Biography

Amy Jasmine Bannister, or Amy J as she is often called, lives in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England and was born on the 17th of April 2000. She got her first toy electric guitar for her 3^rd birthday which started Amy off with her passion for music. Then, at the age of 7, she got her first acoustic guitar and soon progressed onto electric guitar only 6 months later when starting lessons outside of school with a private guitar tutor. Amy took to it straight away and knew that guitars would always be a part of her life.

She had her first experience in recording at the age of 8 when Amy’s first CD single was produced which was a cover of ‘Throw down the sword’ by Wishbone Ash – This was sold to family, friends and also in the local area and was all in Aid of Cancer Research UK. She managed to raise over £2000 with the help of Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash and QEDG their management company. Since then with other music related projects Amy and her family have managed to raise another £2500 for the very worthwhile cause.

Whilst recording the CD Amy was invited by Brian May of Queen to join him London to see the “We will rock you” musical, she then spent a long time with him in the VIP suite talking about his experiences, what she wanted to do when leaving school and the music business in general. He was lovely and gave her lots of advice and encouragement, he even said that “Amy J” had a great ring to it.

She has also been lucky enough to perform on both radio and TV by the age of 10 and has also played live at numerous events including playing with both Wishbone Ash and Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash. Over the last couple of years she has also met many of her musical idols such as Joe Bonamassa, Martin Turner, Andy Powell, Geoff Downes, Laurie Wisefield, Sir This Van Leer and Mick Box to name a few.

Singing is also something she enjoys and Amy hopes one day to be a successful guitar vocalist, possibly fronting a band like one of her idols and close friend who is an amazing guitarist and singer in her own right, Miss Chantel McGregor.

She currently has 10 guitars in her collection and she is also trying to teach herself the basics on the drums and keyboard as Amy believes that to be able to play a few instruments would be both fun and useful as time goes on.

To be an endorsee of Carparelli Guitars with the Arco F1 means so much to Amy as it really is like an amazing extended family and they are clearly making fantastic guitars......who wouldn’t want to be a part of that at such a young age!

Below you can see some photos of Amy with some of her musical heroes, she has been and continues to be a lucky and dedicated young lady.

Amy Jasmine Bannister
In September 2008 I went backstage and met Andy Powell mid-rehearsal where he was very kind and let me play Throw Down The Sword to him on his special edition flying V called "Angel Warrior". He commented that I had good pick technique and let me meet the rest of the band later where they all signed my shirt which is now framed and pride of place on our wall	Here I am with Martin Turner a few weeks after meeting Andy, they were both original members of Wishbone Ash. martin spent nearly an hour telling us funny stories and giving good advice as to what to expect from the music industry, Martin then also introduced me to the rest of his band, MTWA, where again my shirt was signed by all of them and also mounted in a frame on our wall
Back in March 2009 we went to see an amazing rock and blues artist called Chantel McGregor, she is really lovely and has become a good friend. She regularly gives me advice and also gave me a signed photo of her at the gig. I am going to see her play again very soon and really can't wait, then in October she is the support act to my favourite band, Wishbone Ash, TWICE !. Im going to the second one...hoooray !	Brian May.....what a nice guy !....what more can be said really, Brian spent a long time chatting with me about how I started and what my future plans were. He was very supportive and encouraging and even commented that my name was "a good rock name that flows off the tongue!. He said that if I want to be a nurse and a guitarist, which I do, then I should go for it as he wanted to be a guitarist and a scientist and he managed that. I really hope to meet him again one day and maybe even get to play the guitar a little with him....what a dream that would be !
This is me with Mig Ayesa who is an awesome recording artist in his own right, currently touring with the Queen Symphonic Orchestra. Previously Mig played the lead role of Galileo in the Queen west end musical "We WIll Rock You". He was also in the final shortlist to replace Michael Hutchence of INXS but just missed out	Here I am with Laurie Wisefield, he is another of my favourite guitarists having been with Wishbone Ash and writing some great songs during his time with them. He then went on to support Tina Turner in many of her tours including the latest 2008/2009 tour. Laurie was really cool and signed some pictures for me....thanks Laurie, I hope I get to see him playing some Ash numbers someday !