The music of Touch & Go can be called modern folklore. After all, both mobile phone ringtones and the musical accompaniment of commercials are already modern and familiar folklore. Most people only have to hear the sounds of the trumpet and one of the sexiest voices of the modern musical world - and immediately everyone remembers the band's eternal hits.
A fragment of their composition Would You…? sounded in the program "Housing issue". Thanks to the combination of jazz music, pop music and Latino, the Touch & Go team was very popular.
How did you create the cult duet?
It happened in 1998. Radio host, journalist Charlie Gillett and partner Gordon Nelki had the idea to create an innovative musical group. The main concept is a minimum of text and a maximum of jazz variations of popular pop songs. This was an unexpected and very successful move in the modern music industry.
To implement their project, friends turned to the composer David Lowe. The first composition, written with James Lynch, consisted of club vocabulary and jazz-style music, stylized as retro. The duo Touch & Go consists of Vanessa Lancaster on vocals and James Lynch on trumpet.
Members of the duo Touch & Go
Vanessa Lancaster is a professional performer. She began singing as a teenager. She studied ballet at an early age and graduated from the Royal Academy of Ballet. She then received her theater education at London's Lucy Clayton Finishing School.
Vanessa Lancaster landed a spot on British TV where she was voiced in commercials. She has worked as a model for famous cosmetic companies and acted in films. In 1998, the artist accepted the producers' offer to start working as a vocalist in the duet Touch & Go.
James Lynch is a virtuoso trumpeter who started his musical career with the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. While studying in college, the young man often played jazz compositions there during concerts.
He has worked with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Great Britain and with Robbie Williams. James Lynch also arranged for the horns on the Spice Girls farewell tour.
Working on advertising compositions gave James Lynch invaluable experience. As well as the opportunity to prove yourself as a trumpeter and composer in the duo Touch & Go.
The first musical impulses of Touch & Go
The first musical composition performed by the duet became a worldwide hit. She remained at the top of the British music charts for a long time. The song subsequently sold almost a million copies. It was the first hit that became the impetus for the creation of the Touch & Go album.
It included several hits at once: Straight to Number One, So Hot, Tango in Harlem. This album was popular all over the world and found a new life there. Many talented musicians took part in the recording of the collection, so it has a "live" sound. When creating works, the authors used arrangements of compositions by Louis Armstrong, José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao, The Champs.
The name of the group reflected the hopes and fears of its creators. Translated from English, this means: “On a thread. It is not clear whether this is a success or a failure! It was these words that the creators said when listening to the final version of the single Would You...?. The producers thought it was very risky to combine such different styles in music, so they doubted the success.
The Touch & Go group has gained wide popularity in Eastern Europe. In Russia, the group gave more than 50 concerts a year. The group members visited all major cities of the country.
The work of Touch and Go in advertising
The compositions of the Touch & Go group are preferred by world famous companies: NOKIA, Apple Computer, CARLSBERG, BACARDI, SANPELLEGRINO. To advertise the international competition MISS WORLD, the music of this extraordinary duo became the official soundtrack.
Series of videos about London
Duet knows their audience and what will be interesting to their audience. Musicians love their hometown very much. Therefore, in five-minute videos, they managed to fit both their memories and the atmosphere of the city. As well as recommendations for the viewer to visit non-traditional tourist places in London.
So, for example, in one of the videos you can see the London Underground stations where James Lynch played the trumpet in his youth, or take a walk with Vanessa Lancaster through the flea markets of the British capital. Their goal was not to create a guide to London. They wanted to share their feelings with the audience. The name of their video is consonant with the name of the duet: Touch London, Go to London and is accompanied by music performed by them.
Personal life of Touch and Go group members
Often members of joint teams are credited with romantic relationships. This does not apply to members of the Touch & Go group. Each of them has his own family and children. James Lynch is married and has a daughter. Vanessa Lancaster has a husband and two children.
