Musician - William South
What's your job?
I'm a professional musician (and have been since 1984). I've done
lots of small jazz gigs in and around London. I sometimes work as a
'session' musician, which means going to play on someone else's
record. In the last few years I've played for All Saints, S Club 7,
Tom Jones and Hansen.
I've had several record deals. I got these by recording my own
songs and getting them to people in the business who've liked them
and paid me an advance to promote them (going on tour and on the
radio).
I've also written music. I wrote music for L'Ouverture's play 'The
Bag Lady' with my wife. I am writing songs for a new BBC cartoon
series that a friend of mine is putting together called FreeFonix.
I also give some piano lessons
How did you get started?
I started learning the piano when I was very young and kept it up
when I was a teenager. I also started playing electric guitar and
bass and got really into pop music (punk rock in my day!) When I
left school I started getting interested in jazz. By this time I
was actually quite good at playing the piano. I realised that if I
wanted to make money as a musician this was how I should do it. I
got a couple of gigs in pubs and got my first regular gig when I
was 20.
How did you change something that was fun
into a job?
Music has never stopped being fun, but I just started getting paid
for it!
What does your job involve?
When I'm doing a jazz piano gig (I do 10 - 20 of these a month) I
have to turn up at the venue on time looking cool. I then play for
about two and a half hours (with breaks). I play at a lot of
restaurants in London and they feed me delicious food!
When I'm working on a recording project, things are more
complicated. I have to decide what to record - something that I
want to do and think people will want to hear. You have to organise
other musicians, the studio and the business people who might help.
You have to be an artist and a businessperson. You have to get on
with everybody!
What do you like best about your
job?
I like the fact that you never know what is around the corner, who
is going to ring you or where exactly you're going to be next week
or next month. I also get to do what is my favourite hobby as a
job.
What is the worst thing about your
job?
The worst thing is having to rely on other people. To get your
latest record heard you have to trust record companies and they can
be unreliable. It can be difficult when you don't have enough work
and you can't pay the bills.
What should I do if I want to do what you
do?
Learn an instrument. Lots of well-known DJs can't play a note.
However, behind the scenes most of the people making the music you
hear have learnt music properly. Most of the music you hear today
is made using computers. This means it's also a good idea to learn
about the computer software that is used. It's quite easy to use
and cheap to buy.
Who do you look up to in the area in
which you work and why?
There's no one specific (though obviously I'm a massive fan of
loads of different musicians). I admire people who have had great
success, but never had to water down what they do. I like people
who do it for themselves first, but also know how to enrich
people's lives. A couple of years ago I went to see Jerry Lee
Lewis, Little Richard and Chuck Berry play (for those of you who
don't know these guys, they more or less invented rock n roll in
the 1950s). They all played with the same energy that they did
nearly 50 years ago. They thrilled everyone at the concert, but you
could tell that ultimately they were doing it for THEMSELVES and we
were lucky to be able to dig what they were digging.
