendants.
In addition to the usual 4 seasons, Jamtland has its own unique 5th season. Usually in Mid April, when the snow is still packed deep and the lakes are frozen, the Winter clouds disappear and for a few weeks the sky turns into an eye-piercing blue dome. The ice sparkles like diamonds caressed by the returning sun and the people of Jamtland come out to play and laugh together. The life cycle of this amazing county, which is their adopted home, was the inspiration for Jamtland County. It felt good for him to write the lyrics and singing has always makes him feel happy.
He hopes you feel the same way after hearing the song.
Running Man, The Mighty Cosmos and Jamtland County were recorded in Studio 306 Östersund, Sweden. Produced and engineered by Johan Arveli.
Tyranny Slain was written by Mark Aynsley Hay and Alan Barker. The lyrics are based on the personal testimonies shared by the aforementioned people
Nobody cares about Darfur is the latest release from Alan. It is available for streaming and download on all the major music platforms: YouTube, Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music etc., By clicking on the link you can listen to the song on this page via Alans YouTube channel.
Melissa
Wanna Be Myself
Change Is Gonna Come
Writing This Song For You
Melissa
Melissa started singing at a very early age, initially performing and singing in both Primary and Secondary school as well as college.
Her eureka moment happened at the age of five after seeing Phantom of the opera in the West End, London. Melissa realised that singing and performing on stage was what she wanted to do for a living. After carefully considering her options she was delighted to be accepted by a local youth theatre company in her home county of Cornwall.
It was ironic that within a short period of time after joining the company, Melissa had the privilege of performing in front of Sir Tim Rice in the cast of their Amateur world premiere performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s ‘The Likes Of Us’.
Since then she has gone on to play main roles in shows like Annie, Les Misérables, Sister Act, Jesus Christ Superstar and many more.
At the age of twelve, Melissa was chosen to record a voice over of a Cornish mining poem to be shown in the museum at the Heartlands heritage site.
In 2013, she performed at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the Cornwall Girls’ Choir at the School Proms.
In 2017, she was selected to be in a Pop Rock girl group with 3 other girls, gaining valuable experience in various recording studios.
The name of the girl band was called “Misdemena 4“ and they performed many gigs around Cornwall, which culminated in them recording a 12-track album entitled “MD4”. This is when Melissa met Chris Morris, who was involved in the audition process for the band.
Since working alongside Chris Morris, Melissa has recorded three songs which can be heard on this page – “Wanna Be Myself”, “Change Is Gonna Come” and “Writing This Song For You”.
Dave Morris
Lonely Without You
Been So Long
I Don't Know Why
Dave Morris
Dave Morris is the older brother of Chris Morris, who initially gave Chris the incentive and inspiration to become a singer, guitarist and songwriter. It’s ironic that when Chris become successful in the 1970’s with Paper Lace, Dave possibly lived in the shadow of his younger brother. This is only an assumption as he was, and still is, a first class singer, guitarist and songwriter who has established himself in his own right.
As a teenager, Dave started performing in folk clubs around Britain. Within a very short period of time he was receiving great reviews and was booked to headline at many university venues. He also supported many top bands of the seventies such as Free (All Right Now) and Jack the Lad. Jack the Lad were formerly called Lindisfarne, (Fog On The Tyne). During this period, his repertoire consisted of many popular versions of songs, covering a variety of genre, ranging from Neil Young to Bob Dylan, however he always included many of his own compositions in his performances.
For 14 years, Dave was based in Cornwall, playing in various holiday venues, pubs and clubs, but in 2014 he decided to make the move to live in York. Dave had always had a romantic fantasy/desire to become a professional busker and where better to start than in York.
York welcomes 8.9 million visitors every year, which adds to the total value of York’s economy of £1.7 billion. Within its ancient encircling walls, York’s medieval streets and buildings are beautifully preserved and the historic heart of the city is largely traffic-free, making it quiet, clean and very pleasant to stroll around day and night, thus giving Dave a perfect pitch to perform his art.
Dave wrote “Lonely Without You” a few years ago, prior to him setting up his own home studio. As well as playing on the track himself he had to use studio musicians and singers. The track was recorded in an afternoon, consequently he is not absolutely sure of the name of the girls singer who recorded the lead vocal. He is presently trying to find out her name, so for the time being we have called her Lorna Love, a name that compliments the song as it is a beautiful love song.
The song “Been So Long” is a romantic ballad, written by Chis and Dave, and “I Don’t Know Why” is the latest song written by Dave. All the songs are beautiful ballads and are certainly worthy of a listen, Enjoy!!
Bryan James Daveo
Bryan James Daveo
May 26th, 2023 celebrated the third anniversary of Chris and Mark joining together as a songwriting team.
The initial introduction between Chris and Mark was orchestrated by a mutual friend called Bryan James Daveo. Bryan felt they were similar in styles yet different enough to be able to complement each other’s writing.
The introduction worked: in two years Chris and Mark had co-written eighteen new songs together whilst also working and editing each other’s incomplete back catalogue of original compositions.
Bryan is a singer with a very distinctive and powerful voice, he is also a very successful DJ.
As well as performing in the UK, he has worked for many years as both a singer and DJ in Tenerife and Benidorm, Spain.
Two years ago Bryan recorded two of Chris’s songs called “Completely Complete Me” and “The Sky’s The Limit” both songs are available for download and streaming on the majority of music platforms – Spotify, YouTube, etc.
You can preview the songs via this website by clicking on the video links.
Lindsey Earl
Over And Out
Drifting
Be Like You
Broken
Lindsey Earl
Lindsey Earl lives in the beautiful Cornish Village of St Agnes in the UK.
She started singing from a very early age and discovered how therapeutic music could be towards her happiness and well being.
Aged 11, her interests varied and on the sportive front she was a keen gymnast which resulted in her part of the British junior gymnastics team. She continued in that field up until the age of 15. Lindsey believes this experience built her confidence in performing.
After leaving school she had a variety of jobs, eventually working as an au pair in Germany. Whilst in Germany she entered a singing contest and was spotted by a top German manager / impresario who asked her to be the lead vocalist in a popular German band. During this period as well as singing, she taught herself to play the guitar.
On returning to the UK she took A levels in theatre studies and auditioned for R.A.D.A and although she was shortlisted to the last 10, unfortunately she was unsuccessful in that years intake. Lindsey did not see Rada’s decision as a negative, it confirmed that her future was in singing.
During the interim period Lindsey won numerous singing and karaoke contests and was also part of a trio with her twin, Jenny Rimmer and friend Trevor Rowe. In the mid nineties the band supported Jules Holland and his Orchestra at various venues around the UK.
She was also the lead singer in an Amy Winehouse tribute band performing live shows on Facebook every Thursday during the Covid lockdown period. Lindsey also performed as a tribute artist covering the hits of her favourite singers, the likes of: Tina Turner, Amy Winehouse, Suzi Quatro, Elvis, George Michael and many more. Over the last 20 years Lindsey has worked with Robert Bunt a very talented guitarist.
Lindsey recorded four songs on the two popular Pirateers albums, which was written by Chris Morris and Dave Freeman. All four songs can be heard on this page.
As well as being a singer Lindsey has a talent for writing poems and song lyrics. Combine this with her vast musical knowledge and musical taste and we have a very strong and versatile performer in her own right. In the words of Lindsey
“Life is much better with music”.